Not all those who wander are lost
Date published 24 April, 2019
The Old Mill Site at Crakehall
Crakehall is really two places. Great Crakehall, and Little Crakehall. It is divided in the middle by Bedale Beck, which later joins the River Swale.
Crakehall is about two miles from Bedale, an historic market town with a heritage railway line serving Wensleydale. The walk to Crakehall is better if you can manage a little extra and follow the footpaths through the fields, which will offer up some great views.
The mill site is attractive, with a walk surround on one site and the beck prettily wanders through it, divided up into the main stream and the old mill race. It is easy to spot, and worth stopping and getting out to see. Crakehall has too many trucks going through it for such a pretty village, but you can get off the main road and enjoy the peace, and the bird song.
The village green, overlooked by the Bay Horse Inn, is ready for inclusion in a calendar. And the Bay Horse does very nice food, and some decent ales!
The walk to Bedale, though. It really is worth doing for the walk itself. Plus you can wander around Bedale, and you can pop into the Beer Cafe by the river, near the station. You can buy Heck sausages, too, and you should - they even have a vegan range. Beetroot sausages might sound eccentric, but they taste amazing. And there are enough footpaths to take a slightly different route back, too.
The main two words for this gateway to this part of Yorkshire are peace, and pretty. You get both.
Villages like this get forgotten, and become just places where people live. Or, in this case, take a holiday. There is a great camping site at Crakehall Mill, for example. You can sit there, and just hear the hum of the M1 - far enough away to not be an issue, but just there, to remind you how great it is to wander off the main routes and chill in the sunshine.
Of course, if you ended up living here it would not be a terrible thing!
We are happy snappers!
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