Youth Hostels Association put four Yorkshire hostels up for sale - including mill owner's mansion in Haworth and 16th-century Pennine farmhouse

On the market are YHA hostels at Haworth, Mankinholes near Todmorden, Helmsley and Lockton, close to Dalby Forest, as well as the hostel in Kettlewell in the Dales, which is independently run on a franchise basis.

The disposal of 20 YHA sites plus 13 affiliated ‘network’ properties is thought to be the biggest sell-off in the history of the YHA, which was formed to provide cheap accommodation for young travellers in the 1930s. The organisation has adapted to changing user needs – now offering family rooms as well as the traditional communal dormitories – but has suffered from competition from budget hotels.

Although preference will be given to buyers looking to retain the buildings’ role as hostels, the YHA accepts that change of use proposals could be forthcoming and that some may be converted into homes. Agents Sidney Phillips have been appointed to market the hostels.

Haworth – £950,000

The most expensive Yorkshire hostel is Haworth, situated in the heart of the village where the Bronte sisters grew up. Although the area remains popular with literary tourists, it is only a short drive from Bradford, which has a range of budget accommodation options.

The village’s hostel in the 1950s was actually the Victorian schoolroom where the Brontes had taught, but in the 1970s the YHA acquired Longlands Hall, the former home of Edwin Robinson Merrall. The Merralls owned mills in Haworth and built their mansion in 1884. However, by 1914 they had left the house following the deaths of Edwin and his son. It had other owners until the 1940s, when it became accommodation for immigrant women working in the mills, and it was also a retirement home for a short period.

It now has 89 beds, a licensed bar and is popular with walkers exploring the Worth Valley. Many of the ornate Victorian features have been preserved.

Mankinholes – £375,000

Mankinholes, a small hostel, is under the management of Haworth’s staff. The Grade II-listed 16th-century farmhouse with 19th-century additions is in a hamlet near Todmorden, and much of its custom is from walkers tackling nearby Stoodley Pike. It has 32 beds.

Helmsley – £325,000

Situated in the popualar North York Moors market town, Helmsley hostel has 40 beds and staff accommodation. It was one of the YHA’s first purpose-built hostels in the 1930s.

Lockton, Dalby Forest – £250,000

The cheapest property is Lockton, which has 21 beds. It is another historic building, a former Victorian village school dating back to the 1860s. Dalby Forest is one of the North York Moors’ most popular attractions, known for its walking and cycling trails.

Kettlewell – £850,000

A bit of a jewel in the YHA’s crown – though since 2015 it has been independently-run on a franchise affiliation basis. In a popular Yorkshire Dales location, the three-storey building has 11 rooms sleeping 42 guests, a three-bedroom manager’s cottage next door and an annual turnover of £180,000.

Owners Saul and Floss Ward have won Europe-wide awards for their hostel. They even run a second-hand bookshop in the reception area, and took on the management of the village post office, which operates from the building.

The Wards, who moved from Harrogate with their children, bought Kettlewell when the YHA opted to sell a number of ‘underperforming’ hostels that were not generating enough revenue in order to invest in the refurbishment of others. According to the couple, the hostel at Boggle Hole, near Whitby, was one of the beneficiaries of Kettlewell’s sale eight years ago.

The YHA have operated in Kettlewell since the 1930s, initially from an old Church school, but in the 1940s, needing to expand, acquired Whernside House, which had had a number of other uses in the first half of the 20th century, including as a guesthouse, bakery, cafe, shop and post office.