Paddling in Thornton le Dale with Living Arrows 24/52 (2021)

We’ve had the first week back at school for the last part of the summer term. Gosh it was a pretty full on first week! The kids most definitely affected from the heat and only having had one week off to try and recharge, made it quite a tiring first week of term! I have to say I quite enjoyed a few peaceful hours whilst they were at school and nursery inbetween working. After visiting Falling Foss last weekend we have got the bug to visit more places with waterfalls and rivers in Yorkshire, so we chose to check out the paddling in Thornton le Dale.

As it was forecast to be the hottest day of June so far we chose to set off relatively early so it wouldn’t be too busy or too hot and so we could come home and spend the afternoon in the garden and paddling pool. At this time of year it really is key to survival for the kids to be surrounded by cool water!

Thornton le Dale is described as one of Yorkshire’s prettiest villages and from what we saw in the few hours we spent exploring the beck and the surrounding area we agreed it really is a picturesque place to visit.

The kids loved travelling around a few of the villages streets by walking up and down the stream. Daisy in particular is always happiest when in nature and water and really enjoyed paddling in the middle of the stream.

Teddy was a little more cautions paddling as he’s always unsure of what is in the water and although he’s a keen barefoot walker on land he’s not so confident in water. We must make sure that we take sandals for him next time as he ended up in trainers in the water for fear of fish! I must admit us girls kept our sandals on as some parts were sandy and others had small bit of pottery on the river bed to look out for.

We left the village centre and followed a local walk which mostly meant more paddling in Thornton le dale beck as it meandered around our 3 mile circular route.

Visiting and paddling in Thornton le Dale

I would first recommend getting there early or later in the day to avoid peak times. The village centre with its nice looking cafes and independent shops was getting busier as we left at lunch time. We parked in the village centre carpark where parking was plentiful. The carpark itself even had a nature reserve, public toilets and the beck running past. It’s one of the prettiest carparks we have parked at in a while!

We walked the green circular route which we found on this Thornton le Dale information page and mostly found it easy to follow once we found the start! It took us on a fairly easy route with the interesting hamlet of Ellerburn half way round with St Hilda’s 12th century church, Low farm and campsite. We also found the village pretty welcoming and friendly which is always comforting especially of late where some places after lockdown are less friendly than others with regards to visitors.

I’m not sure next week whether we may have visited another beck, river or waterfall to write about, but for now we’re certainly enjoying finding weekend micro adventures for the kids to break up the long structured weeks at school! Who am I kidding it also breaks up our week as well!