Situated between the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the North York Moors National Park is the busy administrative centre of North Yorkshire, Northallerton. This bustling market town has plenty to see and do and with a railway station and a regular bus station its easily accessible and well within reach of the historic city of York as well as a number of smaller picturesque villages such as Hutton Rudby.
The town has a rich and varied heritage that can be traced back to Anglo-Saxon times with many claims to fame, for example Charles Dicken’s stayed at one of the oldest pubs in the town, The Fleece, when he was writing Nicholas Nickelby. There’s a wide range of accommodation available in and around the town from B&Bs to camping and a range of amenities close to hand if you stay in the centre.
Nearby, visitors are spoilt for choice regarding the attractions on offer and there’s a wide range of places to visit for the day depending on your interests. In the town centre there’s a leisure centre and an indoor riding school but if you’re willing to travel a few miles to nearby Bedale then farmyard petting zoo, The Big Sheep and Little Cow Farm is sure to be a hit with children. For arresting architecture then Mount Grace Priory is a few miles away and well worth checking out as it is considered to be best-preserved Carthusian house in England.
As for exploring the countryside both the Dales and the Moors are at your fingertips and if you venture out of the town there are plenty of opportunities for walking. The beautiful nearby village of Osmotherley is worth visiting as it is close to the Coast to Coast path, on the Cleveland way foot path and is the starting point to the Lyke Wake Walk.
Northallerton is in no way a sedate country escape, instead it offers a thriving and busy country town which embraces the new while manages to maintain it’s traditional values.
Other Northallerton Sites of Interest: