Boating things to do on a Yorkshire Canal holiday | family boating holiday

Things to do on a Yorkshire boating holiday

As well as boating itself, there are loads of things to do, sights to see and places to explore on a Yorkshire canal holiday. Try these:

	Within walking distance		A train or bus ride away
	Standedge Tunnel At three and a half miles, this is the longest, deepest, and highest canal tunnel in the country. The Visitor Centre has a video presentation by Mikron Theatre, which brings to life the people who built the tunnel and worked on the canal. Short trips into the Tunnel.		Eureka! The Museum for Children in Halifax is the first and foremost hands-on children's museum in the UK and is designed especially for 0-11 year olds. You can walk there along the line of the old Halifax Arm, or get the bus from Salterhebble or Sowerby Bridge.
	The Hepworth, Wakefield With over 1,600 square metres of light-filled gallery spaces, The Hepworth Wakefield is the largest purpose-built exhibition space outside London. The gallery brings together work from Wakefield's art collection, exhibitions by contemporary artists and rarely seen works by Barbara Hepworth.		The Brontë Parsonage Museum Haworth, was the home of the Brontë sisters. It is full of intriguing stuff about their life and times, as well as being a centre for academic study. The West Riding is also dotted with houses used as locations in their stories - and films.
	Hebden Bridge Arts Festival Music, literature, theatre, comedy, exhibitions and gardens. In June each year.		Nostell Priory, Wakefield A house built for someone who had to buy his own furniture - but it was made for this house by Chippendale and there are interiors by Robert Adam, and paintings by Brueghel and Hogarth. Plus a terrific pasrk and lake. A bus ride from your moorings.
	Royal Armouries Galleries show the history of fighting, weapons and armour. The tournament gallery takes you back to the age of chivalry, and if you pick the right day you can see real jousting. There is also a gallery of Peace....		National Media Museum, Bradford See dinosaurs larger than life and three times as natural on the 5-storey Imax screen at this centre devoted to film, photography, television, radio and the web.
	East Riddlesden Hall NT 17th-century West Riding manor house with formal and wild gardens, duckpond and grounds. The house is small enough to imagine real people living there, and has fascinating associations with Yorkshire's Civil War past. Location for Wuthering Heights (1992).		York Easily worth a day, by train from anywhere on the waterways. See the view from the tower of York Minster. Go underground to discover life with the Vikings at Yorvik. See Mallard and the Flying Scotsman at the National Railway Museum.
	Flying Saucers Decorate your own pottery (choose from 100 items), then have it glazed - pick up a few days later. Great for discovering the creative in yourself or your children. Enjoy a drink and a snack while you paint. Next to the Canal Centre in the heart of Hebden Bridge.		Imperial War Museum, Salford Quays The building, designed by Daniel Libeskind, represents a fractured world. Permanent and changing exhibitions include the gun which fired the first British shell in the First World War.
	Skipton Castle Over 900 years old, this is one of the best preserved castles in England, complete with dungeon, keep and sheer drop into the Springs Branch below. It withstood a three-year siege during the Civil War. It was home to the Cliffords, a powerful family at the time of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.		The Lowry Centre, Salford Quays Three theatres for all kinds of performing arts, and galleries with a permanent exhibition of the works of local hero LS Lowry, plus changing shows of other artists.
	Walks Our canals are surrounded by renowned walking country. The Pennine Way & Calderdale Way cross the canal, and can be picked up from link paths. Hebden Bridge was one of the first Walker Friendly towns. There are fantastic views from the tops, reachable from anywhere along the canal. Marsden Moor NT rises above Standedge.		The National Coal Mining Museum A unique opportunity to travel 140 metres underground down one of Britain's oldest working mines, where models and machinery depict methods and conditions of mining from the early 1800s to the present.
	Hardcastle Crags NT Beautiful wooded valley with waterfalls, wildlife and the biggest anthills you've ever seen. The perfect place for hide-and-seek. The�recently restored 19th-century Gibson Mill is powered by sustainable energy (with sustaining tearoom). Location for Nicholas Nickleby and Sharpe.		Harewood House The home of Lord Harewood. Worth the long bus ride from Leeds. House built by John Carr of York and Robert Adam, financed by the sugar trade. Chippendale furniture, extensive park, rare birds, adventure playground. Hosts many special shows such as Eric Clapton.
	Grand Designs Ever wanted really to be in control? Then envy Sir Titus Salt, who built a complete Victorian model town beside his mills, to provide excellent housing - but strictly no pub - for his staff. He called it Saltaire. The houses are still much sought-after, and the mills are thriving with new uses including the Hockney Gallery.		Railway journeys Step back in time and enjoy a train ride through the heart of Bront� country on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. Or pick up the Settle & Carlisle Railway from Skipton, and fulfil that dream to travel across Ribblehead Viaduct. Or try the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway; or Kirklees Light Railway....
	Gordon Rigg's Garden Centres People drive from all over the North to pick up bargains at these incredible centres: you just moor outside and bring your trophies home on the boat. Canalside at Walsden and Rochdale.		C
	Film trails Discover locations for *Last of the Summer Wine* and *Where the Heart Is* in the Colne Valley above Huddersfield, plus *Stay Lucky* and *True Tilda* filmed in Sowerby Bridge, *Emmerdale* at Esholt; and lots of other films and TV shows.