West Yorkshire is often thought of as an industrial area yet here you will find a World Heritage Site, towns and villages in dramatic settings, the home of the famous Bronte sisters, wonderful art collections and bleak yet beautiful moorland, which you are strongly advised not to venture onto without wearing a hat!

From many a vantage point in West Yorkshire you can admire, in one breathtaking view, scenery combining the industrial landscape of times past with windswept, wild moorland. The Industrial Revolution exploited the fast- flowing rivers and streams of the Pennines to create a textile industry of world renown. The Victorian influence still dominates not only the public architecture of the many grand town halls but also the domestic scene with sturdy housing, now blackened by the pollution of the past.

Nowhere better can this be seen than in Hebden Bridge where the River Calder flows through a narrow valley with homes clinging to the steep valley sides that open out onto wild moorland, or in Holmfirth perhaps best known as the location for the long-running TV series Last of The Summer Wine.

Above Hebden Bridge is Heptonstall, which if relocated to either Provence or Tuscany would not look out of place as an ancient hilltop village. The traditional soot-darkened Yorkshire cottages might be incongruous but apart from that it has everything (well except the weather) - steep, cobbled streets little changed in the last 200 years and a rich history as a woollen centre. Weaving used to be a cottage industry around here, but once steam power arrived mills were built in the valley bottom, leaving the village quiet and peaceful for visitors and locals alike to enjoy.

The village of Saltaire, situated between Bradford and the Yorkshire Dales, has been designated a World Heritage site. This model village was built by a philanthropic mill owner and is dominated by the huge mill itself which now houses the world's largest collection of works by Bradford-born artist David Hockney and a small number of select retail outlets.

On a nearby hillside is Haworth where the cobbled main street leads up to the parsonage, the former home of the Bronte sisters. A short, yet exhilarating walk from here takes you straight onto the bleak, beautiful moors and a ruined farmhouse with trees bent from the wind. This is Top Withens, which many believe to be the inspiration and setting of Wuthering Heights.

Nearby is the elegant former spa town of Ilkley on the other side of the famous Ilkley Moor. Ilkley itself is squeezed between the north-facing slopes of the moor and the River Wharfe. The oldest of the spas is White Wells, an 18th-century bath house, and one of very few buildings on the moor. Nowadays, each new year begins with a New Year's Day dip at White Wells when hardy locals take a plunge into the cold water. Today walkers and nature lovers have unlimited access to Ilkley Moor and are free to enjoy the spectacular views across Wharfedale. Exploring on the moor you are likely to come across many ancient sites including the 12 Apostles – a small stone Druids circle - and the Swastika stone - a carved stone on a crag overlooking Wharfedale. However the moor is probably most famous for the song that has become the unofficial anthem of Yorkshire. It tells of a lover courting the object of his affections, Mary Jane, on Ilkley Moor without a hat (baht 'at). The singer chides the lover for his lack of headwear – for in the cold winds of Ilkley Moor this will mean death from exposure. This will in turn result in his burial, the eating of his corpse by worms, the eating of the worms by ducks and finally the eating of the ducks by the singers!