|
|
Tour Menu | Tour Map | Search | Weather | Local Directory Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in West Yorkshire, in the north of England. Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within the metropolitan borough of Bradford. Approximately 12 miles (19.3 km) north of Bradford, the town lies mainly on the south bank of the River Wharfe in Wharfedale, one of the Yorkshire Dales.
Ilkley town centre is a tourist attraction with a high proliferation of small independent shops. Of particular note is Lishmans of Ilkley, an award-winning butcher shop whose owner, David Lishman, became one of Rick Stein's superheroes in 2003. Ilkley is one of five towns to feature Yorkshire's Bettys Tearooms. The town is also home to the Michelin-starred Box Tree restaurant where Marco Pierre White trained as a chef. In 2004 Ilkley won the Britain in Bloom contest in the category of 'Town'. The Manor House, one of the town's oldest buildings, houses a museum and art gallery. The museum contains prehistoric artifacts and documents the Roman fort of Olicana - remains of which are exposed at the back of the building - as well as the rise of Ilkley as a Victorian spa town. The Ilkley Toy Museum has a collection of toys dating from 350BC and contains a particularly fine collection of English wooden dolls. Ilkley is home to the largest and oldest literary festival in the north of England, the Ilkley Literature Festival. The Ilkley Round Table (club) organise the Ilkley Beer Festival, a charity event in aid of local good causes. The annual Moor Music Festival also takes place just outside the town at Addingham Moorside, promoting green politics and social issues. Ilkley's rural surroundings attract walkers and cyclists to the area. The landmark Cow and Calf rocks, which overlook the town on Ilkley Moor, consist of a large outcrop, which allegedly imitates a cow, and a boulder, which imitates a calf. The site is also visited for its rock climbing routes. The Swastika Stone, a rock carving on which opinions on dating vary (from 3-4,000 years old to about 2,000 years old), is another attraction on the moor. Many theories have been proposed to explain its significance and origin including a desputed claim by children's author Terry Deary who suggested the carving depicts a boomerang. The Old Bridge just outside the town centre is the official start to the Dales Way, an 80-mile (129 km) walk through the dales to Bowness-on-Windermere in the Lake District. Ilkley's Lido, constructed in 1935, is one of only four remaining public open-air swimming pools in Yorkshire and is a tourist attraction during the summer holiday season. Darwin Gardens, to the south of the town, is a Millennium Green which commemorates the town's links with English naturalist Charles Darwin. The Green features a maze, whose design was influenced by the Swastika Stone carving, and includes monuments with an evolutionary theme. Local Business listings in the Ilkey Directory by Wilkopedia.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Virtual Tour of Ilkley - panoramic photography © Red Door VR Limited VR Ilkley - pageloads since 010608 - Virtual Tour of Ilkley, Yorkshire UK:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
