HF Houses - Newfield Hall Malham - Leaving the Car at Home.
Newfield Hall is one of the larger HF houses. There is accommodation in the main house and additional rooms around a courtyard.
There a nice sunrises from the dining room and south facing rooms.
Getting to Newfield Hall by Public Transport
Skipton is the nearest Railway Station.
There is an HF transfer taxi but there is only one, late in the day, so most of the tea & scones will be gone by the time you arrive. The transfer is very expensive and if your train is late it will not wait for you, in that case you will end up paying for the transfer and an expensive taxi. To avoid that people might get an earlier train and hang around for hours in a bleak station. HF appear to price these transfers around commercial taxi rates so, if there are 2 or more of you it may be cheaper to book your own taxi (if you can get one between school runs).
HF like to try to appear environmentally friendly but the reality does not match their words, they do little to encourage sustainable travel and these transfers appear to be charged around commercial taxi rates.
There is also a public bus which can be more convenient if you can get to Skipton earlier. It is a 15 seater minibus. They take English bus passes and cash but not credit cards. When a passenger did not have any cash the driver stopped at the bank and waited while she got some money from the cash machine.
I think the issue for most people is that the last bus leaves Skipton Rail Station at 12:55 (check this before you travel) so if traveling a long distance its hard to get to Skipton in time. On the other hand the HF transfer leaves at 16:10 so its a long gap and the only option between those times is a taxi. I don't know if its possible to get a taxi at short notice if you miss the bus? Why is it these days that taxi companies are often suddenly fully booked?
Image from Google Street View.
At Skipton station wait here (picture above) for bus or if you have booked a taxi. In bad weather you can usually sit inside while looking out for transport.
If traveling on the bus try asking for Newfield Hall, or just before crossing river Aire, or ring bell when you get close on GPS map. There are no physical bus stops so they will stop when you ring the bell.
Entrance for Newfield Hall.
About Newfield Hall
At some times in the year it does sound like a war zone with lots of people shooting at defenseless animals. On some days it seems to come from multiple directions, there is usually gunfire coming from Winterburn Reservoir and often in the opposite direction and then their is the the clay pigeon shooting at a sport hotel in Gargrave.
Walks from Newfield Hall without Car
Malham Cove
There are several ways to get to Malham Cove. If its not too muddy there is a nice walk along the river Aire:
Or you can go to Calton and along a ridge to Weets Top:
If you walk to Malham Cove and back it doesn't leave much time to explore when you get there so I like to go on the public bus. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday it goes past Newfield Hall so you can wait by Newfield Hall entrance (although there is no physical bus stop). Its not a big bus so I guess you have to hope not many people want to go from Newfield Hall. Note: the comments above about not taking credit cards.
The bus stops here and you can either walk to Janet's Foss, Gordale Scar or Malham Cove
Malham Cove
Gordale Scar, if there is not too much water you can climb up the waterfall:
Janet's Foss:
In the summer, on Saturdays, the bus goes on to Settle which gives a chance to explore further.
For instance Malham Tarn:
Or Settle, could get the train back from Settle to Gargrave.
Gargrave
You can walk along Pennine way to Gargrave, the route is not clear so a map on the phone helps. Once at Gargrave you can walk along the canal and there are alternative routes back via say Coniston Cold or Steeple Hill Planation.
Winterburn Reservoir
You can walk down from Weets Top (see above) to Winterburn Reservoir:
Hopefully you won't have to walk past people shooting at birds.
Other Documents on this site
Click on the following for more information
| Former HF Houses | |
|---|---|
| Conwy (1914- 2011) |  |
| Newlands (1914- 1987) |  |
| Swanage (1947- 1995) |  |
| Isle of Arran (1925- ) |  |
| Scarborough (1954- 1998) |  |
| Lulworth |  |
| Beddgelert |  |
| New Inns |  |
| Penrith |  |
| Milford-on-Sea |  |
About This SiteHere is some information I have gathered together about getting to and walking from HF houses when leaving the car at home. On these pages I have also put some history about former HF houses I have visited. The information here is based on my visits to HF houses over the years. It may be out of date so don't rely on anything here without checking. If you find any errors why not let others know by putting a post on the HF Holiday Fans ( unofficial) Facebook forum. I will try to quote such posts here so they don't get lost. This is information I have discovered over the years which would have been useful to know before. Unfortunately the travel information on the HF website, for getting to houses by public transport, is poor. I think it would be better if the information on this page were on the HF website. |
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