Otterington Park

Use Otterington Park as a base to explore the Yorkshire moors and dales: local rights of way are a short distance from the park and walking maps are available from reception. Brontë and James Herriot country are both nearby for hikes, cycling or horseback cantering; the James Herriot visitor attraction and museum is in nearby Thirsk. York and the spa town of Harrogate are easily reachable too, as is Durham, a must-see with its Norman cathedral and 11th-century castle. There are Park and Ride schemes at both Durham and York if you’d rather not take the car. And no trip to Yorkshire would be complete without a trip to the seaside: scare the kids silly by ghoulishly relating Dracula’s tale to them over fish and chips on the beach at Whitby, then cruise along to coastal fishing villages such as Staithes and Runswick Bay, or arrow along to Robin Hood’s Bay just an hour’s drive from Otterington. The kids can paddle in the beck at the Falling Foss waterfall before behaving very nicely during a cream tea in the acclaimed tea garden at the waterfall’s top, then get scared silly all over again on the Robin Hood’s Bay ghost walk telling the story of the bay’s smugglers, sailors, myths and folklore (details from the Robin Hood’s Bay visitor centre or Whitby's tourist information centre).