Otley - The Real England

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Otley is an historic market town located in West Yorkshire on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales.

You won't find Otley in many tourist brochures. That's because its a real living village in the heart of Yorkshire. If you want to experience the real England, instead of sitting on a bus looking at old piles of stones with a slight whiff of urine coming from the granny behind you.. then hire a car and get your sat-nav pointing to Otley.

In Otley you get history, old stuff the Romans left behind, but you get to see how real 21st century people live work and play. If you are partial to the whiff of stale granny there is plently of charity shops filled with pre-loved paraphernalia to take home.

Late Saxon and Medieval Otley emerged under the patronage of the Archbishops of York. Otley evolved to become an agricultural and market town and still holds a farmers market one Sunday every month. Otley has held a regular market for over a thousand years. Don't worry, the vegetable are fresh each week, only some of the people are ancient.

Otley was also the birthplace of the famous cabinet maker Thomas Chippendale (June 5 1718 - November 1779)

Much of the town centre is eighteenth or nineteenth century or earlier. Otley has been here from about the mid-Eighth century, when Otta made his Leah or clearing in the forest.

The Black Bull Pub pictured below once hosted Oliver Cromwell and his troops. Thomas Fairfax, Cromwell's general came from nearby Denton Hall. People have been getting plastered in Otley for centuries.