With cobbled lanes and barely a car in sight, it's like stepping back in time in this picturesque Pennine Village just an hour from Manchester.
Heptonstall near Hebden Bridge is a village with just 1,500 inhabitants and a rich heritage that is something of a hidden gem in West Yorkshire.
The village perched on a hilltop still has cobbled streets, two pubs, a post office, a museum and two churches - and a graveyard that is the resting place of world-renowned poet Sylvia Plath, YorkshireLive reports.
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What it doesn't have is cars tearing up the village.
Unless you've got a very good reason to bring your vehicle into Heptonstall's late medieval core you'll have to use the car park by the bowling club on the edge of the newer side of the village.
While many of the villages in this region have become dormitory settlements for city workers and tourist hotspots, the ancient village of Heptonstall has weathered the postindustrial storm, writes our sister site Yorkshire Live.
Villagers are welcoming and friendly and you don't hear moans of gentrification because Heptonstall is, at least on the surface, the best of both worlds.
While the village has more than its share of incomers – or 'incumdens' as locals call them – there are families that have lived in this little place for centuries.
Former council worker Marguerite Eccles has lived in Heptonstall most of her life.
She's lived in Hebden Bridge too but found herself staring back up the hill.
Marguerite, 69, says: "It's a brilliant place to live and be.
"There's an awful lot of heritage and history and yet it's a living, breathing village.
"I think it's special because it's managed to keep its pubs, churches and friends groups going."
She adds: "There's something here. It's not like a lot of villages in the country where the heart has been ripped out."
Also Heptonstall born and bred is Dave Redman who has lived on the same street his entire life.
The former pub DJ says: "I wouldn't live anywhere else."
Among the incumdens is Jess Crook. She's originally from Worcester and has lived in Hebden Bridge, its near-equally creative neighbour Mytholmroyd and more traditional Halifax – but she always finds herself back in Heptonstall.
Jess, 32, says: "It's just lovely. The kids all play out.
"It's gorgeous here. I don't have any complaints."
Fellow incomer Kate Mansell, originally from the Isle of Wight, moved to Heptonstall to take advantage of the hills.
Kate, 50, says: "It's a great place and it's a good community.
"We moved here from the running and cycling. We're both fell runners."
You can't blame the incumdens for choosing Heptonstall.
As well as the views – probably the best for a village of its size in West Yorkshire – the history and the preindustrial vibe it's a seriously friendly place.
You can't walk far without villagers asking if you're looking for something and striking up conversations.
Stuart Burn, who can trace his Heptonstall roots back to 1715, looks after the new cemetery and directs people to the grave of legendary poet Sylvia Plath.
The old cemetery is also the place of rest for 18th-century gangster and Cragg Vale Coiners boss 'King' David Hartley Turvin.
The history
The name means 'stable in Hebden'. Hebden itself means 'rosehip valley'.
Its original St Thomas Beckett Church, now a ruin, dates back to around 1260.
The village was the site of a battle during the English Civil War in 1643. The village is reputed to be haunted by the ghost of a Roundhead on horseback.
A grisly connection to the Cragg Vale Coiners can be found in The Cross Inn where, in 1771, members of the gang murdered a farm labourer called Abraham Ingham by throwing him in the fire. The fireplace is still there.
Heptonstall's original church was heavily damaged during a storm in 1847 and services switched to St Thomas the Apostle Church, which completed in 1854.
Another American poet buried in Heptonstall's new cemetery is Asa Benveniste (1925-1990).
Attractions
Have a pint in The Cross Inn remembering to see the infamous fireplace (see above). It's in a room on the left as you walk in.
Climb the steep cobbles of Town Gate to the White Lion for another ale.
Admire the playground with the best view in West Yorkshire, off Acres Lane.
