Askrigg

The little village of Askrigg rests neatly in a valley in the Yorkshire Dales National Park asking nothing more than a nod and a smile. Open your door to rolling green hills and you look out on a land that has been home for Vikings and a rural idyll for writers and directors.

Once a prosperous market town this village has been lost all but farmers and storytellers. It once was home to the Metcalf family, a wealthy family who built Nappa Hall to protect against the marauding Scots and it ended up being used as a temporary prison for Mary Queen of Scots. These events took nothing away from the gentle green beauty that surely enlivened the imagination of the author Alf Wight (James Herriot). The stone town with its main street leading to the cobbled market square may have more than just romantic familiarity as this village was once renamed Darrowby, for All Creatures Great and Small and carried into every home in the country. You may even stop by here on your trek along the Herriot Way Circular Walk and if you do stop into the Crown or the Kings Arms, they have been serving beer since the 18th century and should have it right by now.