The Old Dairy, Muker

Hawes is a popular market town in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire and is regarded as one of the honeypot tourist attractions of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Standing between Buttertubs and Fleet Moss, the town is an excellent centre for walking and touring Wensleydale and the adjoining dales of Swaledale, Cotterdale, Dentdale, Garsdale, Wharfedale and Chapel-le-Dale. Take a walk around the Hawes Town Trail, Millennium Walk, Pennine Way or along the River Ure, which is nearby. In 1998 Hawes was awarded the English Tourist Board Silver Award for the “Best Day Trip Out”. Modern traffic has long replaced coaches and horse drawn wagons along its narrow streets, but market day (Tuesdays) in Hawes is as busy as ever, with a farmers’ auction attracting sheep farmers from all over the north of England. Traditional shops, cafés and inns now cater for a variety of Dales visitors as well as the local community. The award-winning Wensleydale Creamery, made famous by the animated Wallace and Grommit films, is now open to visitors so that they can see the famous cheese being made and sample the end product in a welcoming café. In the old station yard you will find the busy National Park Centre and Dales Countryside Museum. The Museum is home to the magnificent collection of Dales artefacts by the two great Dales historians and writers, Marie Hartley and Joan Ingilby.