Malham Tarn is a heart-shaped glacial lake formed about 10,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age. It lies high above the craggy Malham Cove, near Malham village, in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The Tarn lies 377 metres (1,237 ft) above sea level, making it the highest lake in England, and it’s owned by the National Trust (NT).

The Georgian country house in my main pic is currently leased to the Field Studies Council, which offers various courses there. In the foreground you can see a stone embankment and sluice gate, both constructed in 1791 to control the Tarn’s water level, raising it by a metre (3.3ft) or so.

The house and the lake – now both within the Malham Tarn National Nature Reserve – also have a literary history, as the area inspired the Victorian priest and writer Charles Kingsley (1819-75) to create a children’s classic story, first published in 1863, ‘The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby.’

Kingsley wrote The Water Babies partly in support of Charles Darwin’s his ideas on evolution. The story featured a young chimney sweep called Tom, who fell into a river, where he was transformed into a water baby – and from that moment on, his further adventures were just beginning…

And here is one of the characters from the book, ‘Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid’, painted in 1916 by US artist Jessie Willcox Smith.

It was the afternoon of a damp, chill, and windy day when I went on this visit – in fact, I had to drive slowly and carefully through a flooded lane to get there at all – and the waterlogged bogs around the Tarn meant that care was needed to avoid wet feet! The reward was an extremely bracing stomp in total isolation, and the highly photogenic patch of water (below) reflecting the doomy grey skies racing overhead.

Malham Tarn can be reached by foot from Malham village, a walk that takes more than an hour, especially as the route entails climbing hundreds of steps up the side of the limestone cliff at Malham Cove. It’s certainly worth the effort, but if you don’t have the energy for that hard stomp, then there’s a car park just five minutes stroll from the Tarn… just take your pick!

See Malham Cove on my last visit here.

Visit the Malham Tarn Field Centre here.

Well, that’s one legend anyway – apparently the Norse god Odin was riding his horse Sleipnir, when one of the giant beast’s hooves caught on the rocks, creating the horseshoe-shaped cove that’s the pride of Malham village .

A more scientific explanation is that Malham Cove was formed at the end of the last Ice Age, when a mighty waterfall thundered over the top. As the ice melted behind, the river retreated, instead carving underground passages through the limestone, leaving the near-dry rock face and valley of today.

The cove is less than a mile from the small village of Malham, population 150, and is an easy stroll through National Trust-owned land, some of it next to a pretty little beck flowing past. You pass attractive wooden signposts, and traditional NT signage before walking through lush fields toward the Cove.

On the day I went, these cows were grazing on the rich grass, and a curious bunch they turned out to be, wondering over to say hello, while staying out of stroking distance. Leaving the cows behind, and walking nearer the Cove, its sheer size becomes apparent, an impressive hunk of landscape, with a rock face some 80 m (260 ft) high. The walk from Malham follows what is technically a ‘dry‘ valley, but the beck bubbles cheerfully through, and an ancient flat-stone bridge links the banks at one point.

Behind the rock face is a complex system of limestone caves, many dating back 50,000 years or more. These are the reason why the valley below remains comparatively dry, for the caves swallow water from even the heaviest storms with ease.

I first saw Malham Cove not in Yorkshire, but as a teen, visiting the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain) at Millbank, London. J.M.W. Turner’s huge painting hung there in its full glory, and I fell for his work there and then. Today, the Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate is firmly on the ‘must visit’ list, even if Prince Charles and I probably agree on the appearance of the sternly plain-Jane building itself.

Harry Potter fans might like to know that parts of the 2009 movie ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1’ were filmed here. And talking of movies, last but not least, here’s an ultra-short trailer I shot with my last-model iPhone.

Summation
Hugely recommended, so go if you can, though you’re best to book a hotel or other accommodation beforehand if you plan to visit in a holiday period. Malham and the Cove are popular spots for visitors, and rightly so.

Turner painting courtesy Tate Britain.