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27 February 2022Around the UK with Ferrari
Rediscovering our .roads: a staycation guide to the UK & Ireland with the Portofino M (pt3)
W e have been regularly bringing you Ferrari’s travel guide to the UK’s roads, previously visiting Dartmoor and the south-west as well as Snake Pass and the Peak District. In this snippet we focus on the glorious Yorkshire Dales and Buttertubs Pass. The first two instalments are here and here.
Read on to experience the joys of the dales of Wensley and Swale along with the iconic beautiful villages with evocative names like Thwaite, Hawes, Kirkby Lonsdale, Appletreewick and Long Preston. Oh, and there are ruined castles and abbeys aplenty too.
The Yorkshire Dales has many moods; it can be wild and windswept or quietly tranquil with valleys full of hay meadows, drystone walls and barns. Whether you’re coming for the day in your Portofino M or staying longer there’s always something to do in the Dales.
[There are] iconic beautiful villages with evocative names like Thwaite, Hawes and Kirkby Lonsdale
ENGLAND
Buttertubs Pass, Yorkshire Dales
Yorkshire is not short on epic roads, and the crown jewel is the Buttertubs Pass. Hacking its way over the moody moors, the 6.8 mile-long road – officially titled Cliff Gate Road – weaves its way north from the market town of Hawes to the rural village of Thwaite.
It earns its name from the 20m-deep limestone potholes located beyond the tarmac, for in ye olden days dairy farmers would stop at the summit on hot days to rest, and they would stash their butter in these potholes to keep it from melting. More recently, it has featured on the UK section of the Tour de France. Get ready to react to copycatting Mamils hidden in the dips, therefore.
At points, the gradient after leaving Hawes reaches 18 percent. At the summit, one is rewarded with stirring views of the high moorland between Wensleydale and Swaledale. The approach down to Thwaite features a spine-tingling hairpin mapped out by dry stone walls.
In ye olden days dairy farmers would stop at the summit on hot days to rest, and they would stash their butter in the potholes to keep it from melting
As you thunder up the hill from Hawes you’ll pass the lavish Simonstone Hall Hotel. Its restaurant does a blinding roast on Sundays, although the kitchen is known to close early. Beyond Thwaite, on the B670 driving east are the Farmer’s Arms, for warm pints from its own microbrewery, and the 17th century Punchbowl Inn, which offers four-star accommodation and what is described as Yorkshire food with a modern twist, such as beef and black sheep casserole with dumplings, and wild garlic risotto with crispy hen’s egg.
For Wallace & Gromit fans, no visit to this specific acreage would be complete without giving worship to the local crumbly cheese. Hawes is home to the Wensleydale Creamery visitors centre, which traces its cheese-making back to 1150 when French Cistercian monks first settled in this dale, through to today’s £30 million turnover.
And there’s much to do besides food, drink and driving. Further afield are the ruined Pendragon and Middleham castles, the former of which is a 12th century fortified tower owned (in the 17th century) by the notable Lady Anne Clifford. Lady Clifford, who died in 1676, fought a 40-year battle for her right to inherit her father’s estates and devoted herself to restoring and enhancing the castles and churches on her lands. She remains a celebrated figure in the history of northern England.
You will also come across the 12th century abbeys of Jervaulx and Bolton Priory both victims of the dissolution of the monasteries under the reign of Henry VIII. There’s also caving at White Scar and Stump Cross, with history going back hundreds of millions of years.
No visit to this specific acreage would be complete without giving worship to the local crumbly cheese
And, of course, the dales are littered with villages straight out of a Hovis advert – this despite the advert itself being filmed 250 miles south of the Yorkshire Dales, in the Dorset town of Shaftesbury. The prettiest villages, in addition to Hawes and Thwaite, are judged to include Kirkby Lonsdale, Appletreewick and Long Preston.
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