Our Yorkshire Holiday in the North York Moors

We have been to Yorkshire before, but have never explored this particular area. We decided to stay in a beautiful cottage which was in a tiny hamlet called Beck Hole near Goathland. You may be familiar with Goathland, as it is where the TV series, Heartbeat was filmed and is better known as the fictional village of Aidensfield. The area is stunning, and you can see why so much television is filmed here, it’s like stepping back in time. The train station also appears in the Harry Potter films as Hogsmead Station.

Driving was such a pleasure, and the roads are lovely and quiet, you just have to steer clear of the local wildlife, with sheep roaming freely across the roads. The scenery was breath-taking and alive with all the wild heather.

Due to Covid restrictions we had to really plan out our itinerary in advance and map out what we wanted to see and do each day, as everything needed to be pre-arranged. This worked well for us and really paid off. We even prebooked a lunch stop on the way to Yorkshire to break up our journey from Kent, followed by a further pit stop to pick up a click and collect shopping order in York.

On our first full day we explored Goathland itself and completed a treasure trail which led us around the quaint village and allowed us to indulge on some of the local history. This is such a fun way to enjoy the area. There are so many wonderful walks and trails. We also wandered down to the Mallyan Spout, which is the tallest waterfall in the North York Moors. It is well worth a visit, but does involve clambering over rocks, so good footwear is a must. The weekend we were there would have been the local scarecrow festival and even though the festival did not happen due to Covid restrictions the villagers still displayed their scarecrows.

On our second day we ventured into the picturesque seaside town of Whitby, where we made good use of our English Heritage membership and visited Whitby Abbey. We all thoroughly enjoyed our visit and I think out of all the areas we visited, Whitby was one of my favourites. It was also the nearest main town to where we were staying, which made it perfect for a meal out.

Other highlights included our visit to Scarborough, which was probably the sunniest day of the week; we made more use out of our English heritage with a visit to Scarborough Castle followed by a walk along the harbour and beach.

York was magnificent! We really enjoyed the Jorvik Centre and York Minster cathedral especially and as both attractions were indoors, we were able to escape the rain. My daughters loved the Shambles area which resembles Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter Movies. They took full advantage of spending their money on Harry Potter merchandise. We decided to use the park and ride bus service in York. This took the stress away of trying to find a parking space in a busy city.

The North York Moors Steam Railway is worth experiencing. The preserved historic railway stretches for 18 miles through the heart of the North York Moors National park and runs from Pickering to Whitby. The stations that you pass through are all restored and presented to look like how they would in decades gone by.

A true hidden gem was the Ryedale Folk Museum, which is nestled in a beautiful village called Hutton-Le-Hole right in the heart of the North York Moors national park. We spent about 3 hours here stepping back in time and exploring cottages, buildings, and shops from the past. I would recommend a visit and it was appealing for the whole family.

We didn’t get the warm sunshine of Florida, but we had such an amazing week away and loved the opportunity to see some of the wonderful areas in our own beautiful country and we will definitely be back in the future.