Horsehouse and Coverdale

It seems hard to believe that the quiet village of Horsehouse was once a place bustling with traffic, as stagecoaches and packhorse trains passed through it on one of the main coaching routes from London to the North. The two inns that existed in the village served the travellers on their way to and from Richmond, one of the region's principal coaching centres. Beyond Horsehouse, to the south west, Coverdale grows steeper and wilder before the vertiginous descent down Park Rash into Kettlewell in Wharfedale - a journey that must have deeply scared many 17th- and 18th-century travellers. Trains of up to 40 packhorses also used the route, bringing goods to the valley and taking lead and other minerals from the mines on the moors above. Bells jingling on the harness of the leading horse signalled their presence.

Pedlars, too, followed the routes, and some at least seem to have met a gruesome end; three headless corpses were found by a side road into Nidderdale. The local constable initiated enquiries and the evidence suggested that they were Scottish pedlars, killed for their money and goods. Their heads were not found - nor were their murderers, though the local finger of suspicion pointed strongly at a Horsehouse innkeeper and her daughter.

West Scrafton, a tiny village set beside Great Gill as it tumbles towards the River Cover below, is dominated by the heights of Great Roova Crags (1549ft/472m). Before the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s, the village was owned by the monks of Jervaulx Abbey. Much of the land was subsequently in the hands of the Earl of Lennox - and West Scrafton Manor House is said to have been the birthplace of his son Lord Darnley, murdered second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots and father of King James I and VI. Carlton-in-Coverdale, the next village on the walk is the largest of all the dale's settlements, with some good houses lining the main street and the motte of a small castle visible south of the main street. Flatts Farm at the west end of the village has an inscription to Henry Constantine 'The Coverdale Poet'.

Miles Coverdale, the first man to translate the whole Bible into English, was born in the valley - no one knows exactly where - in 1488. After some time as a friar in Cambridge, his reforming zeal meant he was forced to live abroad. The first edition of his bible was published in Paris in 1535, and a revised version, known as the Great Bible, in 1538. From 1551 he was Bishop of Exeter, but he was imprisoned under Mary Tudor. In Elizabeth's reign he lived and preached in London until his death in 1568.

While you're there

Visit the Forbidden Corner, a fantasy garden full of follies, tunnels, secret chambers and passages offering intrigue and unexpected discoveries. Built by a former British Ambassador to Ecuador at Tupgill, 3 miles (4.8km) east of Carlton, the Forbidden Corner is open by timed ticket in advance only - phone 01969 640638 or call in at the tourist information centre in Leyburn.

What to look for

Like Middleham at the end of the valley, Coverdale is much given over to horses, with riding schools and livery stables throughout the dale. This is not a recent phenomenon - in Daniel Defoe's day the whole area was geared to the horse; in the third volume of his Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain published in 1726, he wrote that 'all this country is full of jockeys, that is to say, dealers in horses, and breeders of horses?'

Where to eat and drink

The Thwaite Arms in Horsehouse serves meals and has a reputation for its friendly atmosphere. The Forester's Arms in Carlton-in-Coverdale is famous for its fine meals and is worth a special journey.