The hamlet of Arncliffe feels like it's tucked away in its own special time zone, safely distanced from the troubles of the world. It's become better known recently but Littondale is still not as well-known as other dales, even though it's close to well-known places like Kettlewell and Malham. The Skifare river running through the dale adds to its beauty.
Arncliffe is small but really worth exploring slowly: there are over 20 historic listed buildings. The houses around the green mainly date from the 17th and 18th century, some of them quite grand. The village pump still stands on the green. Look for features such as the date stones, and details on barn doors, porches with carved lintels, and doorways to peek through into pretty gardens beyond.
The construction of the barns and the stone built houses clustered around the village green make it feel even more self-sufficient, a bit like a Swiss mountain village that's secure in its knowledge that every householder has animal fodder ready for the winter, and a warm home in which to hibernate.
Many of the houses still have individual pockets of land behind them, just as they would many years ago, when the neighbouring fields were full of sheep belonging to the Fountains Abbey estate.
There's a medieval ridge and furrow field system nearby, and the mill pond probably date back to medieval times.
Many Yorkshire Dales villages have historic buildings and a lovely setting, but Arncliffe feels even more harmonious and welcoming.
Charles Kingsley stayed at Bridge End in Arncliffe when he wrote 'The Water Babies'. More recently it was the setting for the popular TV programme, 'Emmerdale'. The old name for Littondale was Amerdale so perhaps that's how the programme got the name. In the early days of the TV series, Arncliffe was the setting for the fictional village of Beckindale.
Arncliffe's main draw nowadays is the very traditional Falcon Inn, known for serving Timothy Taylor beer from the barrel in a jug. It was featured in the Emmerdale series as the Woolpack Inn.
More recently you may have spotted Arncliffe as the setting for some of the Channel 5's remake of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small.