Yorkshire Dales National Park

The Yorkshire Dales National Park was established in 1954 as part of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act. Covering an area of over 1762 square kilometres (680 square miles) of diverse scenery in the central Pennine region of Northern England, the majority of the park is inside the county of North Yorkshire, the area in its northwest corner lies within the county of Cumbria.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park is one of the fourteen established National Parks of England and Wales. The YDNPA administers the park, an independent authority that is funded through taxpayers, three quarters of which comes from central government, the remainder from the local county and district councils.

The aims of the Yorkshire national park authority is to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of each park, and to promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment, by the public, of the special qualities of each park. The Yorkshire Dales are lived in and worked in; with over 90% of the land in private ownership, as a result the parks authorities also have a responsibility to foster the social and economic well being of the local communities.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park attracts over eight million visitors every year.

The dales national park boundaries form a rough inverted triangular shape running northeast from near Skipton along the A65 Skipton to Kirkby Lonsdale Road. A few miles north of Ingleton it then heads north towards Sedbergh. Skirting through the Howgills it than cuts west through the lower section of the Mallerstang Valley, then heading north once again towards Kirkby Steven.

The Yorkshire Dales Park boundary then follows the watershed above Swaledale near Tan Hill, taking a line easterly towards, but not including, Richmond. Turning south through lower Wensleydale passing to the west of Leyburn which also lays just outside the dales park boundaries, a deviation is then made to omit the head of Nidderdale AONB. Southward the A59 is then met just east of Bolton Abbey and followed back to near Skipton.

Further information can be found at one of the five Yorkshire Dales National Park Visitor Centres or by visiting the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) website.