This is a MUFFINS English School video suitable for pre-intermediate and intermediate English students. Here is the full text of this presentation: It's fair to say that most tourists who visit Britain for the first time -- head for London. In my opinion, a better way to see a wonderful piece of England is to take a holiday in the Yorkshire Dales -- sometimes simply known as The Dales. The Dales is a very big national park made up of river valleys and hills in North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Cumbria. So where does the word Dale originate. It comes from the Nordic-Germanic word for valley -- dal or tal. A good place to start your tour is Skipton -- the gateway to the Dales in West Yorkshire. Skipton is a market town -- and it has a castle which was built by a Norman baron in 1090. In the 12th century, the castle was made stronger to protect it against attacks from Scotland. Skipton became a rich little town trading in sheep and wool. So what is so special about the Yorkshire Dales countryside? Well, its green pastures are separated by old dry-stone walls. There is no cement, just stones carefully placed together. In the pastures (or fields) you can see sheep and cattle lazily grazing -- eating grass and enjoying the peace and tranquility. The dales are U and V-shaped valleys -- made bigger by ice age glaciers. Most of the Dales rock is Limestone but there is also shale and sandstone and Millstone grit. On the higher ground there is a lot of heather moorland. Most visitors to The Dales are sightseers. They either drive around the countryside -- or walk around. There are many hiking nature trails and a lot of wildlife to see. There are castles and other historic sites and many little stone cottages and pubs where you can stay the night. The Dales has its own museum and steam railway. And for the adventurous, there are long-distance routes including the famous coast-to-coast path. There are also several cycle paths. We can't leave the Dales without mentioning Caves. White Scar Caves is a network of caves under the village of Ingleborough. It includes Battlesfield which is the largest cave chamber in Britain -- 90 metres long. It is open to visitors as a show cave with a shop and café where you can have a cup of English tea.

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