The idea behind The Art House is that you can live inside a painting. Decorated with original artworks by the successful Yorkshire artist Kitty North, it’s both a comfortable stone cottage and a vibrant wonderland, one where there’s always something on hand to gaze at or stir your imagination.
There’s little hint of such quirkiness from the outside. One of 20 listed stone buildings arranged around Arncliffe’s quaint green, The Art House has a white-painted traditional facade and, partly terraced, a large, lawned back garden. Enclosed by typical stone walls, this gazes far across the valley of Littondale below a vast expanse of sky.

Inside, however, creativity and colour reign. Yet so too does a distinct sense of homeliness. That’s true of the beamed, open-plan living and dining space, warmed by an open fire, and of the snug kitchen whose own round table enables more casual breakfasts.

There’s one double bedroom on the ground floor, accompanied by a bathroom with a tub and shower over, then two king-sized sleeping quarters upstairs, one of them en-suite.

Set up for al-fresco dining or drinks, a patio at the property’s front looks onto that green. Visible too is Arncliffe’s classic-style Falcon Inn, which might seem familiar – it doubled as The Woolpack when the longstanding TV series Emmerdale was filmed here. More recently, the pub and wider, oh-so-pretty village featured in the recent adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small.

Beside its beauty, Arncliffe boasts a superlative southern Dales location. Here you’re just south of cheese-making Wensleydale and its Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves waterfalls. You’re just west of Nidderdale, where wild, wondrous moorland holds sway. To the east is that Ribblehead Viaduct, on the famous Settle-Carlisle railway line. Journey south and you’ll come to ever-popular Skipton with its weekly market and famous high street.