North Yorkshire

God's Own County, they call it, and North Yorkshire really does have it all. Even without the regions of west, east and south Yorkshire, it's still England's largest county and encompasses some of its most dramatic scenery, with no less than two national parks in the North York Moors and the Yorkshire Dales, and a coastline that's as beautiful and enticing as anywhere in Britain. The glorious emptiness of the Moors is spectacular – fabulous walking and cycling country, dotted with isolated villages, and and merging seamlessly into the rugged beauty of the North Yorkshire Coast, where quaint, Gothic Whitby, with its dramatically sited abbey,  and Scarborough – the grand old dame of seaside resorts –  are the two main resorts. A heritage steam railway connects Whitby to Pickering on the Moors, but perhaps the national park's biggest claim to fame is that it has the least rainfall and is thus the driest of all the UK's national parks. Inland, the medieval city of York provides another focal point, beyond which lies the pristine beauty of the Yorkshire Dales, the north of England's go-to destination for all the things that make Britain special – rustic pubs, hill walks, rolling fields, dry-stone walls, leafy valleys. And it doesn't disappoint. The folk across the border in Cumbria may disagree, but in some way the Dales is the most scenically satisfying of all Britain's national parks, yet it is also one of its most accessible – on the doorstep of the major conurbations of Manchester and Leeds, and also reachable by way of the spectacular Settle-Carlisle railway.


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