Fat Ox Cottage ref: 241156

About the local area

The North York Moors National Park is a beautiful landscape of stunning moorland, spectacular coast, ancient woodland and historic sites.

The best way to experience this unspoilt landscape is on two feet or two wheels. There are lots of  short family walks and cycle rides as well as long distance trails, such as the Cleveland Way National Trail, and challenging mountain bike routes .  It is also possible to explore the National Park on the Moorbus, a great way to give the driver a break and soak up the stunning scenery.

Places of particular interest are many and varied. Helmsley is a delightful stone built town on the edge of Park beside the River Rye and has a weekly market every Friday. High above the town are the ruins of Helmsley Castle and the town is also the home of Helmsley Walled Garden, abandoned in the 1970’s and restored in 1994 as a fully working kitchen garden. The garden is now open to the pubic and you are able to wander anywhere in the garden. Castle Howard also makes a wonderful day out. The beautiful facade is familiar to many from Brideshead Revisited, and is perhaps the most spectacular country house in the North of England.

The landscape of the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is stunning and within is 79 miles  there are several large country houses and attractive villages, offering food, accommodation and an excellent base for walking or riding.  Pickering is an ancient market town with a bustling shopping centre as well as a traditional market every Monday. The town is now most well known as being the southern terminus of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway which operates steam trains along an 18 mile line between Pickering and the village of Grosmont through the Heart of the North York Moors National Park.

Finally Malton is a bustling town on the river Derwent, with a weekly market on Saturdays. On the edge of Malton is Eden Camp, a unique museum of social life in the Second World War, which occupies and original prisoner of war camp.

You can learn more about the National Park by visiting one of the two National Park Visitor Centres in Danby or Sutton Bank, near Thirsk.

Things to do nearby