Parcevall Hall Gardens

Parcevall Hall Gardens offer a rare thing in the Yorkshire Dales: a full-scale designed garden set into the hills. Covering 24 acres at Skyreholme near Appletreewick in Wharfedale, they are the largest registered gardens open to the public in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and the setting makes every turn feel part of the wider dale.

The gardens were created from 1927 around a Grade II* listed manor house whose oldest part dates from 1586. Expect a mix of trees and shrubs, herbaceous borders and garden areas laid out across sloping ground, with the hills rising around you. After decades of decline, a long restoration starting in the mid 1980s brought the garden back, so what you see today is the result of patient work over many years. The hall itself is a working retreat house, which gives the whole place a quiet, unhurried atmosphere.

For gardeners, the main lessons here are about growing on a hillside in an upland climate: how shelter, slope and aspect are used, and which trees and shrubs cope with Dales weather. Paths climb and fall, so sturdy shoes are wise, and it pays to take your time. The gardens usually open from spring to autumn, broadly April to October, so check before travelling. Combine the visit with a walk in Wharfedale for a full Dales day.