Stay At The Wensleydale Heifer Hotel In Beautiful Wensleydale, England

Review of The Wensleydale Heifer | Main Street, West Witton
The Wensleydale Heifer
  • Trip101 Review
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Elaine
Elaine 
Published
| 4 min read

The magnificent Yorkshire Dales are located in northern England, in the beautiful county of Yorkshire — ‘God’s Own Country.’ The Dales are a firm favourite for tourists in the UK. Stay this summer in the charming Wensleydale Heifer hotel, situated in the village of West Witton, right at the gateway to the prettiest part of our English countryside.

The Dales includes some of the finest limestone scenery in the UK, from crags and pavements to an underground labyrinth of caves. Each valley or ‘dale’ has its own distinct character, set against expansive heather moorland tops.

Stone-built villages sit amongst traditional farming landscapes of field barns, drystone walls and flower-rich hay meadows, and show how the area has been shaped over thousands of years by the people who have lived and worked here. This is a part of England where nature and people have created a special landscape of beauty and character.

Stay at Wensleydale Heifer

The Wensleydale Heifer

The Wensleydale Heifer was built as an old coaching Inn in 1631 and its original fabric remains today. Now in the capable hands of Dave Moss and his family, the Heifer has expanded and evolved to provide unique accommodation in a spectacular location, and is well known for its top steak and seafood restaurant and fine dining. This independently run hotel excels at attention to detail and prides itself on first class customer service from its staff who all seemed very happy to be working there.

The rooms all have different themes from the Heifer room with the north’s only black and white four poster, which has its own milkshake maker, and the black sheep room, through to the James Bond room, the Chocolate room and the Night at the Movies room. The James Bond room has a white round bed, a 1960’s egg chair, and lots of fun Bond themed items. The Night at the Movies room even has its own popcorn maker! It’s quirky and fun and definitely something different.

Dave Moss, the owner, is a top chef but he is also hugely enthusiastic about his hotel and passionate about getting things right for his customers. All rooms have Egyptian linen sheets, Molton Brown toiletries and some even have hot tubs. Recent additions in every room are the Amazon Alexa, a neat piece of technology which responds to voice commands and can play any music of your choice or even tell you the weather forecast.

The restaurant at the Heifer

The giant fish and chip challenge

The restaurant is at the heart of the Heifer’s appeal with the very best quality locally sourced steaks and seafood on offer. Eating is taken very seriously here. Menus change to reflect the seasons, with game from the moors, fish from Scotland and the East Coast, beef and lamb from the Dale, all supplemented by local vegetables. Puddings and real bread are baked daily, cask conditioned ales are pulled from the barrel and wines from around the world compliment the imaginative English cuisine.

Meals are served in either the bar, the informal bistro or the main restaurant. You do not need to worry about nouvelle cuisine sized portions here — this is Yorkshire! If you are especially hungry, you may feel up to the giant fish and chip challenge and if you can finish this enormous meal, you will be awarded a certificate and t-shirt to attest to your achievement.

The breakfasts are pretty lavish with fresh farm eggs and Dales black pudding being part of the traditional Yorkshire breakfast, or why not try something different like haddock with poached eggs and mustard cream or perhaps kippers smoked on the premises.

There is even customised Wensleydale Heifer gin, chocolates and teddy bears for you to take home to remind you of your stay.

Wensleydale Attractions

Aysgarth Falls

Wensleydale, within the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, takes its name from the village of Wensley and is famed for its delicious creamy cheese. The fortunes of Wensleydale cheese were revived by the popularity of the animated characters Wallace and Gromit, created by Nick Parks, who were very partial to Wensleydale cheese and often mentioned it as their favourite delicacy.

The centre of cheese production is at the Wensleydale Creamery in the village of Hawes. It’s a destination in itself now, and there is a visitor centre where you can see how the cheese is made and matured, before retiring to the shop where there is the opportunity to eat an unlimited amount of cheese samples. Wensleydale with cranberries, Wensleydale with blueberries, Wensleydale with mango and ginger, Wensleydale with apricots, Wensleydale blue cheese, cheese with caramelised onion, cheese with balsamic, cheese with chilli, cheese with raisins or just plain cheese. Sheep’s cheese, smoked cheese, and cheese truckles, blended cheese, cheese with garlic and chives and cheese with ale — there is a large choice of cheese, no question.

A few miles down the road is the picturesque spot of Aysgarth Falls, as featured in the Hollywood film Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. The lower middle and high falls have some lovely walks alongside the river banks and the sparkling shallow waters are safe to paddle in, if you take care on the slippery rocks.

The Delightful Yorkshire Dales

There are lots of things to do and see in the Dales. There are beautiful valleys and delightful towns and villages often hosting country shows, festival and events in the summertime. Check out places to eat or drink fine local beers from local micro breweries. Ride on the Settle to Carlisle railway, which cuts through the National Park using tunnels and viaducts, or go walking or cycling in this lovely landscape.

This part of the country, with its dry stone walls, wild flowers, coloured cattle, sheep, rolling hills and patchwork fields in a dozen shades of green is, in fine weather, as delightful a destination as you could wish for anywhere. England in the summertime is hard to beat — check out the deals at the Wensleydale Heifer and try your very own slice of the flavour of wonderful Wensleydale.

Disclosure: Trip101 selects the listings in our articles independently. Some of the listings in this article contain affiliate links.

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