Visit Hawes with Kids
Well what about THAT for a spectacular waterfall?! Smack bang in the middle of Hawes!
Hawes.
Have you ever considered it as a family friendly Staycation destination?! No?!
Well you know what? I’m here to tell you why it should shoot right up the list!!
A beautiful Market Town, with cobbled streets, character properties and well…… STONKING views!
I LOVE a Staycation.
And being lucky enough to live on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales ourselves, we know how much this world class national park has to offer.
Which is why we choose to holiday here too!
I’ll admit, Hawes has somehow slipped us by. I remember in the hazy pre-kids days of being blissfully able to do whatever the hell we liked whenever the hell we liked, my husband and I visited the Wensleydale Creamery and went home with an obscene amount of cheese…..
But that’s probably it.
Never did it really enter my radar as being a kid friendly place to stay.
But you know what?! It blooming well is!
So read on to find out more about Kid Friendly Hawes!
‘More cheese Gromit?!’ Sorry, couldn’t resist! The Wensleydale Cheese factory is a great place to take the kids!
Kid friendly places to visit in Hawes:
Who’d have thought that such a small market town would be so full of stuff to do with the kids?!
The Wensleydale Creamery:
Well it’s gotta be done.
You officially cannot go to Hawes without visiting the place where the legendary Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese is made!
Now, you don’t have to be a fan of Wallace and Gromit to have heard about this tasty treat from the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese is the stuff of legends. I mean literally, as it’s making spans nearly 1,000 years of cheese crafting history! It’s been produced in the Dales since the 1100’s and it has achieved a Protected Geographical Indication status.
That means that Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese is super special and cannot be replicated anywhere else! FACT!
Anyway. Enough about the cheese (I say this begrudgingly because…. well cheese is life in our family!)
The Wensleydale Creamery offers an experience like no other! Head round the museum to get an interactive history of the cheese making process. You’ll get a glimpse into the factory itself, and you can go and see a cheese making demonstration. I had to tear my two away from here, they really enjoyed it. And the only thing that could tear them away, was a visit to the gift shop. Which of course meant buying more cheese!
Cheeeeeeeeeese! All about the Cheese!!!! The Wensleydale Creamery is an ace place to take the kids!
The Dales Countryside Museum:
Ah I know that a museum isn’t always everybody’s bag. BUT, these guys have really pulled out the stops to make this as kid friendly as possible.
You can pick up an age appropriate lanyard, which will ask questions and gives some focus to the museum tour. And focus, rather than running around blindly trying to touch everything in sight, it’s just what’s needed!
The reconstructed inside of a mine, found at the Dales Countryside Museum!
Ok, ok. There was absolutely a MASSIVE amount of haring round like a crazy thing and trying to touch anything and everything! But there are also some brilliantly interactive elements to the museum, that don’t just mean you have to stand and read or stand and listen.
They have some kid friendly craft/ activities going on as well so check out the website to see if they have anything special on at the time you visit! We visited during the dark skies festival and attended a family friendly talk about awesome space stuff followed by a spaceship crafting session!
Yes, we launched the Rockets.
Yes, the kids were INSANELY EXCITED!
Definitely worth the visit, particularly if you’re faced with a rainy day!
The Dales Countryside Museum, building a dry stone wall! An essential Yorkshire Dales activity!
Stage 1 Cycles
These guys go hand in hand with the Dales Countryside Museum, as they are all in the same building!
Stage 1 Cycles offers bike hire and family cycling packages. You can do a 2 hour guided route, with bike hire included or you can hire a bike for a half or full day. They even offer a drop off and pick up service from locations within Wensleydale, so why not check them out?! Check out the hire rates and website here!
Yes, there is a park at Hawes!
Where is the play park at Hawes?!
This is OBVIOUSLY essential information when visiting anywhere with kids!
So, I’ll TELL you where the park is at Hawes!
It’s almost directly opposite the Dales Countryside Museum on Burtersett Road. It is a decent sized play area, perhaps a little rough round the edges, but when you’re a kid, that doesn’t really matter does it! Plenty to keep my two occupied for a half hour or so!
Where to park in Hawes?
Speaking of parks….. let’s talk car parks!
(Far less exciting than an actual park. Far more essential if you’re driving!)
There are two pay and display car parks in Hawes, one on Market Place, and a large one on Gayle Lane. There is also ad hoc parking on Market Place, which is free, but is busy, so you’ll have to rely a little on luck! There is also a large car park at the Dales Countryside Museu, which is also an official safe Dark Skies Viewing location, in case you fancy a bit of star gazing (did you know that the Yorkshire Dales is a designated Dark Skies Reserve?!)
SO MANY CAR PARKS! Which is good, because I hate not being able to find a space!
Aysgill Force, a family friendly walk from Hawes
Family friendly walks in Hawes
In Wensleydale you are absolutely spoiled for choice when it comes to kid friendly walks!
And these are ones that we have walked with our own 6 feet (collectively. For the record, I only have 2 feet, although sometimes wish for 6….)
💦 We loved walking to Aysgill Force from the centre of Hawes, which is a 4 mile circular route.
💦 Hardraw Force is a pushchair friendly waterfall, less than a 10 minute drive from Hawes, or alternatively you can walk from Hawes. Find out more information about Hardraw Force by checking out our walk (oh and it’s where they filmed the ‘shower;’ scene from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves…. just saying…..
💦 Cotter Force is located just 5 minutes outside of Hawes, and is a brilliant wheelchair and pushchair accessible waterfall.
💦 Another fantastically accessible waterfall is Aysgarth Falls, about a 20 minutes drive away from Hawes. There’s also a cafe and the Yorkshire Dales Centre there. Oh… and they loved a bit of Wensleydale in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves because they filmed the river fight scene at the Upper Falls.
💦 If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous and feel like a bit more of challenge, why not try walking from Askrigg (around 15 minute drive) to Mill Gill Force and Whitfield Gill Force. This is a top wildflower spot too, if you’re visiting in the early summer.
💦 I can’t miss out West Burton Falls, also known at Cauldron Falls , which are about 20-25 minutes from Hawes. This is a top little wander for little legs, or there is a very short pushchair friendly option. There is a little play area in West Burton conveniently located opposite the Fox and Hounds pub, which serves family friendly pub grub!
The hearty and delicious pub grub at The White Hart Inn, Hawes
Family Friendly Places to Eat in Hawes
It can’t be the whole package unless you have dinner right?! Here are a few ideas from our stay in Hawes.
White Hart Inn: Located on Main Street near Market Place in Hawes, we loved the White Hart Inn when we visited during our stay. Family friendly, great quality food, and friendly service!
The Firebox Cafe: Located in Stage 1 Cycles/ The Dales Countryside Museum, this little cafe serves coffee, savouries and baked treats. The perfect accompaniment to the Dales Museum, or hiring a bike from Stage 1 Cycles.
Cafe Curva: Great to grab a sandwich cake or a light bite, or perhaps a coffee before you set off walking! This one is located right in the centre of Hawes.
Wensleydale Creamery: Calvert’s restaurant at the Wensleydale Creamery is a restaurant serving food that showcases it’s star product, Wensleydale Cheese! But not only cheese, they also have some tasty locally sourced dishes too!
The little cobbled courtyard outside Lawyers Loft in Hawes.
Where to stay in Hawes?
Deciding on where is a family friendly place to stay for a break can sometimes be tricky when it comes to holidaying with the kids.
When we visited Hawes, it was smack bang in the middle of Winter, so we chose a cozy place to stay, Lawyer’s Loft!
This fab little flat is located smack bang right in the middle of the market place, and has character OOZING from the walls! A former solicitor’s office, the living/ dining room overlooks the bustling streets of Hawes whereas the two perfectly sized bedrooms were tucked away at back with views over the gorgeous quiet cobbled courtyard (that is pictured above).
With 1 bathroom and a spacious kitchen boasting everything you could need (I mean, dishwasher. It’s always got to have a dishwasher!) It was a top place to stay for a mini break with the kids. Plus it has a log burner. I have to give the log burner a special mention, because I BLOOMIN’ LOVE A LOG BURNER!
We would thoroughly recommend! Lawyers Loft is available to book through Air BNB (amongst other cottage companies!)
Fancy Camping?
Whilst we haven’t personally visited this camp site, the Usha Gap Farm and Campsite a short distance away in Muker has been recommended by some of the wonderful folks who follow us over on Instagram (so thank you Celeste @chechilopez and Ashley @redhead_twinnies).
It is suitable for tents, camper vans and motor homes and has some great facilities too! Muker where it is located is GLORIOUS as well!
Some more shots of the gorgeous Lawyer’s Loft!
