'It's stunning - the best place to live'

The Yorkshire Dales National Park was officially designated on 16 November 1954.

It was in recognition of its natural beauty, the diversity of its wildlife habitats, its rich cultural heritage and its opportunities for outdoor recreation.

The national park covers 841 sq miles (2,179 sq km) and is home to 24,000 people.

It straddles the central Pennines in North Yorkshire and Cumbria, and also includes an area of Lancashire.

As the park marks its 70th anniversary, we hear from people who live in and love the Yorkshire Dales.

Violet, Clemmy and Annas are three of Amanda and Clive Owen's nine children who have grown up on a farm at Ravenseat in Swaledale.

They have featured in a number of TV shows about their family, including Channel 5's Our Yorkshire Farm.

Violet, 14, said: "I love that everyone in the Yorkshire Dales knows each other.

"You can go to someone's house and you know their family and everyone around.

"I really like how you can see the hills and the trees.

"When you go into cities you usually see flatter farm ground. In the Yorkshire Dales it's all natural, you've got all the bumps and hills and it's unspoilt by houses."

Nine-year-old Clemmy said it was "really fun to jump in the hay" and ride on tractors in the summer.

She said: "I like the trees and barns because they're all really old and were built long ago and they're good to climb in."

Annas, 11, added: "I like how it feels free and how you can go anywhere easily.

"I like that there's animals and places where you can go where it's nice and peaceful.

"It's nice and calm and there's no pollution."

Jean Witty moved to Thoralby in Bishopdale, which is a smaller dale off the larger Wensleydale, two-and-a-half years ago from Hampshire, with her husband and nine-year-old daughter.

Jean, 46, was visiting family in the Dales every year on holiday and decided after Covid that it was a good opportunity to move up and settle down.

Jean's daughter goes to the local primary school and Jean has a job at the local pub.

She said: "Moving to the Yorkshire Dales was a great move for us for a more outdoorsy lifestyle and it's great for walking.

"It's also a nicer environment for our daughter to grow up in with less people and less cars.

"We've been very lucky, the village is quite small and everyone has been very friendly and we've got involved in village activities so we feel quite settled here already.

"We love it here and we're viewing it as a permanent move although we have to be more organised visiting family. But we've definitely no regrets moving up here."

Richard Fawcett was born in Hardraw and has lived in the same house almost all his life - apart from four years in mid-Wales which he described as a "mistake" that left him longing for the "beautiful Yorkshire Dales".

He looks after four sheepdogs and gives demonstrations in the village.

Richard, 78, said: "The Yorkshire Dales is sheltered, not usually from the weather, but I feel like we're enclosed by the hills and the fells and I'd hate to live somewhere flat.

"My roots are here, my parents and grandparents are in the graveyard and the people around me are people who've always been here.

"The Yorkshire Dales are very beautiful, the landscape is gorgeous, it's stunning. It's the best place in the country to live, it's home."

Writer and blogger Debbie North is a regular visitor to the Dales.

Debbie started using a wheelchair in 2012 when she suffered degeneration of the spine.

She said she "had a horrible sensation of being left at the bottom of the hill when everybody else was donning their hiking boots and throwing on rucksacks to go for a day of exploring".

Debbie, 62, founded the charity Access the Dales which helps people with disabilities explore the area.

Debbie uses an all-terrain wheelchair and said it meant she was able to "get out and experience the tranquillity and feel the elements on your face and hear the bird sound.

"It's just good for your soul.

"Not being able to do it was so destroying for myself and that's what we want to be able to put on for other people."

Charlotte Mudd was born in Wensleydale and has lived in the Yorkshire Dales all her life, apart from a short stint when she went to university in Liverpool.

She was brought up on a farm and said that was "pretty idyllic".

Charlotte said: "I have memories of hay time, playing in the hay bales and taking pet lambs on walks and getting out in the countryside and always being surrounded by nature.

"When I came back from university I was 25 and it was clear that I wanted to stay because my interests are nature, walking and farming."

Charlotte, 32, said she wanted to stay in the Dales and was weighing up her options.

She said: "I'm trying to figure out how to own a house here, whether that be local occupancy housing or a barn conversion, and I'm asking 'What's going to be the most cost-effective way to live here?'"

To mark the anniversary milestone, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has unveiled "70 Essentials" for visitors, including key locations and walks.

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