A brief guide to Sedbergh Town

the largest Market Town in the Western Dales

 

Sedbergh is a traditional Yorkshire market town 10 minutes from M6 Junction 37, which has retained its Yorkshire character and joy of welcoming all visitors young and old who just want to enjoy the beauty, peace and quiet of the Dales even though it is now part of Cumbria.

 

The town developed on the junction of several ancient highways at the confluence of four rivers and four dales.

 

Howgill Lane starts to follow the route of an old Roman road as it enters the Lune Valley and winds its way up into the Howgills said to look from the air like an elephant sleeping on its side, hence the local name Howgill Elephant.

 

The name Sedbergh is believed to be a Scandinavian derivation of "flat-topped hill" and could refer to Castlehaw where the Normans built their defences against the Scottish in the 11^th century.

 

The town centre is small, but the largest in the Western Dales and contains two general grocers, greengrocers, chemist, 3 pubs, 3 takeaways, chip shop, 3 banks, health centre, dentist, post office and newsagents plus two garages.

 

Sedbergh is set to become the English Book Town

 

There is a tourist centre to help you to decide how best to spend your time in and around Sedbergh. Kendal is only 20 minutes away and Windermere about 45 minutes.

 

If you have never been into the Dales before you will not believe the natural beauty of the hills and valleys, much less severe than the Lakes but probably more welcoming and certainly less crowded. 

It is no surprise that people visit, go home, sell up and come back to live here.

 

•  The Howgill Fells are accessible directly from any of the cottages offered. They offer a variety of walks from easy saunters to hard route marches and have many bridleways for the mountain biker.

 

• Dentdale is arguably the prettiest dale, Dent with its cobbled streets is about 5 miles out of Sedbergh and has two pubs each providing food and its own brewery.

 

The Dales Way leads through Dentdale to Sedbergh and over Barbondale to Kirkby Lonsdale.

 

• Garsdale leads east to Wensleydale, possibly the most heard of Yorkshire dale thanks to Wallace and Gromit.  Hawes, "the gateway to the Dales", is about14 miles away.

 

• Cautley valley with its spectacular waterfall or Spout runs north-east towards Kirkby Stephen and from there to Nateby and Muker where the views are unbelievable, although you may already have seen them on place mats.

 

 

• The Lune Valley runs from north to south, passing Sedbergh just to the west of the town. This leads to Ingleborough, a centre for caving in the Western Dales.

 

• The Lake District with its magnificent walking and climbing lies to the west, Windermere being about 20 miles away through Kendal.

 

Whatever your pleasure, walking, cycling, caving, riding, fishing or just sitting and taking in the peace and quiet of the Dales there is something here for you.

 

If you enjoy the odd drink or like to eat out then there are a myriad of cafes, restaurants and country pubs offering good wholesome meals at reasonable prices.

 

You can choose a cottage in the Town so that you can park your car, forget it and relax or a more remote cottage out of Town but still near enough to enjoy the facilities available.

 

All the cottages are fully equipped new or old either terraced or detached catering for 2 to 6 and a farmhouse for 12 people and all naturally include laundry, heating and lighting in the price and are available all year round for anything from a 3 night short break to a month or more.

 

They are managed by Christopher Whelan Estate Agents a local company offering quality service to both owners and visitors.

 

Christopher Whelan are local Estate Agents and Property Managers offering full management caretaking and holiday booking services for owners with no restriction on the number of weeks the owner reserves for their own use.

They stand in for the owners, especially helpful when the owner lives and works abroad but wants to keep a home here to return to.