Car-free adventures nearNorthallertonYorkshire
The North York Moors are not the easiest place to reach by public transport, but the rewards are incredible. Catch a bus from Northallerton and climb the steep hills behind Yorkshire’s pretty villages - you’ll find breath-taking views and wild countryside where grouse chirr through the heather, hiding their red wattles in the cotton grass. Visit Mount Grace Priory, its atmospheric gardens backed by woods and banks of flowers, or cycle around Swainby and be back in time for tea. Regular trains arrive in Northallerton from Middlesbrough, Manchester, York, London, Leeds and Liverpool so it makes a great place for a staycation. Scroll to the bottom for possible places to stay.
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1. Bus to Osmotherley
Turn left out of Northallerton railway station, keep straight up South Parade and head left at the roundabout into the High Street, lined with shops and cafés, including a branch of the famous Betty’s tearooms. Here you can eat traditional fat rascals in Georgian splendour.
- There is a regular market along the High Street on Wednesdays and Saturdays and a Country Market on Friday morning. Keep straight at the roundabout, past more cafés, to reach a bus stop near the old Buck Inn, just before the church.
- Buses 80 and 89 leaves a few times per day (not Sundays), heading for the hills.
- After twenty minutes, the bus gets to picturesque Osmotherley. Get off at the green, near the Golden Lion and Three Tuns pubs, and have a wander.
- Check when the last bus back to Northallerton leaves Osmotherley.
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2. Walk to Mount Grace Priory
For something a little more adventurous than a pub crawl round the village, try a pretty three-mile circular walk to Mount Grace Priory.
- Walk up North End and turn left at the signpost with an acorn, following Cleveland Way signs. Along a track, forking right, you will see the Lady Chapel, a shrine built by the priory’s monks, with great views of the surrounding country.
- Return to the original track at Chapel Wood Farm and leave the Cleveland Way, heading downhill through the woods on way-marked footpaths to arrive at the priory.
- The woods are steep (and can get very muddy in winter), but beautiful with spring carpets of white-flowered wild garlic.
- The priory itself is England’s best preserved Carthusian monastery, founded in 1398. The neighbouring 17th-century guesthouse was renovated two centuries later in the Arts and Crafts style: look out for the carpet in the drawing room, designed by William Morris in 1881 with twining leaves and natural colours.
- Behind the guesthouse, the ruined church and Great Cloister are spread out among banks of flowers. Sir Lowthian Bell, who owned the guesthouse, reconstructed one monk’s cell in 1905. It now has a bedroom, study and loft with a loom and spinning wheel.
- To return to Osmotherley by a different route, turn right on the path above the woods and left at a T-junction of tracks.
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3. Cycle around Swainby
Bus 80 and 89 go on from Osmotherley and quickly reach Swainby, another lovely village with a ruined castle, Victorian church, and pretty daffodil-fringed beck running through the middle under old stone bridges.
• There are two pubs with gardens – the Blacksmiths Arms near the main road and the Black Horse, with fancy food and a view of the stream.
• The bus stops outside the Rusty Bike café, which does cycle hire as well as carrot and coriander soup, great cakes and coffee. It’s open most days.
• There are plenty of good routes in the area taking in local sights like Whorlton Moor.
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4. Walk the Cleveland Way
Northallerton makes a good base for walking some moorland sections of the epic Cleveland Way. This long distance route runs for more than a hundred miles. From Helmsley, through rugged hills and wild landscapes, it loops across the moors and then heads for the sea at Saltburn, where the route turns south along the coast towards Filey and Scarborough. The Ordnance Survey’s Explorer map OL26 is helpful for walks in the area
- From Northerallerton, adventurous walkers can access one of the toughest, but most rewarding sections of the route. Get the bus to Osmotherley (see 1) and walk up the hill, following the Cleveland Way signs.
- Follow the well-marked track through woods and moorland, looking out for the grouse that chirr out of the heather with their distinctive red-topped heads.
- Thanks to the 80/89 bus, you can choose to walk four miles to Swainby (see 3 above), six miles to Faceby, the next village, or nine miles to Carlton-in-Cleveland.
- Each of these options involves climbing down from the Cleveland Way at the end of the walk, often along winding country roads, but there are spectacular views to make up for the bit of road walking. If you walk down the long road to Carlton, you’ll find the cosy wood-panelled Blackwell Ox Inn, with a real fire, pints of Helmsley Pale Ale and log cabin lodges you can stay in.
- Check when the bus back to Northallerton leaves from opposite Carlton-in-Cleveland’s school.
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5. Lordstones to Wain Stones
Very fit walkers (or walkers who stay overnight) can combine this relatively short, spectacular section with 4 (above), but don’t underestimate how much the series of strenuous hills will add to the mileage. This linear walk is about six miles in all, but might feel like at least twice that! As well as the Cleveland Way, Wainright’s famous Coast to Coast walk runs close by.
- Lordstones café has been cleverly designed to fit the local landscape. It is part of a campsite and country park with beautiful views all round it. To get there, walk up the (two mile!) hill from Carlton-in-Cleveland until you see the sign on your left.
- Lordstones serves breakfast from 9am – tea, a crispy bacon roll and three eggs benedict, or coffee and a giant fruit scone will amply reward you for making it up the hill.
- Set off, revived, along the Cleveland Way and you will soon feel the wind in your hair and a mounting sense of adventure.
- There are incredible views from the edge of Cringle Moor and the flagged path runs on round Kirby Bank, across another valley, to reach a rocky outcrop called the Wain Stones, set dramatically on a hill like a cliff top castle.
- Rather than walk down the busy B1257, it’s better – from the Wain Stones – to head back a short way and turn right down the (very steep!) track to Bank Lane, which will lead you (eventually) to the scenic village of Great Broughton.
- This was a jet mining area (there are industrial relics up on the moors) and one of the local pubs is the Jet Miners Inn. Before that, you’ll reach the creeper-covered Bay Horse with its popular restaurant.
- Check when the last bus back to Northallerton goes (from Kirby Lane, round the corner from the Jet Miners).
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Places to stay
There are lots of good places to stay in the area.
- The Station Hotel right next to Northallerton railway station has rooms and might make a good base. It’s certainly an excellent place to wait for a train if you need to – a roaring open fire in winter, home made chocolate brownies, lemon drizzle cake, and loose leaf tea in a great selection of teapots!
- The Golden Lion in Osmotherley is next to the bus stop. The Three Tuns also has rooms.
- For people walking the Cleveland Way, there is glamping at Lordstones.
