Dales Countryside Museum

The Dales Countryside Museum, Hawes, is run by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and is the perfect starting point for any trip to the Yorkshire Dales. The Museum celebrates and shares the stories of people living in the Yorkshire Dales both past and present, and its landscape too.

Housed in the Victorian Hawes Railway Station, the Museum’s modern and most imaginative conversion is a striking blend of old and new and comes complete with a train! You’ll be able to hear stories of local people, watch archive film and get up close to many wonderful objects, including the bronze spearhead and gold Viking ring (part of the ‘Treasured Possessions’ exhibition). Have fun all year round in the ‘Creation Station’ in the railway carriages and get involved in the ‘Discover and Do’ Wednesdays during school holidays.

The Museum’s local food project gives visitors the chance to taste food from the Yorkshire Dales, inspiring people with seasonal foods and forgotten skills linked to growing foods in the Dales, gathering in, storing and cooking, and showcasing how people used to cook, contrasting with how people cook today. Event days enable you to drop in and taste the foods being demonstrated.