North York Moors - 3.5 to 35 miles.
Today you are looking for something rugged. You find it only a few miles away in the bracken, the heather and the endless landscape of the Moors. After a walk, you ravenously devour a satisfying Yorkshire lunch, before reliving scenes made famous in a TV series.
Refreshed, you potter around the dramatic scenery, passing over or under a puffing steam train, and descend into a quaint little village with historic connections. After savouring the richness of a cream tea, you take a drive along a toll road through the depths of the forest, only emerging as the sun is setting and it's time for supper.
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Countryside.
Open moorland, steep bowl-shaped valleys sinking away below you. Mountain-shaped hills rising up beside you. Steep embankments (one in four, one in three!) behind you and spectacular views ahead of you. All important ingredients of a holiday at Rains Farm.
Places to visit.
- Coxwold – most southerly village in National Park with 15th century church with octagonal tower and priory.
- Goathland – moorland village on the North York Moors Railway and central location for the ITV drama ‘Heartbeat’.
- Great Ayton – Picturesque northern village with roadside stream and Captain Cook connections.
- Helmsley – pretty market square surrounded by yellow-stone buildings with pantile roofs.
- Hutton le Hole –showpiece village with undulating greens, where sheep, ducks and tourists roam free.
- Lealholm – pretty stone cottages, village green, bridge and stepping stones across the river.
- Osmotherley – historic start of the Lyke Wake Walk and site of one of first Methodist chapels on Moors.
- Pockley – small village with thatched cottages and church by Sir Gilbert Scott near Helmsley.
- Stokesley – Georgian market town at the foot of the Cleveland Hills.
Heritage
- Bridestones, Dalby Forest - amazing natural stone sculptures eroded by wind and rain over centuries.
- Byland Abbey, near Coxwold – Cistercian church built in the early 12th Century with largest nave in England.
- Coxwold, Newburgh Priory – large 17th and 18th century house with a water garden.
- Coxwold, Shandy Hall – mediaeval home of Laurence Sterne, author of ‘Tristram Shandy’.
- Duncombe Park, Helmsley – Baroque mansion built 1713 with grand interior.
- Helmsley Castle – Built in the 11th and 12th centuries and dismantled during the English Civil War.
- Helmsley Walled Garden - Five acre walled working kitchen garden by the walls of Helmsley Castle.
- Hutton le Hole, Ryedale Folk Museum - a village within a village revealing rural Yorkshire life.
- Kilburn White Horse – created in 1857 by a local headmaster, it is regularly dressed with chalk chippings.
- Lastingham Church of St Mary – 13th-15th century church on site of 7th century monastery.
- Osmotherley, Mount Grace Priory – largest and best-preserved of the English Carthusian houses founded in the late 14th century.
- Osmotherley, Old Methodist Chapel – one of the first to be constructed bearing the date 1754.
- Rievaulx Abbey – well-preserved ruins of largest Cistercian abbey in England dating from 1132.
- Rosedale Abbey – single tower remains of 12th century Cistercian Nunnery.
- Wade’s Causeway near Goathland – well-preserved stretch of Roman road measuring 16 feet across.
Arts and Crafts
- Mousey Thompson Woodcarving at Kilburn
Natural World
- Duncombe Park Reserve near Helmsley – explore nature within over 400 acres of rolling parkland.
- Farndale Daffodils – a valley is carpeted with yellow during the growing season.
- Rievaulx Terrace and Temples – classical 18th century landscape garden with Georgian temples.
- Wytherstone Gardens near Helmsley. A plantsman’s garden in 8 acres of rolling countryside.
Activities
Easy territory for walking and cycling – see our features section for more information.
- Golf at Kirkbymoorside and Ruswarp.
- Swimming at Helmsley and Stokesley.
- Sports and Leisure Centre at Pickering.
- Cycle hire at Low Dalby and Rosedale Abbey.
- Fishing at at Kirkby in Cleveland, Stokesley.
- Sports and Leisure Centre at Stokesley.
Attractions
- North York Moors Railway – steam along 18 miles of track from Pickering to Grosmont, through North York Moors National Park, or take a diesel.
- Esk Valley Railway – a community-owned railway running from Whitby, along the edge of the moors to Middlesbrough.
Nearest Tourist Information
- Helmsley Tourist Information Centre Helmsley Castle Visitor Centre 01439 770173.
- The Moors Centre, Danby, Whitby 01439 772737.
- Sutton Bank Visitor Centre, Sutton Bank, Thirsk 01845 597426.
Photos (top to bottom): Sheep on the moors. Goathland village. North York Moors Railway. Dalby Forest. Helmsley Market Square. Daffodils at Farndale. Great Ayton village. Hutton le Hole village. White horse at Kilburn. Bridestones by Dalby Forest.
© Philip Maybury, Authentic Internet / PageSlaves 2006. Although the contents of this page have been included in good faith, neither Authentic Internet, Rains Farm nor any of thier suppliers can be held responsible for any inaccuracy, or any visitor's reliance upon the content. Visitors should always verify this information with a third party (such as for example a Tourist Information Centre).