Wildflower Walks

In the Yorkshire Dales

Do you love a walk through a meadow full of stunning wildflowers?

Well, you are in the right place! This page is dedicated to the absolutely STUNNING beauty of the Yorkshire Dales National Park’s wildflowers, mostly, their upland wildflower meadows.

Did you know that the Yorkshire Dales National Park is the home of some of the only remaining traditional wildflower meadows in the COUNTRY? 97% of the UK’s meadows are already lost, which is sad news indeed.

Did you know that a SINGLE wildflower meadow can be home to up to 120 different species of grass and wildflowers? And that these extraordinary environments are an absolute haven for pollinators? Wildflower meadows are a rare beauty, but are super important for farming, for carbon absorption and also for biodiversity. (Source Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust)

And they are truly beautiful to walk through (ON THE FOOTPATH I might add… as tempting as it is to go leaping through the long grass!)

All of our walks have their own dedicated walk page, so tap on the button to head to whichever takes your fancy!

Child sat next to wildflowers with a farm building on the hill and trees each side

The Star Guides

Each of our has been walked by our own 6 feet (in the sense of us being three actual humans, not in a kind of weird monster-like way!) Often, they have been walked several times and sometimes, they have been walked so often that they have been added to. This website has been growing alongside the OG Reluctant Explorers and now they can handle a little bit more - maybe yours can too.

I will say. As parents we know our kids better than anybody. I have done my best to include as much information as I can in each individual walk, so you can make your own judgement as a family. So the star ratings are just a guide to get you started.

⭐ Little Monkeys:

Walks suitable for younger children up to preschool (and beyond!) Shorter length walks with occasional pushchair access, no technical or tricky terrain. Perfect for those who are just getting out of the pushchair (and then back in again… and then back out…. and then… you know how it goes!)

⭐⭐ Little Adventurers:

Walks suitable for pre-schoolers and younger kids. Medium length/ difficulty walks. In these walks, there may be some more challenging terrain, but they are still fairly short.

⭐⭐⭐ Superstar Hikers:

Walks suitable for older children. Not necessary longer length, but they are more technically challenging in the terrain, and on occasion the distance as well.

Child walking through Wildflowers

The Walk Emojis

I’m renowned for a heavy used of emojis in my regular life, so why on EARTH should my website be any different?! Here is a guide as to what they all stand for.

Essentially, it’s a brief look at what you can expect from the walk, but in emoji form. (I’m campaigning for a pram emoji. It would make my pushchair friendly walk life MUCH easier.)

👶 Suitable for Pushchairs (see? no pram emoji)

🎒 Suitable for Carriers (that’s a rucksack, not a weird satchel. Closest thing to a kid carrier I could find!)

🚘 Car Park/ On Street Parking (plain sailing there - all of our walks have places to park, although if possible try….

🚌 Public Transport (PLEASE! To try and alleviate parking problems and to just in general be an excellent egg.)

🐶 Dog Friendly (plenty of those!)

🥾 Sturdy Footwear or Wellies (I’d say for most, walking shoes/ boots, for some, wellies)

🛝 A park or play area (I try my hardest to find one, or at least tell you where the nearest one is!)

🦆 Ducks to Feed (bring your duck food!)

🍦 Ice Cream! For Ice cream is truly a WONDERFUL addition to a family walk!

☕ As is coffee (for the adults obviously - I’m not going to subject you to a caffeine fuelled reluctant explorer THE HORROR!) This one means you can find coffee, tea or hot chocolate (ok - that one’s for the WHOLE family!)

🍻 Because I know how a family walk can go, you’ll be relieved to know that I’ll also tell you if there’s a pub at the end!

💦 Water play/ paddle/ swim (Check out our advice on Wild Swimming with Kids and the RLSS Water Safety info)

✨📚 Cool history, geology, something blummin’ awesome to talk about.

👻 Legendary Story. Ghosts, horrible history, witches and trolls!

🌳 Walking Games - they all have these!

Rampsholme Bridge near Muker

Muker Circular

📍 Muker, Upper Swaledale, North Yorkshire Dales

⭐⭐ Little Adventurers

🥾🎒🚘🍦🍻☕💦🌳🚌🐶

📏 Less than 2 miles

Rampsholme Bridge is found just outside Muker and this short circular will take you right to it! It is an excellent fossil spot… yes, you read that right!

Tap here to head to our Muker circular walk
Child standing next to a pool of water on a river with trees lining in the summer

Litton Stepping Stones and Scoska Cave

📍 Litton, Littondale The Yorkshire Dales National Park

⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐ Short circular: Little Adventurers Full Cave: Superstar Hikers

🚘🥾💦✨🌳🐶

📏 2/ 3.5 miles

Finding a hidden cave is a TRUE adventure and this walk will take you right to it!

Don’t like caves? This walk can be adapted to be a fab little stepping stones circular too!

Tap here to head to our Litton Stepping Stones walk
Cray Gill waterfall in the Summer

Cray Gill Waterfalls, Upper Wharfedale

⭐⭐⭐ Superstar Hikers

📍 Buckden/Cray, Upper Wharfedale

💦🎒🥾🚘🌳🚌🐶

📏 5 miles circular

There are 11ty billion waterfalls on this walk. Fact.

Ok, I got the kids to count, but there are so many wonderful waterfalls to spot that 11ty billion isn’t a bad shout and for only 5 miles, that’s a lot of waterfalls per mile!

It’s also got 2 pubs…. that’s a pretty decent ratio too in my opinion….

Tap here to head to our Cray Gill waterfall walk
Child standing next to a waterfall in a green lush wooded gorge

Flintergill, Dent

📍 Dent, Cumbria, Western Yorkshire Dales National Park

⭐⭐Little Adventurers / ⭐⭐⭐ Superstar Hikers

📏 Short Circular 1 mile - Longer circular walk 6 miles

🥾🎒🚘🚌🛝☕✨👻💦🌳🐶

This walk is PACKED full of cool stuff for the kids, it features a waterfall, a small farming museum, ruins, paddle spots, a park AND a vampire stone!

You’ll have to read more about that in the walk details! Let’s go to Dent!

Tap here to head to our Flintergill Walk
The play area at Kettlewell

Kettlewell to Starbotton

📍 Kettlewell, Upper Wharfedale

⭐⭐ Little Adventurers

🥾🎒🚘💦🛝☕🍦🍻🌳🚌🐶

📏 Circular walk, 4.5 miles

We love Kettlewell.

Ok, admittedly we do love a lot of places in the Yorkshire Dales, but Kettlewell really is great. And in August, you might also stumble on some scarecrows too!

This circular walk from Kettlewell to Starbotton is about 4.5 miles and starts and ends with ice cream and the park! (Oh and the pub….. three pubs!)

There are paddle spots and it’s dog friendly too!

Tap HERE to head to our Kettlewell to Starbotton walk
Playing on Kettlewell Stepping Stones

Kettlewell Stepping Stones

📍 Kettlewell, Upper Wharfedale, The Yorkshire Dales

⭐⭐ Little Adventurers

🚘🥾💦🍻🍦☕🛝🌳🐶🚌

📏 2 miles circular walk

Did I mention that we love Kettlewell?! This perfectly petite walk will take you on a short walk to the stepping stones and back. It’s a great walk for a Summer’s Day with places to get down to the water’s edge to splash!

Oh and OF COURSE there’s ice cream and the park!

Tap here to head to our Kettlewell Stepping Stones walk

Reeth Stepping Stones

⭐⭐ Little Adventurers

📍 Reeth, Swaledale, North Eastern Yorkshire Dales

🚘🎒🥾💦🍦☕🛝🍻🌳🚌🐶

📏 Under 3 miles circular

We love a good old fashioned stepping stones walk and this one is probably our favourite.

Reeth is a super little hub in Swaledale, with plenty of action! It has a park, pubs and its very own ice cream parlour, which all serve to make this Yorkshire Dales wander even more excellent!

Tap HERE to head to our Reeth Stepping Stones walk
Walking into Halton Gill village

Halton Gill, Littondale

⭐⭐ Little Adventurers

📍 Littondale, near Wharfedale, Central Yorkshire Dales

🎒🚘🥾💦🌳🐶

📏 2 miles

This circular walk was born out of my desire to visit a movie location! So if you want a dose of Hollywood, coupled with a heavy hit of Yorkshire Dales phwoar in a super quiet location? This one’s for you!

Tap here to head to our Halton Gill walk
Child sat next to a waterfall in the high Summer sun

Mill Gill and Whitfield Gill Force

⭐⭐⭐ Superstar Hikers

📍 Askrigg, Wensleydale The Yorkshire Dales

🚘🥾🎒🍻👻🛝💦🌳🚌🐶

📏4.5 miles

Oh yes. This one is for the waterfall lovers out there! Not one, but TWO epic waterfalls, and you get a bonus waterfall in for good measure!

This walk starts and ends in the bustling village of Askrigg in Wensleydale and is awesome in winter and paddlesome in Summer! OH and make sure you grab your cake from the Bake-Well cafe AND head to the prettiest park in the Dales!

Tap here to head to our Mill Gill and Whitfield Gill walk

Something in mind? Search our full site!

(e.g. search: Gaping Gill Winch, Kettlewell etc.)

All our Family Friendly Walks on One Map!

What’s that I see? A MAP!?

Yes, that’s right, you guys asked, and here it is. The map of ALL the Reluctant Explorers family walks!

The one you can see is embedded so you can use it straight from the website, or if you’d prefer, you can view it straight in Google Maps, simple tap the link on the button below.

The benefit of using it directly from the website is that when you tap on each individual walk, you will find the page link to each walk, allowing you to jump straight to the walk information!

The map can be filtered as follows:

Family Walks (purple) | Pushchair Walks (pram) | Waterfall Walks (blue) | Walks Under Two Miles (yellow)

For more types of walks (pub walks, woodland walks etc. Head to the menus above where they are all categorised, depending on what you fancy!)

TAP to head straight to the Reluctant Explorers Map!

Scroll using the arrows for all our Family Friendly Walks

Follow us for up to date Outdoors Adventures!

We live and BREATHE the Yorkshire Dales outdoors life!

BEEN INSPIRED? Tag us @reluctantexplorers

Come follow our journey over on Instagram and Facebook where you’ll find up to date walk info, breaking news on Yorkshire Events, new Yorkshire Dales wild swim spots, climbing, caves and more!

Follow us on Social Media for all the up to date info: @thereluctantexplorers

Leave No Trace

The Yorkshire Dales is our home, and the home of so many others who care deeply about this beautiful space.

Should you visit, make sure to:

Take home anything you bring, leave no rubbish behind.

Make the world a better place by picking up any rubbish you see, even if it isn’t yours.

Leave everything else as you found it.

Help us to protect our wild spaces.