Yorkshire Dales National Park International Dark Sky Reserve

The Yorkshire Dales became a national park in 1954. DarkSky International, then the International Dark-Sky Association, approved the whole park as an International Dark Sky Reserve on November 20, 2020, and the park calls it the largest in the UK. DarkSky lists it at 2,180 square kilometers. The darkest core zone is a large arc of land around Hawes, but not the town itself, taking in the upper ends of Swaledale, the Rawthey valley, Garsdale, Littondale and Wharfedale. That core is about 30% of the park, and residential lighting there was already 90% dark sky friendly at designation. Our estimate is Bortle 4 at the coordinates we use, and the core should beat that.

The park has four official Dark Sky Discovery Sites, all with parking and open to the public. They are the Hawes and Malham National Park Visitor Centres, Buckden National Park car park and the Tan Hill Inn, Britain's highest pub. Its Dark Skies Festival runs every February half term, with night hikes and astrophotography workshops. DarkSky's description adds that large areas free of local light pollution are easy to reach by public roads.

Be realistic about the galactic core. At this latitude it climbs only about 7 degrees above the southern horizon, and our data finds a short window mainly in April before dawn. The park's own guidance says autumn is best for the Milky Way, when the band is high in the evening sky.