High Force and the North Pennine Waterfalls
High Force drops around 22 metres into a wooded gorge on the Tees and is routinely called England’s tallest waterfall. That claim needs an asterisk, but the volume of water going over it does not.
Published 18 August 2026
Upper Teesdale holds three of the most impressive waterfalls in England within a few miles of each other, all on the same river and all reachable from the Pennine Way, which runs along the Tees here. It is the best short concentration of falling water in the country outside Wales.
How tall is High Force, really
High Force drops about 22 metres, 71 feet, over the Whin Sill, the hard band of dolerite that also carries Hadrian’s Wall further north. It is frequently described as England’s tallest waterfall, and that description is disputed, because the drop is not a single unbroken fall.
The competing claim belongs to Hardraw Force in Wensleydale, which has a single uninterrupted drop of 30 metres and is generally accepted as England’s highest unbroken waterfall. What High Force does hold is volume: in spate it puts more water over an unbroken drop than anything else in England, and the noise in the gorge is genuinely startling.
The three falls
| Fall | Where | Access |
|---|---|---|
| Low Force | Near Bowlees | Easy riverside path; the Wynch Bridge crosses just above it |
| High Force | Forest-in-Teesdale | Paid woodland path from the car park, or free on the Pennine Way from the north bank |
| Cauldron Snout | Cow Green Reservoir | A rough scramble beside a long cataract, the wildest of the three |
Low Force is the gentle one and the better family option, a wide, stepped fall with an easy path and the Wynch Bridge, an early suspension footbridge, right above it. Cauldron Snout is the opposite: a long cataract below Cow Green Reservoir with a scrambly path beside it, and no facilities at all.
Paying, and not paying
The main viewing path to High Force, through the woodland on the south bank, is on private land and charges admission. The north bank is crossed by the Pennine Way and is free, a longer walk from Bowlees or Holwick, and a different, more distant view. Both are legitimate; the paid path gets you closest.
The wider valley
Upper Teesdale is a National Nature Reserve and botanically remarkable: the "Teesdale assemblage" includes arctic-alpine species surviving since the last glaciation, most famously the spring gentian, which flowers in May and grows nowhere else in England. If you are here in late spring, that is worth as much of your attention as the waterfalls.
- Bowlees Visitor Centre: the practical base for Low Force and High Force from the north.
- Cow Green Reservoir: for Cauldron Snout and the high moorland.
- Middleton-in-Teesdale: the nearest town, and a Pennine Way stop.
- High Cup Nick: a perfect glacial valley a few miles west, and one of the finest sights on the Pennine Way.
Where to stay
Teesdale itself is thinly served. This is remote country. We list 106 sites across County Durham, Northumberland and Cumbria combined, which is the realistic catchment for a trip here.
Where to stay for Teesdale and the North Pennines
Across the North Pennine counties, best-rated first.
See all 106 sites (100 more not shown here).
Northumberland has the largest concentration, and its dark-sky country is a short drive north. See stargazing sites.
Common questions
- How tall is High Force waterfall?
- About 22 metres, or 71 feet, over the Whin Sill on the River Tees.
- Is High Force the tallest waterfall in England?
- It is often called that, but the claim is disputed because the drop is not unbroken. Hardraw Force in Wensleydale has a single uninterrupted drop of 30 metres. High Force does carry the greatest volume over an unbroken drop when in spate.
- Do you have to pay to see High Force?
- The main woodland viewing path on the south bank is on private land and charges admission. The north bank, on the Pennine Way, is free but gives a more distant view.
- What is Cauldron Snout?
- A long cataract on the Tees below Cow Green Reservoir, reached by a rough scramble. It is the wildest of the three Teesdale falls and has no facilities.
Keep reading
- Waterfalls & wild waterThe Best Waterfalls in the UKThe UK’s best waterfalls, region by region, from Sgwd yr Eira in Wales to High Force in Teesdale, Hardraw in the Dales and the Falls of Glomach in the Highlands.
- Waterfalls & wild waterWaterfalls in YorkshireYorkshire’s best waterfalls, the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail, Aysgarth Falls, Hardraw Force and Malham’s Janet’s Foss, with access, walks and where to stay.
- Long-distance trailsThe Pennine Way: Stages, Distances and Where to StayBritain’s first National Trail, 268 miles up the spine of England from Edale to Kirk Yetholm. The stages, the hard sections, and the sites near the route.
- Waterfalls & wild waterThe Best Waterfalls in WalesWales’s best waterfalls, the Four Waterfalls Walk in Waterfall Country, Henrhyd, Pistyll Rhaeadr, Aber Falls and Swallow Falls, with walks, access and stays nearby.