Secret Malham

Swimming in front of Janet's Foss waterfall in the sunrise light — Janet's Foss, one of the most iconic and famous waterfalls in the Yorkshire Dales

Malham is probably the most popular place to visit in the Yorkshire Dales

Malham is always bustling with visitors drawn to see the incredible trio of delights, Janet’s Foss waterfall, Malham Cove and Gordale Scar. Three places that are FAR from a secret and feature in most Yorkshire Dales related TV shows, tourist advertisements and internet guides. In fact… search Janet’s Foss on social media and you’ll find an overwhelming number of hits!

And with good reason! These three natural wonders are quite simply jaw-dropping and should be on all Yorkshire Dales visitors bucket lists. BUT don’t expect to have these places to yourselves. OH NO!

Malham attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every single year, come rain or shine (actually, even MORE if the sun shines….) but if you still want to enjoy peace and serenity in Malham it is possible… you just need to know where to look.

And that’s where I come in!

Gordale Scar

Well hellooooo Gordale Scar, you geological marvel, you! And you’d be correct in thinking that this IS one of the most popular places to visit in the Yorkshire Dales.

For good reason! It’s pushchair and wheelchair accessible and it is the home of towering cliff faces and cascading waterfalls…. yes WATERFALLS.

For there are two. The lower falls, which you will see in the picture above (that’s the accessible bit) And the upper falls that you will see peeping out at the top.

Now. If you have a nosy at a good old fashioned OS Map, you’ll spot that there’s a green dotted right of way heading right up the face of Gordale Scar. It’s a Grade 1 classed scramble, so unless you are confident at making your way up the rocky face, you’ll be left admiring the upper falls…. well from the below.

Unless…..

You head down to see them from above! (Like we did in the picture below)

And there's the top falls of Gordale Scar in full flow in January!

Gordale Scar…. The Other Waterfall

If you head down from the upper parts of Malham (near the Tarn) you’ll find an area called Street Gate. There is some parking available on the grassy verge, and from there you can walk down to Gordale Scar.

The final descent is incredibly steep down to the bottom of the falls (we actually ended up doing it on our bums, which caused great hilarity, and also led to the kids calling me Health and Safety mum…. OK, going down on our bums MIGHT have been a little overly risk adverse, but hey! Nobody fell over!) but is well worth the trip if you can stomach the steep descent.

Once there you will get to see the slightly hidden in plain sight upper falls, which are in fact far more spectacular that the lower ones. The water cascades through a hole carved into the epic rock face, and whilst you won’t get the full impact of the towering rocky cliffs that you experience down low, we think it’s pretty spectacular. And definitley quiter than the ones down low!

Viewing Malham Cover from a distance, with nobody for miles.

An alternative view of Malham Cove

Ok. There’s no getting around it. If you want to see Malham Cove from the bottom, and the famous limestone pavement at the top, where Harry Potter was filmed. Then yes. You are simply going to have to brace yourselves for the thousands of others who want to do exactly the same as you.

Have we done it? Absolutely! What advice would we give you to see it at its best? Go as off peak as you can. Mid week, terrible weather, extremely early, or nearing sunset, will decrease the numbers.

OR.

You can head across the road to Ewe Moor where you can get a brilliant view of Malham Cove, and watch the hundreds of people from the peace of your very own personal limestone pavement.

It’s the antisocial option.

The trig point of Malham — Hello trig point baggers, this one's for you!

The Forgotten bits of Malham

Ok…. time for some quick fire fun facts about the most popular place in the Yorkshire Dales.

Malham has a trig point to bag

Yes. It’s true. For those who collect trigs like football stickers, this will be music to your ears.

Located on Weets Top, this trig is a very little visited one. So why not tick it off? You can easily walk to it from the layby parking at Gordale Bridge.

Malham has industrial ruins from the lead mining industry

Yes indeedy. There are few places in the Dales that don’t have some evidence of the once thriving lead mining industry and Malham is no exception.

You might spot it from the road to Malham Tarn, but there is a smelt mill chimney and flue which is a remnant of the lead mining that took place over on Pikedaw Hill opposite. You can walk to it from the road and we include the path to it in our Malham Tarn circular!

There are the remains of a Roman Camp above Malham

Who KNEW Malham had all this history? (Well I knew actually…)

Remember Street Gate? I mentioned it as the start point to access the upper falls of Gordale Scar (avoiding the scramble) well if you follow the very well defined track (once used by the Romans as a marching road, and later by Cistercian monks, Mastiles Lane) it takes you right through the middle of what was a temporary Roman Camp called Mastiles Lane, Roman Camp.

On the site, you’ll find an information board to tell you all about it, but in case you want to know NOW, then here you go.

The camp was built in c. 1st Century AD when the Roman Governor at the time, Petllius Cerialis was dealing with the Brigantian rebellion. The Brigantes were a tribe that essentially ran the North (a bit like the Starks…. GOT fans, if you know, you know.)

The temporary camp was just that, temporary and consisted of earthworks, trenches and wooden reinforcements, to protect the camp within. The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Looking at the site of a roman camp with moors and snow in the distance — The information board at Mastiles Lane Roman Camp

Wildflowers. MEGA Wildflowers

Did you know that Malham has not one but TWO National Nature Reserves? One, you will probably have heard of, Malham Tarn, the other is New House Farm, a National Trust owned farmhouse, which is the home of one of the finest wildflower hay meadows in the Yorkshire Dales.

Yup. If you are a wildflower or conservation enthusiast, this nature reserve achieved its national status in 2000 and is key in protecting one of the country’s rarest forms of habitat.

You can walk on the footpath through the wildflower meadows during their best season in May, and it is beautiful!

A field full of yellow buttercups and wildflowers — One of the many fields full of wildflowers in Malham.

Standing in a cairn overlooking Malham Tarn — The cairn on top of Great Close Hill overlooking Malham Tarn

Great Close Hill

Ok…. I’ll be you’ve heard of Malham Tarn, but have you ever noticed the hill that overlooks it?

Great Close hill overlooks the stunning SSSI and National Nature Reserve of Malham Tarn, and I’ll bet you didn’t ever think about climbing it.

Well here’s why you should! This hill not only offers you a unique viewpoint of Malham Tarn, well away from any of those doing the Malham Tarn Circular (well worth a trip if you fancy it, it’s always far quieter than the walks that start from the village!) But it has a super historic cairn on the top of it, which is in fact another Scheduled Monument.

The cairn is actually a burial cairn, which is around 17m in diameter and was excavated in 1936. It is not entirely clear what was found, but there have been suggestions that grave goods were excavated at the time. Conclusions have been drawn that this mound may have originated from the 2nd Millennium BC, but then was reused during the Iron Age.

If you take a look at the picture, you will see the cairn is a ring shape. This is not how it would have been originally, and is a result of human disturbance, when the cairn rocks were rearranged. It is illegal to add or to take away any rocks from the cairn, or to disturb it. We have walked this a couple of times and you can find our Great Close Hill walk route here.

child sitting opposite Malham Tarn sculptures — The sculptures at Malham Tarn

The Sculptures of Malham Tarn

Now. This is borderline isn’t it.

I almost didn’t include Malham Tarn in the ‘Secret’ Malham blog, but having mentioned Janet, Gordale and the Cove, I can’t leave the Tarn out!

This SSSI is a stunning place to walk around and offers a beautiful and interesting circular walk around the water, and through the duckboarded nature reserve.

But did you know that the National Trust Centre also houses a series of chainsaw sculptures too?

They are very cool to go and see, and Malham Tarn is ALWAYS quieter than the village, so a nice middle ground for those seeking to escape the crowds!

Are you going to check out Malham’s secret spots?

Because Malham certainly is the jewel in the crown of the Yorkshire Dales, but has SO much more to offer than the terrific trio.

Have I convinced you?