Vale Of Pickering Caravan Park

Trainspotters and sightseers alike will be chuff-chuffed at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway to take visitors on a steam-rollering 18 miles through the moors, with rural villages along the route - Goathlands was used as Hogsmeade in the first Harry Potter film and as Aidensfield in ITV’s Heartbeat - and with plenty of opportunities to hop off and go hiking o’er the moors.

The North York National Park has walking and cycling routes galore, with other sporty options near the Vale of Pickering taking in tennis, golf, horse-riding, sailing, mountain biking, fishing and watersports at Wykeham Lakes, or cantering at Snainton Riding Centre.

Savvy shoppers should sally to the nearby market towns of Pickering and Malton, or head towards York to spend the day at the Monks Cross Shopping Centre two miles from the city centre. And once the wallet is somewhat lighter, other recommended and less expensive days out in the area include taking in the World War II museum at Eden Camp, seeing the historic buildings at the Ryedale Folk Museum, or going to one of the many events at the Baroque mansion Castle Howard.

A visit to this neck of the woods wouldn’t be complete without a day at the seaside – visitors can stroll on the sands at fangtastic Whitby, flit around Filey, browse through Bridlington or spend days at the country’s first ever seaside resort of Scarborough with its Italian gardens, miniature steam railway, casino, clifftop castle and kid-clamouring for seaside amusements.

Kids will also love the nearby theme park and zoo Flamingo Land, making like a monkey on the zip wires at Go Ape! or getting grisly at the York Dungeons after the big folk take in the architecture of York Minster and the history of the Jorvik Centre.