Beautiful bleakness

In the northern-most part of Swaledale, before the valley merges into Birkdale, is Keld. It's a small, tight-knit community of a couple of dozen residents with stone-built cottages, chapels, holiday homes and a campsite. Walkers know the village as a stopover on the Coast to Coast walk and the Pennine Way. Its old youth hostel is now Keld Lodge, a pub, restaurant and hotel.

On a bright, sunny but bracing March day we parked at Park Lodge farm (there's an honesty box) to explore the village and the banks of the Swale. A pleasant stroll through the campsite leads towards Hoggarts Leap, a stepped cascade of fast-flowing water, one of many hereabouts. Below the farm is the less accessible Catrake Force. In thee village, we met Cyril Purver. He and his wife Peggy, long-retired civil servants from Reading in Berkshire. For 27 years they have lived in Tutil House, part of a lovely terrace with superb views towards Tutil Hill, named after a Viking king. "We started coming up here in the 1970s when we were working in London," says Cyril. "I was talking to a colleague about where we might go on holiday and he suggested Swaledale. I said, 'Where is that?' At that time it was even more rural than it is now – the bank used to come here every week with a till." Cyril and Peggy are both over 80. "We don't do as much walking as we used to but we've climbed all these hills at one time or another," says Cyril. "It's a wonderful place to live – even when we got two feet of snow this winter," he chuckles. He's pleased about the reopening of Keld Lodge, as are the other 23 local inhabitants. "All the villagers are very happy we have a pub again. There used to be one here called the Catrake Inn which was bought by a strict Methodist farmer. Once he'd bought it, he promptly closed it down and renamed it Hope House, after the Band of Hope."

Uphill from Tutil House is the Keld United Reform Church, modest but attractive, with the tiniest of bell towers. The churchyard boasts one of the best views in the whole of Yorkshire. Inside are dark wooden pews and whitewashed walls. The inscription outside says 'rebuilt in 1880', but a display refers to a chapel in Keld as far back as 1510. There are four names on the 1914-18 war remembrance plaque including Robert Rukin – the surname of the present owners of Park Lodge farm. Cyril advised us to seek out George Calvert who has lived in Upper Swaledale for every one of his 88 years. We found him at Rose Cottage, next to the chapel. "I was born at Hoggarts Farm about two miles up the road," he says. "I came to school here in Keld. There were 30 of us at the school but nearly everybody is gone now. There is one left who was best man at my wedding – Simon Fawcett – who was a gamekeeper. I still see him sometimes. From school I went to work on the farm – I farmed it all my life. I have two sons and they farm up there now." George has been living at Rose Cottage for four years, having retired from farming 15 years ago. George's family has been working this land for well over 200 years.

"My grandfather came to it in 18-something. We are tenant farmers – the owners are really good landlords who live down in the south. We've generally kept about 500-600 sheep. There's a lot of common ground round here and it's good for keeping sheep and good for grouse. We used to go beating from the 12th August. The land belonged to Lord Rochdale at Gunnerside Lodge at the time and he had three gamekeepers. We'd earn seven and sixpence a day, working for three or four days. That was much more than you could earn as a farmer working all hours. When my father finished farming, my wife and I took the farm on and we had it for 40 years.

"It's worth a lot to be your own boss. I didn't ever have to ask somebody what to do. You'd get up on a morning and think, 'We'll do some haymaking today or some wall repairing.' And if there was a show on we could have a day off without having to ask anybody. There's not so many people following farming now here as there once was. After 11, they do down to Richmond School where they see a different way of life. It's too lonely up here and too hard work. A lot of farms have amalgamated as well, so things have changed a bit. And now, when I go up to the farm and see how hard my sons and their wives are working, I feel as though I'm skiving!"

At the junction of the B6270 with Stonesdale Lane is Park House Keld Bunkhouse. The new owners, Steve and Heather Swann, have been there since last May. They cater mostly for walkers and campers, with a well-appointed and comfortable bunkhouse which overlooks its own sizeable waterfall, Rainby Force.

Past the bunkhouse, turn right over Park Bridge with views upstream of the Swale towards Wain Wath Falls. There's a gear-testing hairpin bend leading upwards and onwards into West Stonesdale proper. The hamlet of West Stonesdale is ruggedly charming and based around a farm that belongs to the Thornborrow family. Another one which has farmed here for generations.

Beyond, the road snakes up and into a shallow bowl-like plateau that feels like the top of the world. Tumbledown sheep pens dot the landscape with innumerable becks straggling either side of the winding lane and narrow bridges. The beautiful bleakness was emphasised by patches of March snow, remnants of one of the hardest winters in a generation. Perhaps the snow made it harder to spot the Swaledale sheep: the ones we did see were grazing close to the side of the road, or even on it.

Tan Hill Inn, 1,732ft above sea level, is the highest pub in Britain. This is an isolated place with an alluring combination of rugged landscape and wide open views. To get here on foot, it's four and a half miles from Keld or eight miles from Bowes on the Pennine Way.

Ewe Juice is the local ale – unique to the Tan Hill Inn and brewed in Dentdale. The first recorded inn here was in 1586, with evidence of coal mining in the vicinity from the 12th century. The last mine closed in 1929 but the hardy pub kept going with its even hardier clientele. In 1995 Tan Hill added to its fame (already guaranteed by its location and by double-glazing adverts on television) by becoming the first pub in England to get a licence for weddings.

Mike Peace and Tracy Daly have had it for five years. Tracy put the property up for sale in 2008 for 1.1m – but it still hasn't sold. That was also the year in which the Arctic Monkeys played here to an estimated audience in excess of 1,500.

At New Year this year, the pub again hit the headlines when guests were snowed in for several days. "There were phone calls from newspapers, TV and radio stations from all over the world the day after everyone managed to get out," says bar manager Sharon Saul. "There's never a dull moment up here." Whichever direction you take, West Stonesdale guarantees the comforts of a pub at either end of the journey – and, if this forms part of a longer walk, a bed for the night.

Keld Lodge, Tel 01748 886259, www.keldlodge.com

Butt House Bed and Breakfast, Keld, Tel 01748 886374.

Rukins Park Lodge campsite and holiday cottage, Keld, Tel 01748 886274, www.rukins-keld.co.uk

Keld Bunkhouse, Tel 01748 886549, www.keldbunkhouse.com

The Manse Holiday Cottage, Askrigg Cottage Holidays, Tel 01969 650022, www.askrigg.com

The Tan Hill Inn, Tel 01833 628246, www.tanhillinn.com