Back in time with Jeeves

Cotter Dale is a branch line, so to speak, of the western end of Wensleydale, bordering Grisedale and close to Garsdale. As we were driving via Cray and Bishopdale, it soon became clear that water was going play a significant part in the day's events. The Cray Gill waterfall is generally dry in summer but today there was an impressive cascade. At this point it wasn't raining, the sun was hinting at breaking through, but the gathering clouds threatened more of the heavy rains of previous days.

In Wensleydale, we headed west, almost but not quite entering Hawes. Crossing the River Ure at Haylands Bridge we were startled as an aeroplane of Second World War vintage suddenly appeared out of nowhere, thundering low overhead. The fisherman standing up to his thighs in the river didn't bat an eye.

Turning right off Brunt Acres Road you swiftly arrive at the Stone House Hotel. Chris Taplin and his brother-in-law Peter Westwood have been in charge here since 1991. The place has been in the family since 1980 when Chris's parents moved out from Bradford (and a family butchering business) with the idea of starting up a B&B in a more picturesque part of the country.

"They took a bit of a gamble," says Chris. "In March 1981, they opened up with four bedrooms on a bed and breakfast basis but they saw that there was potential there. Then the James Herriot books and television series appeared and the tourist trade in the Dales really took off."

The business has been expanded over the years and now there are 24 bedrooms and 25 staff. The heyday of the Herriot effect has long since passed, but the hotel is still going strong. "We have loyal regulars who return time and again and the current economic climate might actually work in our favour because people are taking more short breaks closer to home rather than long foreign holidays." Chris and Peter have also introduced activity breaks, which are popular, including malt whisky tasting, photography, art and dry stone walling.

Built in 1908 as a gentleman's country residence, the house has a fascinating connection with PG Wodehouse and with one of the most enduring characters in English comic fiction. The writer was an acquaintance of then owner Hugh Crallan and through him came to know of one of his gardeners called Percy Jeeves. This young man, born in Dewsbury, was also a star cricketer. It appears Percy started out playing for Goole cricket club and after moving further north also played for Hawes. After trials with Yorkshire, he joined Warwickshire as a professional in 1913. Percy never had the chance to fulfil his sporting potential – he was killed on the Western Front in 1916 – but his name lives on. Jeeves is still delighting Wodehouse's admirers as the resourceful butler-valet who regularly has to extract the hopeless Bertie Wooster from awkward scrapes.

If you turn left out of the hotel car park, you quickly come to the left turn to Sedbusk, a quiet and quite beautiful hamlet (prince of the Dales) perched on a series of ledges to the north of the Ure. There is little through-traffic, but equally there are no shops, no pub. You live or holiday in Sedbusk to escape from most of the trappings of modern life. Walkers Brian and Sheila Adams are regular visitors to the area from Leicestershire, where the terrain is a little flatter.

"We were both at university in Leeds so we have been coming up to the Dales for holidays for years," says Sheila. "It's quiet and it's beautiful – you have the lovely little villages and the wide open moors. It's just so relaxing." They were taking a well-earned rest on a bench on the small village green. The bench bears a plaque which reads "On this spot in 1832 nothing happened". That is the joy of Sedbusk – nothing ever happens here.

In nearby Hardraw, The Green Dragon Inn is worth visiting for its log fires (even in summer), its charm, its generous portions of food and its traditional beers. Besides that, in the back garden is the largest single drop waterfall in England, Hardraw Force. For 2, you can buy a ticket to walk the quarter mile or so to view the cascade. It is said it is best to see the waterfall after rain and thanks to the amount that had fallen over the preceding days, what we eventually saw was magnificent and dramatic. We could hear the thundering roar reverberating around the natural amphitheatre of rock long beforehand.

From one waterfall to another. Driving west out of Hardraw, and turning right on to the main A684 that links Hawes and Sedburgh, you soon see lay-bys on either side of a bridge. To the right of the bridge is a footpath, accessible to wheelchair users, to Cotter Force. Making the short trip to see these falls is most rewarding. Cotter Force is a very different kind of waterfall from Hardraw. Much broader, but less steep, it resembles a wide staircase, or downwards escalator, hurrying Cotterdale Beck towards its convergence with the River Ure at the bridge. About a quarter of a mile beyond Cotter Force is a right turn signposted "Cotterdale only". Cotterdale is the name of the hamlet about a mile distant, and the valley you enter at this point, rising up, then dipping down and extending for miles into the distance, is known as Cotter Dale. To your right you are flanked by rising land which forms part of the Pennine Way leading you to Great Shunner Fell which, at 716 metres, is the highest point for miles around. On the northern horizon is Cotterdale Common – shooting country.

Among the fields marked by a network of dry stone walls and fencing we noticed some cows and a farmer walking off to deal with a mother and calf who had separated themselves from the herd. Despite the bad weather, Thomas Iveson was happy to chat. Though he doesn't live in the dale, he is now the only farmer in Cotter Dale, looking after his small herd of cattle and about 600 sheep. "I've been farming here all my life and my father before me," he said. "We have land elsewhere, too, and we have never lived in Cotter Dale, but we are the only family farming left here now. It can be tough up here in winter and it's very solitary work but that's partly why I like it. I see a lot of hikers – 95 per cent of them are great but some of them don't have much country sense: they leave gates open and the sheep get out which is a problem for us – and I get on well with the gamekeepers up here.

"I've been doing this since I was a child – after school and weekends and everything – it's all I've ever known. It's peaceful and you are not bothered by anybody. When you have the whole valley to yourself on a nice day, it's great."

In the hamlet of Cotterdale, most of the cottages, which date from the 17th century onwards, are weekend and holiday homes, though there are some permanent residents. The occasional building looks a little neglected, hinting at what nature would do in reasserting its authority were the village to become truly deserted. There were signs advising us of the presence of red squirrels – so we kept an eye out for them and spotted one on a wall later.

Discovering that the path through the forest plantation was closed, we went back into the hamlet and met holidaymakers Brenda Winfield and Rebecca Rogers, regular visitors to Cotterdale, who were staying in the Old Chapel cottage. In the garden were three headstones, reminders of the time when the entire garden was a graveyard.

Thomas Iveson had advised us to look out for the game keepers who lived in the village. Head gamekeeper Paul Starsmore told us: "I've been doing this for 22 years and it's not a job – it's a way of life."

On the drive home, we retraced our route to the monotonous rhythm of the windscreen wipers as clouds descended lower than the surrounding hillsides. However, the overall conclusion we both drew is that there is no weather that guarantees seeing the Dales at their best. The fact is: the Dales offer up differing joys whatever the weather.