Robin Hill & Brewhouse Cottages

05/04/2024

A naked man, dozens of flowerpots, ancient buildings, dramatic natural beauty, a folly (that isn't really), an enormous 'oven' and the best cheese - where can you find them all? Visit Settle and you'll quickly realise this is no ordinary small town.

Settle's setting is beautiful - it's very close to the Three Peaks and some of Ribblesdale's finest landscapes. You can enjoy a great view from Castleberg. Within the town, narrow ginnels (or gennels or whatever you call them in your area...) thread their way in and out of the square. There's a lot of history, with 76 listed buildings, The Folly Museum and Coffee House, Settle are open to visitors. The Folly name may be a misnomer, as it wasn't built as a folly but was so-named after being empty with no obvious purpose for a while. Now it's a very welcoming attractive building. Settle Victoria Hall- The World's Oldest Music Hall is just round the corner and has an excellent programme of events.

There are two other outstanding 'landmarks' - the railway station where you can board the Settle Carlisle Railway CRP and the incredible Hoffman Kiln - you'll have to visit to understand its scale and industrial beauty.

Settle has masses of great independently-owned shops, galleries, cafes and pubs, and a great community spirit. This led to the creation of the Settle Hydro and later to the Settle Flowerpot Festival which delights visitors with a trail of dozens of amazing flowerpot creations every Summer.

A short drive away is The Courtyard Dairy which attracts cheese pilgrims in search of cheese wisdom, cheesey pizzas and some of the best farmhouse cheese imaginable.

Thanks to Julia Chapman and The Dales Detective (9th book in the series just out and I've finished it already - it's excellent and I'm in awe of Julia's 'scheming mind'!), visitors are also coming to see what life is really like in "Bruncliffe" which is based on Settle.

You're probably wondering about the naked man? There are a couple of interesting explanations for Ye Olde Naked Man Café & Bakery's name - look for the small black figure date stone, as you munch their delicious cakes.

What other aspects of Settle do you love?

Image thanks to Stephen Garnett Photography

01/04/2024

Visitors to Settle are in for a real treat this summer!

Visitors to the Yorkshire Dales are in for a real treat this summer! Here is the first glimpse of Settle’s new Gateway Arch. Inspired by the likes of Paris’s Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty in New York, and Lancashire's Preston Bus Station, and designed by the award-winning Romanian architect Lirpa Loof, the arch will be in place during the 2024 Settle Flowerpot Festival throughout July and August. The Festival aims to put smiles on everyone’s faces, and Loof has entered into the spirit of the occasion, commenting: “ We will even have special teams on the trains encouraging passengers to stand and shout “EYUP!!” as they pass beneath my beautiful arch”

17/02/2024

Thank you so much to ThePBTrainerLeeds for taking the time to leave us this lovely 5 star review on TripAdvisor.

18/01/2024

This old industrial site is well worth visiting when you are staying in the area.

16/01/2024

The programme will be available soon. There will be Trail tasters where you can walk sections of some of the long distance trails which go through the Dales.

07/09/2023

A lovely review of Robin Hill left on Google by Dorinda, who visited in August to see the Flowerpot Festival.

★★★★★ "This is an ideal bolt hole for visiting Settle, situated only around 100m from the market sq - though be prepared that it's a steep walk up the hill! Robin Hill is one of a row of three little cottages, this one having the most beds with a double and single room. The quaint little c...

02/08/2023

Brewhouse cottage behind Cathy Killick as she walks up Constitution Hill with her Flowerpot Trail.

05/07/2023

The wife won't believe me when I tell her what I caught! ... or can you think of a better caption?

10/06/2023

The garden is looking really colourful at the moment

23/04/2023

This is "Curlew - an animation by Settle and Kirkby in Malham Primary Schools" by Finn Varney on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people…

23/03/2023

This beautiful wall hanging was made by Carol from Minnesota who first stayed with me in 2017. This week I received this lovely email from her:

“Wish I were writing you with a request to book The Old Brewhouse, but no. Age, 86 as of two weeks ago, and health problems have caught up with me. The real reason is I want you to see what the Yorkshire Dales and especially your cottages have inspired. I started this piece after I had to cancel my 2020 trip and it was clear that travel in 2021 wasn’t going to happen either. From then it has proceeded in fits and starts until finally it is ready for layering, basting and hand quilting………I will put the Yorkshire wall hanging in my bedroom. It will fit right in with my green and yellow color scheme.
Love and best wishes to the best host anywhere! I’ll be thinking of you even more when May gets here.
Carol

20/03/2023

Saffron Cherry Productions, creator of the international hit show The Madame Blanc Mysteries, has secured the TV rights for Julia Chapman's The Dales Detective series, published by Pan Macmillan.

12/12/2022

Some more nice comments from Robin Hill visitors book

08/12/2022

Ever since The Old Brewhouse was converted in 1990 the staircase has taken up more space than I hoped, leaving very little space for the kitchen area.
Rob has always said he could create more room by using the space over the stairs so while we were replacing the worktop and sink I told him to go ahead.
This is what he has done and it has made an amazing difference. The shelf over the stairs gets the microwave and bread bin off the worktop and the worktop itself is 18” longer. It doesn’t sound much but in that small space every inch counts.
Before and after pictures below.

23/10/2022

A beautiful video of Settle created by Mick Dodsworth after his visit in September. Enjoy.

14/03/2022

Some lovely comments in the visitors book this morning