Yorkshire Dales.

The Yorkshire Dales is a working national park — sheep farms, drystone walls, hay meadows still cut for silage in late summer — laid over a karst landscape that drains underground and reappears in unlikely places. The bedrock is Carboniferous limestone, and the headline geology shows in the Malham cluster (Malham Cove, Gordale Scar, Janet's Foss) at the southern end. Most walking holidays here work one of two formats: a long-distance line (Dales Way, Coast to Coast, Herriot Way) or a single-base week of day walks from a Dales village.

The Dales Way is the obvious entry point. Eighty-something miles from Ilkley on the Wharfe to Bowness-on-Windermere, generally walked west over six to eight days, mostly riverside through Wharfedale and Dentdale before climbing to the Howgill Fells and dropping into the Lake District. It's gentle by long-distance-trail standards — moderate gradients, good waymarking, plenty of inn-to-inn accommodation along the way. Macs Adventure's standard split runs to eight days, but extra rest nights at Grassington or Sedbergh make sense if you have the time.

For a single-base week, the Southern Dales around Malham and Settle pack the most variety into the smallest area — Malham Cove and Tarn, the Pennine Way crossing, Gaping Gill in the limestone country east of Ingleborough. HF Holidays' Newfield Hall sits at the southern edge of the park near Malham. The Western Dales around Sedbergh and the Howgills are quieter, less visited, with the Howgill Fells offering some of the cleanest ridge walking in northern England.

The Dales work most months of the year, but the prime window is May through October. Hay meadows are at their best in late May and early June. September is the most reliably dry month. Winters can be sharp but make for atmospheric photography days if you're not committed to high routes.

Macs Adventure and On Foot Holidays both run self-guided Dales itineraries; HF Holidays does guided full-board from house bases, which suits walkers who prefer a leader and company.