Distance Covered: 4 miles Time to complete walk: 2.5 hours
Suitable for dog walking: No - livestock in most fields
Virus Awareness: Do this walk on a weekday to avoid crowds. All walkers on the route maintained social distancing and plenty of room to do this along the route of the walk. St Marys Church in Kettlewell may be closed due to the virus.
Check the local website for updates on the virus here:
Kettlewell Virus Update
General Safety Tips: Wear sturdy boots. Be carefull on the route back from Starbotton as the path has loose rocks on it. If worried about cattle in the field, you can always circumnavigate the field.
This is a pleasant walk along the riverside from the quiet village of Kettlewell. The walk makes its way out to Starbotton another typical Yorkshire village with lovely cottages and a pub. Then the route back is over endless stiles and through fields - only a slight climb on the way back. The views of Wharfedale are as stunning as to be expected. There is a church to visit in Kettlewell at the beginning or at the end of the walk.
The Kettlwell & Starbotton Walk
From Middlesbrough head onto the A66 to Darlington and then stay on the M1 to the A6055 turn off which is Catterick Road. Follow the directions to Leyburn. Go through Leyburn on the A684. Keep on the A684 to West Burton. The keep on the B6160 and down the valley to the village of Kettlewell. There is ample car parking near the river in the village. The parking is £4.80 for over 2 hours.
Map of the Kettlewell to Starbotton Walk
The Walk
From the car park, turn right and go over the bridge.
Turn right and go over the bridge
Once over the bridge turn right onto the path.
Go through the gate on your right and head onto the riverside path. Then go through the gate on your right signed as the Dales Way.
Go through the gate on the right
Head to the right on a path following another signpost for the Dales Way.
Follow the signpost for the Dales Way
Follow the path down to the riverside.
Follow the path down to the riverside
Follow the riverside path and then go through a gate.
Go through the gate
Head across a field keeping to the very visible track passing to the right of a stone building.
Head across the field
Soon you join a clear path again next to a wall
This soon joins the riverside again
Follow the path near the river
The path continues near the river and then soon comes to a gate.
Go through the gate
Turn right and follow the path ahead past an abandoned stone building
Follow the path ahead
Soon you come to an open field, the path is still a clear one though ahead.
Keep on the path ahead
The path then continues between two stone walls and then onto another field. The path remains a clear one though
Keep on the path ahead
Go through a gate and continue on the path
Go through the gate
Keep ahead on the next field
Keep ahead on the field
The path then continues next to a stone wall
Follow the path next to the stone wall
Head through another gate
Head through the gate
The path then bends to the left and through a gap in the wall
Go through the gap in the wall
Follow the path and head for some steps in the wall
Head towards the wall
Go through the squeeze stile in the wall
Go through the squeeze stile in the wall
Head over a plank as the path hugs the river.
Go over the plank
The path becomes grassier but still keeps to the right of the stone wall
Follow the grassy path
Head for the signpost which is for the Dales Way
Keep on the Dales Way
Follow the path as it hugs the river again
Keep to the path near the river
Soon the path becomes clearer again
Keep on the path
When you come to a gate go through the gate on the right which keeps beside the river.
Go through the gate on the right
Keep on this narrow path near the river
Follow the narrow path
Go over another wide plank ahead
Cross over the plank
In the field ahead keep diagonal until you come to a gap in the corner of the field.
Go through the gap in the field.
Go over a stile.
Go over the stile
Head through a gap in the wall ahead
Go through the gap
Soon you come to a footbridge. Go through the small gate and over the footbridge.
Go through the small gate
Go over the footbridge
Then head onto the path until you come to the road.
Follow the path to the road
Turn left and follow the road to the village of Starbotton.
Head into Starbotton
Pass a phone box and you then come to the Fox and Hounds pub.
Pass the phone box
The Fox and Hounds
Due to the virus the pub was closed- hopefully you will have better luck!
After inspecting Starbotton, head back on the road you came in on until you come to "The Old Chapel". Turn left here and up the road
Turn left onto the road near The Old Chapel
Then keep right and then fork left near Horseshoe Cottage
Turn right onto the road and then fork left at Horseshoe Cottage
Head to a way marked gate signposted to Kettlewell
Go through the gate
Go through the gap in the wall and then through a gate.
Go through the gap in the wall
Go through another gate and then climb up the field to a stile in the wall.
Go over the stile in the wall
You will now follow the evident path over lots of gates and stiles
Go through gates and stiles
The path is a very clear one though and goes through small wooded areas but mainly open fields.
Keep on the path
Eventually Kettlewell comes into view. As the path keeps to the left of a stone wall, turn right and head down the path into Kettlewell, passing by Summer Cottage.
Head down to Kettlewell
Pass Summer Cottage
Turn left and follow the road to St Marys Church - again this was closed- however is interesting if open.
Turn left and follow the road
St Marys Church
Head down the road to a maypole. Keep to the right of the maypole and you will end up back at the car park.
Keep to the right of the Maypole
Kettlewell
Kettlewell is a village in Upper Wharfedale North Yorkshire England. Histrorically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies 6 miles (10 km) north of Grassington at the point where Wharfedale is joined by a minor road which leads north-east from the village over Park Rash Pass to Coverdale Great Whernside rises to the east. The population of the civil parish (Kettlwell and Starbotton) was 322 at the 2011 census with an estimated population of 340 in 2015.
It is believed that the name Kettlewell is Anglo Saxon and comes from Chetelewelle which means a bubbling spring or stream. Signs of the farming methods of Romano-British and early medieval agriculture can still be seen in terraced fields to the north and the south of the village.
In the 13th century a market was established in Kettlewell, which became a thriving community. The Thursday market mostly sold corn outside the King's Arms. Textiles (and, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, lead mining) revitalised the village and Kettlewell's appearance today derives much from its past 200 years. The remains of the smelting-mill, used from 1700 to 1880, can be seen near the meeting of Cam Gill and Dowber Gill Becks half a mile above the village.
In 1686 Kettlewell and Starbotton were almost destroyed in a flood. Heavy rainfall descended on the adjacent hills and cascaded down into the village demolishing several houses and causing the residents to flee.
On 5 July 2014, the Tour De France Stage 1 from Leeds to Harrogate passed through the village.
Starbotton
Starbotton is a village of around 70 houses in Upper Wharfdale in the Craven district of North Yorkshire England. It is situated in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, by the River Wharfe. The resident population is around 75 and many village houses are used for holiday accommodation. There are two working farms - one at either end of the village, the rest having been converted for other uses. The village is on the opposite bank of the Wharfe to the Dales Way halfway between Kettlewell and Buckden.
The derivation of the name is the subject of much debate. It is thought to be derived from "Stamphotne" (1086 Domesday Book or "Stauerboten" (12th century - Old English "stæfer" replacing the Norse "stafn" in the first form and meaning "the place where stakes are got").
People have lived in this part of the dale since at least the Iron Age. The area is criss-crossed with pack horse trails from the time when the great monasteries like Fountains Abbey, Jervaulx and Rievaulx traded wool and other goods across this part of the Pennines.
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