Hebden Bridge

Hebden Bridge is a small market town tucked into the steep-sided Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, roughly halfway between Halifax and Todmorden. Originally a packhorse crossing point, it grew rapidly in the nineteenth century as a centre for fustian cloth and clog-making, leaving a townscape of tall stone mills, terraced "double-decker" houses climbing the hillsides, and the canal-and-river corridor that still defines its character.

Today the town is celebrated as one of the most distinctive in the north of England, with a lively independent high street of bookshops, vintage clothing stores, delicatessens and cafes. The Rochdale Canal runs straight through the centre, and short walks along the towpath lead past narrowboats, old wharves and the Hebden Bridge Picture House, an Edwardian cinema still in regular use. Markets fill St George's Square, and the Trades Club has built a national reputation as a live music venue.

Hebden Bridge also makes an excellent base for the surrounding South Pennines. Hardcastle Crags and the wooded gorge of Hebden Dale are a short walk or bus ride away, while a steep climb leads up to Heptonstall, the hilltop village above the town where the poet Sylvia Plath is buried. The railway station, on the Caldervale Line, gives direct connections to Manchester and Leeds.