Things to do in North Yorkshire

Bempton Cliffs on the East Yorkshire coast near Bridlington are the most impressive seabird cliffs in England, a section of chalk coastline rising to over a hundred metres above the North Sea that supports the largest mainland gannet colony in England along with tens of thousands of guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, fulmars, puffins and herring gulls breeding on the vertical chalk faces from April through August. The RSPB has managed the site since 1969 and the combination of accessible viewpoints, excellent visitor facilities and the sheer overwhelming abundance of breeding seabirds makes Bempton one of the most rewarding wildlife spectacles in Britain. The gannet colony at Bempton has grown dramatically over the past fifty years from a handful of pairs in the 1970s to several thousand pairs today, part of the general expansion of the British gannet population as the species recovers from historical persecution and finds new breeding sites along the British coastline. The gannets nest on the ledges and broad clifftop areas, their white plumage and distinctive black-tipped wings making them unmistakable even at a distance, and their aerial fishing displays in the sea below the cliffs provide continuous dramatic entertainment. The RSPB visitor centre provides excellent facilities including telescopes at the main viewpoints, interpretive displays explaining the seabird colony and its ecology, and guided walks during the breeding season. The six viewpoints along the clifftop path provide different perspectives on the colony, with some viewpoints looking directly into the most densely occupied sections of cliff at very short range. The noise, smell and sheer visual intensity of a hundred thousand seabirds in full breeding activity is one of the great wildlife experiences that Britain offers. Outside the seabird season Bempton is also excellent for watching migrant passerine birds in spring and autumn, when the sheltered scrub along the clifftop provides cover for tired migrants arriving from the continent.

Beningbrough Hall is an early eighteenth-century country house of the highest architectural quality standing in its own parkland beside the River Ouse in North Yorkshire, managed by the National Trust and housing an exceptional collection of portraits from the National Portrait Gallery which provides the principal focus of the interior display. The house was built between 1712 and 1716 and is one of the finest examples of early eighteenth-century English baroque architecture in the north of England, its restrained but confident exterior and richly decorated interior representing the best of the Queen Anne architectural tradition applied by a talented provincial architect. The house was built for John Bourchier and the quality of the craftsmanship throughout is remarkable for a house of this period and this region. The carved woodwork, the plasterwork ceilings, the painted staircase hall and the bold architectural mouldings of the principal rooms represent a level of execution that compares favourably with the great London houses of the same period. The central hall rising to the full height of the house and lit by a clerestory above is one of the finest baroque interior spaces in the north of England, its proportions and details carefully calibrated to produce an impression of solemnity and grandeur appropriate to the aspirations of its patron. The partnership with the National Portrait Gallery allows Beningbrough to display over one hundred seventeenth and eighteenth-century portraits within its historic rooms, providing a combination of architectural quality and picture collection that creates an unusually coherent and satisfying visitor experience. The portraits, displayed in appropriate period settings, illuminate both the history of the house and the broader history of the period they represent. The walled garden and the parkland setting by the Ouse provide good outdoor visiting, and the combination of house, garden and landscape makes Beningbrough one of the most rewarding National Trust properties in Yorkshire.

Beningbrough Hall is an outstanding early Georgian country house in North Yorkshire set within its own parkland beside the River Ouse between York and Boroughbridge. Built in the early eighteenth century, the house is considered one of the finest examples of baroque domestic architecture in the north of England, combining an impressive exterior of warm red brick with state rooms of exceptional quality and decorative richness. The National Trust has managed the hall since 1958 and in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery displays over a hundred portrait paintings from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the house's principal rooms, creating a visitor experience that combines architectural appreciation with a significant art collection. The exterior of the house presents a dignified and carefully proportioned facade to the courtyard and garden, the red brick warm against the North Yorkshire sky and the baroque architectural details of the window surrounds, cornices and central doorcase executed with a quality and confidence that speaks to a skilled architect at the height of his abilities. The building has been attributed to William Thornton of York, a talented provincial architect who produced work of metropolitan quality for several Yorkshire patrons in the early years of the eighteenth century. The state rooms within the hall are among the finest of their period in the north of England. The great hall rising to the full height of the building, the carved staircase with its elaborate painted decoration, the state bed, the Chinese closet and the beautifully proportioned drawing rooms all demonstrate the high standard of craftsmanship available to wealthy Yorkshire patrons in the early Georgian period. The collection of National Portrait Gallery paintings, displayed in appropriate period settings, extends the experience from purely architectural appreciation into the history of British art and society across the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The formal garden, parkland walks and walled garden provide substantial outdoor interest, and the combination of house, garden and riverside setting makes Beningbrough a very satisfying full-day destination.

Bridlington Harbour on the East Yorkshire coast is the largest fishing harbour on the Yorkshire coast and one of the most active working fishing ports in northeast England, a double-basin harbour enclosing a substantial fleet of inshore fishing vessels and a thriving commercial fishing industry that provides much of the Yorkshire coast's supply of crab, lobster, cod and other North Sea species. The harbour divides into the Old Town above and the Victorian resort development along the seafront below, and the combination of the working harbour, the fishing vessel activity and the seaside resort character gives Bridlington a dual personality that makes it one of the more interesting coastal towns on the Yorkshire coast. The harbour itself is the most visually engaging part of the town, the stone quays enclosing a basin where fishing vessels land their catches in the mornings and pleasure craft moor through the summer season. Fish can be bought directly from the boats and from the fish stalls along the quayside in the morning, providing some of the freshest and most competitively priced seafood available anywhere in Yorkshire. The combination of the working harbour atmosphere and the opportunity to buy genuinely local fish is one of Bridlington's most distinctive and enjoyable visitor experiences. The Old Town of Bridlington, separated from the harbour and seafront by a distance of nearly a kilometre, contains the priory church of St Mary, one of the finest medieval churches in East Yorkshire, whose gatehouse survives as a particularly impressive example of late medieval monastic gatehouse architecture. The priory was founded in 1114 and its most celebrated prior, St John of Bridlington, was canonised in 1401 and became one of the most venerated saints of medieval northern England. The broad sandy beaches north and south of the harbour are among the most extensive on the Yorkshire coast, and the combination of beach, harbour and the chalk cliffs of Flamborough Head to the north provides excellent coastal walking opportunities.

Brimham Rocks in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty near Harrogate are one of the most extraordinary natural rock formations in England, a collection of millstone grit tors weathered by wind and rain over millions of years into fantastical shapes that balance enormous masses of rock on improbably narrow bases and create natural sculptures of considerable comic and dramatic variety. The National Trust manages the site and the rocks, each named for the object they resemble, attract visitors who combine the pleasure of scrambling and exploring with the astonishment that natural erosion can produce these results. The rocks are the remnants of a continuous layer of Millstone Grit that once covered this section of the Pennines and has been progressively eroded over the millions of years since the Carboniferous period, the erosion acting most aggressively on the softer bands within the rock and creating the characteristic shapes of balanced rocks, arches and vertical columns. The names given to the most distinctive formations, including the Idol Rock, the Druid's Writing Desk, the Dancing Bear and the Watchdog, reflect centuries of imaginative human response to these improbable natural forms. The moorland setting of Brimham Rocks, with the open heather moor stretching to the Nidderdale valley below and the Yorkshire Dales visible in the distance, provides an excellent landscape context for the rock formations and the combination of the rocks, the moorland walking and the views makes Brimham one of the most rewarding half-day destinations in the Yorkshire countryside.

Burton Agnes Hall in the East Riding of Yorkshire is one of the finest Elizabethan country houses in England, a red brick mansion of 1598 built by Sir Henry Griffith that has remained largely unchanged in its external appearance for over four centuries while its interior has been enriched by successive generations of the same family with a remarkable collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings acquired primarily in the early twentieth century. The combination of the outstanding Elizabethan architecture and a collection of considerable art historical importance makes Burton Agnes one of the most rewarding country house visits in the north of England. The house was designed by Robert Smythson, the architect responsible for Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire and Longleat in Wiltshire, and the characteristic Smythson style of symmetrical facade, large windows and disciplined proportion is clearly evident in the Burton Agnes design. The entrance front, approached through an elaborate gatehouse of the same period, presents a long red brick facade of considerable authority and elegance, the symmetrical arrangement of windows and the slightly projecting bay of the great hall section creating a composition of controlled confidence typical of the best Elizabethan country house architecture. The interior of Burton Agnes retains its Jacobean plasterwork ceilings, carved overmantels and carved wood panelling in a series of rooms of exceptional quality. The great hall with its carved alabaster and plaster overmantel, the drawing room and the long gallery are among the most complete Jacobean interiors in any English country house still in private occupation. The art collection assembled by the Cotton family in the early twentieth century includes works by Renoir, Cézanne, Gauguin, Manet and Pisarro displayed in these historic rooms. The walled garden with its yew topiary, the potager kitchen garden and the children's games and mazes in the grounds provide extensive outdoor interest.

Byland Abbey in the North York Moors National Park is one of the most important and least visited of the great Cistercian abbey ruins of the north of England, the remains of a wealthy medieval monastery whose once-magnificent church represented the largest Cistercian church in England at the time of its completion in the late twelfth century. The abbey was founded in 1177 and rapidly became one of the great houses of the Cistercian order in the north, its church and domestic buildings constructed on an ambitious scale that reflected both the order's wealth and the patronage of the powerful local lords who supported it. The ruins of the abbey church retain enough of their fabric to convey a strong impression of the building's original grandeur. The west front, with its great rose window aperture above the main doorway, is the most impressive surviving element, a composition of early Gothic lancets and round-arched decorative elements that represents the transition from Romanesque to Gothic in late twelfth-century English church architecture. The floor of the church, paved in geometric encaustic tiles of exceptional quality, survives in significant areas and represents one of the finest examples of medieval floor tile work in any English monastic ruin. Byland was the site of a significant and humiliating defeat in 1322 when a Scottish raiding force under Robert the Bruce routed the English army of Edward II who was using the abbey as a temporary residence. The Scots plundered the abbey following their victory, and the episode is both an important historical event and a reminder of how thoroughly the north of England was exposed to Scottish raiding throughout the early fourteenth century. The village of Byland below the abbey provides a picturesque English rural context for the ruins, and the North York Moors landscape surrounding the valley offers excellent walking and further monastic ruins at Rievaulx and Ampleforth within easy reach.

Castle Howard in North Yorkshire is one of the grandest and most imposing country houses in Britain, an enormous baroque palace designed by Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor for the third Earl of Carlisle in the early eighteenth century that dominates its parkland setting with a confidence and authority matched by very few English country houses. The house was begun in 1699 and the main building completed by 1712, with additional wings added later in the century, and the combination of the great domed central hall, the baroque facade and the carefully composed landscape of lakes, temples and architectural features in the park creates one of the most complete examples of baroque country house design in England. Vanbrugh, who had no architectural training before receiving this commission and had previously worked as a playwright and soldier, brought to the project a theatrical imagination and instinct for dramatic effect that resulted in a building quite unlike any other in England. The central cupola rising above the main hall, the long colonnaded wings flanking the entrance courtyard and the confident orchestration of mass and void across the south front create an impression of palatial grandeur that overwhelmed contemporary observers and has continued to inspire admiration across three centuries. The house became internationally famous as the setting for Granada Television's 1981 adaptation of Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh's novel of aristocratic Catholic life in England, and the association with this television production has brought many visitors who wish to see the location of a story that made a powerful impression on an entire generation of viewers. The house's appearance in numerous other productions since has consolidated its status as a filming location as well as a historical attraction. The grounds of Castle Howard contain a remarkable series of garden buildings including Vanbrugh's Temple of the Four Winds, the Mausoleum designed by Hawksmoor and the Ray Wood woodland garden that contains one of the finest collections of species rhododendrons and ornamental trees in the north of England.

Flamborough Head is a great chalk promontory projecting into the North Sea from the East Yorkshire coast, its brilliant white cliffs, sea stacks and wave-cut arches formed from the same Cretaceous chalk that underlies the White Cliffs of Dover and visible for miles offshore. The headland is one of the most important geological and wildlife sites on the Yorkshire coast, its combination of chalk cliff habitats, rich offshore fishing grounds and strategic position as a first landfall for migrating birds making it a site of exceptional natural interest across every season. The seabird colonies on the Flamborough cliffs are among the most significant on the east coast of England. Tens of thousands of kittiwakes, guillemots, razorbills, fulmars and puffins breed on the ledges and sea cave roofs during the spring and summer season, their noise and movement creating a spectacle of wildlife abundance that is one of the finest available on the Yorkshire coast. The clifftop path north of Flamborough village toward Thornwick and North Landing provides the best access to the cliff-nesting birds, with viewpoints overlooking densely occupied ledges at close range throughout the breeding season. The lighthouse at the tip of the headland has guided vessels clear of the chalk stacks and submerged reefs since 1806, its position marking one of the most hazardous sections of the Yorkshire coast. The Battle of Flamborough Head in September 1779, in which the American naval commander John Paul Jones defeated a British convoy escort in one of the most dramatic single-ship actions of the American Revolutionary War, is commemorated in the area's maritime heritage. The chalk arch at Thornwick Bay and the sea caves accessible on foot at low tide from North and South Landing provide geological features of considerable interest and the connection with Bempton Cliffs RSPB reserve a short walk to the north makes this one of the finest short stretches of coastal walking in Yorkshire.

Flamingo Land Yorkshire is a destination that rewards visitors who enjoy discovering remarkable scenery away from the busiest tourist crowds. The atmosphere can shift dramatically depending on the weather, with bright sunlight revealing colours and textures that are easy to miss on overcast days. Local walking routes and nearby viewpoints make it a rewarding place to explore on foot. Even during busier periods there are usually quieter corners where the scenery can be appreciated at a slower pace. The surrounding landscape provides a strong sense of place that helps visitors understand the character of the region. The surrounding landscape changes beautifully with the seasons, giving the location a slightly different character throughout the year. Photographers often appreciate the changing light conditions, particularly during sunrise and sunset. The location works particularly well as part of a wider scenic journey through the region. Visitors often find themselves spending far longer here than expected because the scenery invites slow exploration. Wandering around the area reveals small details that are easily missed when simply passing through. Many visitors return repeatedly because each visit offers something slightly different. For travellers building an itinerary, Flamingo Land Yorkshire works well as a memorable stop between larger destinations.

Fountains Abbey in the valley of the River Skell in North Yorkshire is the largest and most complete ruined monastery in Britain, a Cistercian abbey of enormous scale and architectural ambition whose remains, together with the eighteenth-century water gardens of Studley Royal Park that surround them, form a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the outstanding heritage landscapes in England. The extent and quality of the surviving fabric give an impression of medieval monastic life and architecture that is unmatched anywhere else in the British Isles. The abbey was founded in 1132 by a group of thirteen monks who left St Mary's Abbey in York following a dispute about the strictness of monastic observance and settled in this remote valley with the support of the Archbishop of York. From these desperate beginnings, sheltering under a great elm tree in winter before the first stone buildings were constructed, Fountains grew within a century to become the wealthiest Cistercian house in England, its prosperity sustained by vast sheep flocks grazing the uplands of Yorkshire and the wool trade they supported. That extraordinary wealth is written in the quality and scale of the surviving ruins. The eleven-bay nave of the abbey church, the great tower added in the sixteenth century, the vaulted cellarium providing storage for the lay brothers who worked the abbey's farms and granges, and the complete range of monastic buildings including the chapter house, infirmary and guest houses together constitute the most complete suite of Cistercian monastic buildings surviving anywhere in the world. The Studley Royal water garden, created in the eighteenth century and incorporating the abbey ruins as a picturesque landscape feature, completes an ensemble of extraordinary richness.

Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden near Ripon in North Yorkshire is a UNESCO World Heritage Site combining the largest and most complete Cistercian abbey ruins in Britain with one of the finest and most innovative eighteenth-century landscape gardens in the world, a combination of medieval monastic grandeur and Georgian landscape design that together create a heritage experience of exceptional breadth and quality. The National Trust manages the entire site and the combination of the abbey ruins, the water garden and the Deer Park provides one of the most comprehensive heritage and landscape experiences available in the north of England. The Cistercian abbey of Fountains, founded in 1132 and dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539, grew over four centuries into one of the wealthiest monasteries in England, its extensive agricultural estate extending across much of the West Riding of Yorkshire in a business empire that provided the resources for the enormous building programme visible in the ruins. The surviving buildings, including the great nave of the abbey church, the cellarium and the remarkable fifteenth-century tower of Abbot Huby, represent the most complete picture of a major English Cistercian monastery available anywhere. The eighteenth-century water garden created by John Aislabie in the valley below the abbey is one of the most accomplished examples of formal landscape design in England, its series of geometric canals and ponds, the Temple of Piety and the surprise view of the abbey from the crescent pond providing a sequence of composed views of remarkable quality.

Goathland on the North Yorkshire Moors is a village of considerable charm and historical character that has achieved a level of fame in contemporary popular culture quite disproportionate to its modest size through its use as the filming location for the television series Heartbeat, which ran for eighteen series between 1992 and 2010 and used the village as the fictional Aidensfield. The filming association has made Goathland one of the most visited villages in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park, and the combination of the Heartbeat heritage, the genuine moorland village character and the Goathland station on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway creates a destination of considerable visitor appeal. The village green, the pub and the surrounding moorland landscape retain their character as a genuinely traditional North Yorkshire Moors moorland village, the grazing sheep and the open moorland around the village perimeter providing the authentic backdrop that made it attractive to the Heartbeat production team. The station on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway heritage line, styled as Hogsmeade Station for the Harry Potter films, provides an additional cultural reference point that brings a younger demographic to complement the Heartbeat visitor base. The Mallyan Spout waterfall accessible by a short walk from the village provides an excellent natural feature complementing the village visit, the waterfall cascading approximately 20 metres into the West Beck gorge in a setting of considerable woodland beauty particularly attractive in the autumn when the surrounding deciduous trees are at their most colourful.

The Turkish Baths in Harrogate are among the most beautiful and best-preserved Victorian public bathing facilities in Britain, a place where the nineteenth century's passionate enthusiasm for health, hygiene and exotic architecture has survived almost entirely intact. Located within the town's Victorian spa complex, they opened in 1897 at the height of Harrogate's fame as one of England's premier spa resorts, a status built on the sulphurous mineral springs that had drawn visitors seeking cures and fashionable company since the seventeenth century. The design of the baths drew directly on the Ottoman hammam tradition, filtered through Victorian Britain's fascination with Moorish and Islamic architecture. The entrance hall and bathing rooms are decorated with richly patterned tilework in deep blues, greens and golds, ornate horseshoe arches, decorative plasterwork and stained glass panels that create an atmosphere of extraordinary visual richness. The overall effect is theatrical in the best possible sense: stepping through the doors is genuinely stepping into another world. The bathing ritual follows the classic sequence of progressively heated rooms. Visitors move from the Frigidarium, the cool entry room, through the Tepidarium and Calidarium to the Laconium, the hottest dry room. Each space operates at a different temperature, and the progression of heat gradually relaxes muscles and opens pores in a way that no modern spa quite replicates. After the heat rooms, bathers can cool down in the cold plunge pool before retreating to the relaxation room for the extended rest that Victorian health practitioners insisted was essential to the cure. Harrogate's broader history as a spa town adds context to a visit to the Turkish Baths. The town's prosperity was built on the thousands of visitors who arrived each season to take the waters, stroll in the Valley Gardens and patronise the grand hotels that still line the town centre. The famous RHS Harlow Carr Gardens, the historic Betty's Tea Room and the elegant Crescent Gardens all reflect the prosperous Victorian resort character that makes Harrogate one of England's most pleasant towns to visit. The baths continue to operate as a working spa and are not merely a museum. Visitors can purchase session tickets for the thermal suite, book treatments and massages, or simply spend a few hours moving through the historic rooms. Booking in advance is strongly recommended as the baths are genuinely popular with locals as well as tourists. The combination of outstanding architectural preservation and the genuine therapeutic experience on offer makes Harrogate Turkish Baths one of the most distinctive and enjoyable heritage attractions in the north of England.

Helmsley is the finest market town in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park, a stone town of considerable charm surrounding a market square that provides the principal visitor centre for the southern section of the moors. The combination of the ruined medieval castle, the walled garden, the excellent independent shops and restaurants and the access it provides to the walking of the Cleveland Way and the Tabular Hills makes Helmsley the most complete and most welcoming base for exploring the western North Yorkshire Moors. Helmsley Castle, managing by English Heritage, is a castle of considerable historical depth whose ruined towers and keep provide excellent views over the town and the surrounding countryside, and the unusual combination of the medieval fortification with the substantial domestic range that was added in the sixteenth century by the Manners family reflects the transition of this castle from a purely military function to a comfortable aristocratic residence. The earthwork defences that surround the castle are among the most complete and best-preserved of any English castle. The Helmsley Walled Garden, restored from dereliction since 1994 by a charitable trust, provides one of the finest examples of a Victorian walled garden restoration in Yorkshire, its productive beds, glasshouses and ornamental sections creating an excellent horticultural visit complementary to the castle. The Ryedale Folk Museum at nearby Hutton-le-Hole and the ruins of Rievaulx Abbey seven miles to the northwest provide excellent complementary heritage destinations for a base at Helmsley.