Studley House Farm

Elsewhere, Studley House Farm is primely placed for quite a lot of North Yorkshire highlights, including trying your crafty hand at Ebberston's The Workshop to bring home a souvenir with a difference, or tackling golf, fishing and horse riding in the immediate area.

Coastwards, Scarborough has quite a few grownup pursuits like Italian gardens, the Rotunda Museum, the Stephen Joseph Theatre and bagging fresh Yorkshire seafood in its fish market; Filey Brigg is a birdwatching and wildlife haven with hikes on the Cleveland Way, and Bridlington's birds – all 200,000 or so of them – can be found screeching their way around the RSPB reserve at Bempton Cliffs.

Nearby Dalby Forest on the southern slopes of the North York Moors National Park is a Forestry Commission-run setting with acres' worth of bike rides and hikes as well as regular events. (The bike trails here range from easy to extreme to severe, so see what your legs can handle.) More rides and hikes as well as climbing, caving and weeks' worth more are in the rest of the national park to the north.

And then to the market town of Pickering, a short drive from base and the home of Pickering Castle and the Beck Isle Museum as well as the starting point for the North Yorkshire Moors Railway on its exceedingly scenic 18-mile puff from here to Grosmont.

A bit further afield, ancient and walled York is full of old sites, museums, historic winding streets and well-priced restaurants.