Back in early January, with the Christmas and New Year chaos over and done with, we decided to have a few days away from home somewhere in the UK. North Yorkshire ended up being our destination, with a little cottage on the edge of the North York Moors National Park being our home for a few nights. As it turned out, the start of our mini break coincided with a snowstorm hitting the UK and so on the morning we were driving north, we woke up to a blanket of snow covering large parts of the UK.
After a very snowy journey north, with the A1 down to a single lane crawling at 30mph at some points, we arrived at a Park and Ride on the outskirts of York ready to take a break and have some lunch. If you’re visiting York and aren’t getting the train, then the Park and Rides are the way to go. Parking is free and it was just £3.80 return for each of us to get into the city centre, certainly much easier and cheaper than finding a car park in the centre itself. If you wanted to park near The Shambles, five hours parking costs just under £20!…
Having made it into the city, our first stop was the House of Trembling Madness, a medieval ale house located a stone’s throw from the Minster, that is now home to a bar, restaurant and shop. Whilst their menu isn’t too extensive, there’s still a decent choice and I went for the Steak and Stout Pie, with Beth going for the Beef Bourguignon, both of which were delicious. As well as decent food, there’s a good range of real ales and a relaxed atmosphere to enjoy whilst you eat, so its certainly somewhere I’d recommend visiting. Unfortunately, due to the weather, which had now changed to sleet, we didn’t really explore any more of York and just ended up picking up some fudge before heading back to the car and on to our accommodation on the edge of the Moors.
Our plan for our first full day in Yorkshire was to head north across the moors to Battersby, where we would be able to catch a train to Whitby and the coast. With the weather seemingly having improve slightly overnight and the skies appearing a bit brighter, we set off to Helmsley before turning north into the North York Moors National Park and starting to climb. Unfortunately, whilst the weather was better down at the edges of the moors, as we reached the highest parts of the national park we were confronted with a snowstorm and some rather challenging road conditions which added a little ‘spice’ to the journey. Safely arriving at Battersby station, we found the tiny car park flooded and our train cancelled, resulting in a hasty replan for the rest of the day.
Wanting to avoid a potentially treacherous journey back across the moors, we decided to take the longer route around the edges and visit a few of North Yorkshire’s market towns on the way. First up was the town of Stokesley, located not far from Battersby and the northern edge of the moor, a few miles south of the Teesside cities. Here we found a nice little café/restaurant called The Truffled Hog where we sat down for a warm drink, a piece of cake and to regroup after the morning’s debacle. It was a shame it wasn’t yet time for lunch as their food menu certainly had some excellent looking items on it, and if the cake was anything to go by, I’m sure a meal there would be delicious.
Stokesley is a pretty little market town, although as our visit didn’t coincide with the town’s market, the cobbled marketplace had reverted to its other use of being a car park. We spent an hour or so wandering around looking at the various shops and also crossed the Grade II listed, 17th century Packhorse Bridge which at one point was one of the main routes into the town centre. Having regrouped and enjoyed exploring Stokesley, it was time to head on to the next stop on our tour of North Yorkshire towns, Helmsley.
A settlement has existed at Helmsley since around 3000BC and since growing in importance in medieval times, the town has retained its charm and popularity. As with Stokesley the marketplace is a car park on non-market days, however this seemed to take over the town centre slightly less. Approaching Helmsley from the west on the A170, the ruins of the town’s Norman castle are easily seen towering over the town itself, with parts of the church also Norman in origin. We parked up in the centre of town and took a wander around the shops on the marketplace, including a stop for lunch at The Feather’s Hotel where Beth went for another Beef Bourguignon whilst I opted for a more local delicacy, a Chicken Parm.
From Helmsley we continued east along the A170 to our final stop of the day, Pickering, probably the most major of the towns we were exploring. Located at the crossroads of the York to Whitby and Thirsk to Scarborough roads, Pickering is also the southern terminus of the North York Moors Railway (NYMR) which connects the town with Goathland, Grosmont and ultimately Whitby. Unfortunately, our trip to North Yorkshire coincided with the end of the NYMR’s winter season and so there was no ride on the trains during our visit, however we did have a wander up (very much up) the steep high street. Stopping for hot drink and some more cake (we didn’t have pudding in Helmsley ok?) at Feast Deli & Café, we reflected a bit on our day and came to the conclusion that all North Yorkshire market towns seem to be pretty, although they’d be much nicer to wander around and explore in the spring or summer.
Having had a day full of market towns, driving and bad weather, we headed back to our cottage to relax, play some board games and have a hot chocolate before heading back out for a pint at the local pub. The Royal Oak Inn in Gillamoor had a proper village pub atmosphere and the friendly staff had no issues with us settling down near the fire to play a few rounds of Ecosystems whilst enjoying our pints. Our first full day in North Yorkshire ended with some dinner back in the farmhouse kitchen of our cottage, before we sat and had a relaxed hour reading in front of the wood burning fire.
As we reached the halfway point of our mini-break, we had reached the conclusion that North Yorkshire was a wonderful place to explore, however it would be even better if the weather stopped being miserable. We had replanned a trip to Whitby (via road this time) for the second half of our break and had enjoyed a day of ‘pottering’ around market towns, although none of the markets were there on a Monday. Unfortunately the weather had meant a somewhat slow and muted start to out exploring, but things did pick up, so keep an eye out for part 2 of A Winter Visit to Yorkshire next week.
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