Holiday apartment in West Yorkshire: Saltaire, museums and walking trails

West Yorkshire combines impressive industrial heritage with art, museums and expansive landscapes. Saltaire is a complete and well-preserved industrial village from the second half of the 19th century. The complete ensemble includes the buildings of Salt's Mill, New Mill, the workers' housing and Roberts Park. Salt's Mill is a historic building in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Saltaire, where visitors can see a very extensive collection of works by David Hockney.

Culture and history

The area's transport history is also connected to its location: Saltaire was deliberately built beside the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, and its towpaths are now part of the National Cycle Network. At Victoria Square in Saltaire, by the four lions in front of Victoria Hall on Victoria Road, the long-distance walking trail A Dales High Way begins. The route is 90 miles long and leads from Saltaire in West Yorkshire to Appleby in Cumbria.

The Weaver Network in West Yorkshire is an integrated transport network that connects buses, trains, walking, mobility aids and cycling. Further historical and cultural stops can be found in various parts of the region. The Royal Armouries Museum is a free national museum of arms and armour in Leeds, West Yorkshire. It displays Japanese samurai armour and swords, film props, Henry VIII's armour and armour for an Indian war elephant. Every day, the museum also presents live shows and combat demonstrations.

The Hepworth Wakefield cares for more than 5,000 works of art in the Wakefield Permanent Art Collection. The collection of modern British art includes significant works by Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. In Bradford, the National Science and Media Museum explores the profound impact of image and sound technologies on people's lives. The museum includes IMAX—Bradford, with a 52-foot-high screen that the museum describes as the largest in the region. Wonderlab there offers more than 20 interactive exhibits on light and sound.

The audio guide at Kirkstall Abbey covers the role of the Cistercian monks in the 12th century and the decline of the abbey on the orders of Henry VIII. The Brontë Parsonage Museum is located in Haworth, West Yorkshire. The house, rooms, furniture and objects there once belonged to the Brontës and were their home. The museum offers special exhibitions, contemporary art, informative talks and family activities throughout the year.

Nature and activities

Yorkshire Sculpture Park combines outdoor art with an expansive landscape: it features around 90 outdoor sculptures across 500 acres of landscape. The park includes Little Wild Wood, a creative natural play area, as well as activities for exploring sculpture and nature. Yorkshire Sculpture Park is one mile from M1 junction 38 and is easily accessible by bus from Wakefield and Barnsley.

Hardcastle Crags is a spectacular wooded valley with the 19th-century Gibson Mill at its centre. Gibson Mill was built in 1805 and now hosts a varied programme of art and exhibitions. Hardcastle Crags has 15 miles of walking trails through the wooded landscape and the surrounding Yorkshire countryside.

The Calderdale Way is a 50-mile circular walking trail through the hills, moors and valleys of Calderdale. It follows old packhorse routes through attractive hilly landscapes with villages and historic old mill towns. This means that, alongside the longer long-distance and circular walking trails, different types of landscape are also a focus: wooded valleys, open moors, hills and places shaped by their industrial past.

Local flavours

Bradford curry is also part of the regional culture. Visitors can enjoy authentic Bradford curry in many restaurants in Bradford.

More local pages

Sowerby Bridge, Pontefract, Brighouse, Wetherby, Normanton, Pudsey, Collingham, Knottingley

Elland, Baildon, Harden, Addingham, Oakworth, Mirfield, East Morton, Holywell Green

Lofthouse, Drighlington, Oulton, Queensbury, Rawdon, Silsden, Morley, Featherstone

Marsden, Ripponden, Liversedge, Oxenhope, Harewood, Bramham, Skelmanthorpe, Meltham

Holmbridge, Clifford, Almondbury, Denby Dale, Slaithwaite, Upton, Clayton, Guiseley

Menston, Greetland, Steeton, Rishworth, Farsley, Woolley, Hepworth

To the higher-level travel overview: Yorkshire And The Humber.