Bolton Abbey

Bolton Priory is the rare monastic ruin where part of the building never stopped being used. The nave was in parish use from about 1170, and when the Dissolution came it was Prior Moone who negotiated with Cromwell to keep it as a place of worship for the local community. It worked. The nave is still a working parish church with Pugin windows of 1851 in the south wall, and the rest of the priory stands roofless around it.

The other reason to come is the river. The Wharfe runs right past the priory, with 62 stepping stones across it and a large beach north of them where families picnic and paddle. Upstream, Strid Wood is one of the most visited woods in the Dales.

The pricing is the thing that makes it work for a group. There is no per-person admission at all. One 12.50 ticket covers the car and everyone in it, so a family of five pays less per head here than at almost anywhere comparable.

South west from Thirsk via Ripon, then the A59 west, joining the B6160 at Bolton Bridge. It is about 38 miles and takes the better part of an hour, which makes this a full day rather than an afternoon.

There are four car parks. Bolton Abbey Village, BD23 6EX is nearest the priory church, the ruins and the stepping stones, and it is the one for a short visit. Riverside and Strid Wood are both BD23 6AN and sit further up the valley for the woods. Barden Bridge is seasonal, open only from early April to the end of August. Your 12.50 ticket moves between the three main ones, subject to space, so arrive early on a fine weekend.

Treat this as car-only from Thirsk. Every bus the estate lists comes from the Ilkley, Skipton, Leeds or Wakefield direction, and the nearest stations are Skipton or Ilkley followed by a taxi.

Start at the priory. The church is open and in use, so go in and look at the Pugin glass, then walk the ruins outside it. The stepping stones are immediately beside it, with the footbridge alongside if you or the children would rather not.

From there follow the river up to the Cavendish Pavilion, which is the main place to eat, and on into Strid Wood. The Strid itself is about a mile further. Barden Tower sits at the northern end of the estate if you want the long version.

There are nine places to eat across the estate, including three tea rooms, the Priest's House near Barden Tower and the Devonshire Arms, plus a village shop that houses the post office.

The stepping stones are what children remember, and the fact that they are an ancient right of way rather than a modern attraction is a nice detail to carry across them.

Strid Wood is the best of the walking, and the Strid is the most remarkable thing on the estate, though for a reason that needs stating plainly rather than dramatised. The river squeezes from about 27 metres wide to roughly two, dropping into a channel cut down into the sandstone, and both banks are undercut. That undercutting is the actual mechanism of the danger: the water continues under the rock you are standing on. The estate's own wording is that the Strid is very dangerous and lives have been lost.

The priory itself repays a slow look, because you can read the whole Dissolution story off the building. One end of it survived because somebody argued for it.

Book the car park before you go and arrive earlyish on a fine weekend, since your ticket moves between car parks only if there is space when you get there. Park at Bolton Abbey Village if you are mainly here for the priory and the stepping stones, and at Riverside or Strid if the woods are the plan.

Keep dogs off Barden Moor and Barden Fell, where they are not allowed at all, and on a lead everywhere else. Take the Strid signage seriously and keep children well back from the edge; there is no fence doing that job for you. If anyone in the party would struggle with distance, ring 01756 718009 beforehand and reserve one of the electric wheelchairs, which are 5 for the day and released at 10am and 1pm.