Walkers on the Dales Way in Wharfedale

Walkers on a national trail will be guided by plaques created by Yorkshire schoolchildren.

The cast-metal plaques have been placed along the Dales Way as it passes through the Yorkshire Dales national park.

They were produced by 12- and 13-year-olds at Holmfirth High School near Huddersfield as part of their design and technology course and now adorn the section of the 129km (80-mile) route within the Yorkshire Dales. The trail runs from Ilkley in West Yorkshire to Bowness on Windermere in Cumbria.

Some plaques lend encouragement

Some plaques simply have the letters DW; others inform walkers they are approaching landmarks or offer encouragement.

Karen Griffiths, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s interpretation officer, said: “The pupils were interested in doing a ‘real world’ project for their design and technology course and had been inspired by plaques the authority produced many years ago in Dent in conjunction with a local school and an artist.

“They have come up with some excellent designs which our area rangers have now fixed onto new gates and stiles they have been putting up along the Dales Way within the national park.

“They are all fantastic – and I think they will make people smile.”

The school’s head of design and technology David Manning said: “I have walked the Dales Way twice and when I saw the signs in the Dent area I took photos of them.

The Dentdale signs were installed in 2000

“Because I was already doing aluminium casting as a project in lower school, I set the theme as the Dales Way and the children had to do the research on it and then come up with ideas for plaques, which they then made.

“It went down very well and they are really proud of their work.

“We are looking to develop this project next year using the 38-mile [61km] Six Dales Trail from Otley to Middleham Castle in Wensleydale as the theme in order to create a new challenge.”

The Dentdale plaques were produced as a millennium project 10 years ago, involving pupils from Dent Primary School and artist Alan Pergusey for the Network of Gates, which replaced stiles with more accessible gates, helping people with reduced mobility.