From A1 take the Wentbridge and Kirk Smeaton turn. Drive east to Kirk Smeaton, go through the village to Little Smeaton and head north west up New Road. Once out of the village turn left down Leys Lane to the car park at the end.

Its name derives from 'broken dale', aptly describing the craggy outcrops of limestone which dominate parts of the reserve. Many of the steepsided slopes are covered in semi-natural woodland, or meadows which have been long unploughed. Brockadale became a Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve in 1966, but with several extensions is now about 2km long and covers much of the valley between Wentbridge and the Smeatons. Most of this beautiful reserve is classed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). It has about a dozen species of plants which are rare in this part of the UK, all depending on the Magnesian Limestone rock which underlies the reserve. It also has a tiny snail which is found only in a handful of other places in the UK, and has a spider and a moth which are found nowhere else in Yorkshire

Brockadale is located in the valley of the River Went as it flows through a craggy, steep-sided gorge formed after the last ice-age when glacial melt-water burst through the magnesian limestone rock. Around 350 species of plants grow on the nature reserve. Early flowers such as cowslip, common dog-violet and spring cinquefoil, well suited to the limestone soil, can be seen in spring. Native plants such as rock-rose follow, as well as orchids, salad burnet, yellow-wort, betony, field scabious and, in August, a profusion of clustered bellflower. Butterflies abound in the meadows, with the spectacular Marbled White and Dark Green Fritillary are unmissable in July. Day-flying moths like Six-spot Burnet and Chimney Sweeper are common, with close to 300 species of moths having been identified on site.