Being a southerner, I'm aware that most of my day-to-day posts feature places in London and the surrounding areas. So I thought I'd feature somewhere in the north of England for once! About eighteen months ago, Rob and I travelled up to Yorkshire to spend a week with lots of his family in a beautiful converted barn, to celebrate his Mum's 60th. We had a fun-packed week of countryside walks, a visit to York, shopping in Harrogate, ice cream on the Scarborough coast and picturesque drives through the snowy Yorkshire Dales. Yorkshire truly is a spectacular part of the country. One of my favourite parts of the week was visiting Brimham Rocks; the most incredible collection of strange yet beautiful, natural rock formations, nestled in the Yorkshire moors where children and their families are free to roam, climb and play on the rocks till their hearts are content. I'd love to share with you our time spent here...
Rob's cousin and her husband have two young, boisterous, energetic boys, so when searching online for places to visit nearby in Yorkshire, we were looking for places that were child-friendly, cheap and relatively active. I first heard about Brimham Rocks on the National Trust website and it seemed to tick all the boxes; so after some breakfast we clambered into ours car and drove along the scenic roads past Harrogate and up to the rocks.
We arrived mid-morning and as it was the Easter holidays there was no surprise that the car park was already filling up with 4x4s, buggies and parents desperately trying to keep their straying children on leashes. {Just FYI: parking at Brimham Rocks costs £5 for up to 4 hours, or £6 for the whole day and remember to take some loose change with you because they only accept coins. If you're a National Trust member however, you can smile because parking is free!} Brimham Rocks is open from 8am until dusk pretty much every day of the year and entry is free. Coats on, it was time to explore! A windy stoney path takes you from the car park, through some beautiful heather moorland and up to the rock formations. It is here that you are suddenly exposed to the most incredible views across the landscape and over the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
We got walking straight away, the kids very excitable. The whole area was full of families and children enjoying themselves, climbing and playing on the rocks, whilst us adults admired the views. It sounds strange but the rocks really were fascinating to look at and standing at nearly 30 metres tall they make you feel very small indeed! It almost felt like being in some sort of fairytale land. Some of the rocks were so weird and wonderful looking and as you make your way around the pathways there are several special shaped rocks: the gorilla, the dancing bear and the eagle. The kids had fun pointing out these different shapes and hunting the weirdest rocks they could find. We also had a game of hide and seek... this was the most perfect spot for it!
You could walk around the main area of Brimham Rocks within an hour but you could easily stay here and happily waste half a day, climbing higher and higher to get better views. The views from the highest rocks really were breath taking.
I was really impressed with how well the whole area has been maintained. Not only are all the paths wheelchair and buggy accessible but there's also a shop and visitor's centre on site, along with clean, modern toilets. Picnic benches have also been strategically placed around the rocks if you're looking to bring a packed lunch along with you. If it had been warmer we might have thought to do this but Yorkshire had been snowing the week before so it was just too cold! The cold didn't stop us having lots of fun though - we had such a great time at Brimham Rocks. It is a truly magical spot offering adventurous and imaginative opportunities for play in the most beautiful, natural environment.
It's definitely worth a visit if you're nearby or planning on a trip to Harrogate or Yorkshire. Bring the dog along too!
More info on the National Trust website here.
Lydia xxx
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