Buckden is a tiny stone village near the head of Wharfedale, where the valley narrows and the walking gets wilder. It is not a place of big sights. It works because the good things are close: the climb up Buckden Pike, the Dales Way along the River Wharfe, the hamlet of Hubberholme, and the moor road towards Langstrothdale.
Come with boots and a flexible plan. In clear weather the ridge walks are excellent; when the tops are lost in cloud, the lower triangle through Cray and Hubberholme still gives you stone walls, sheep fields, river bends, and a proper Dales sense of distance.
Buckden is best treated as a walking base or a slow day from Grassington or Skipton. It is small enough to exhaust quickly if you came for shops or museums, but very rewarding if you came for the upper dale.