A Weekend on the North York Moors by Motorhome

The North York Moors are one of the most underrated national parks in England. While everyone talks about the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, the Moors sit quietly to the east, offering heather moorland, deep-cut valleys, a dramatic coastline, and a fraction of the crowds. A two-night North York Moors weekend break from our Pontefract depot covers the best of the park without any long drives - the whole area is barely ninety minutes from our base, making it perfect for a motorhome weekend break North York Moors lovers will enjoy. Here is a specific weekend itinerary, day by day, with stops, timings, and a campsite for each night.

Starting Your North York Moors Motorhome Trip: Pontefract to Helmsley

Collect your motorhome from our fleet by midday and head north-east. The drive to Helmsley takes about ninety minutes via the A1(M) and A170 through Thirsk. Note that caravans are prohibited on the A170 at Sutton Bank between Thirsk and Helmsley, but this restriction does not apply to motorhomes - you can drive straight through. Helmsley is one of the finest small towns in Yorkshire - a handsome market square, a ruined castle, a walled garden, and enough independent shops to keep you browsing without being twee.

Arrive at Golden Square Caravan and Camping Park, near the village of Oswaldkirk, about three miles south of Helmsley. It is a five-star rated site in open countryside with hardstanding and grass pitches, EHU, modern heated toilet and shower blocks, and a well-stocked on-site shop. Check in, set up, and head into Helmsley for your evening meal.

For dinner, head to The Star Inn at Harome, about two miles south-east of Helmsley. This Michelin-starred pub serves exceptional food in a fourteenth-century thatched building - proper Yorkshire cooking elevated to a serious level. Book ahead, as it fills up quickly, particularly at weekends. If you prefer something more casual, the Feversham Arms in Helmsley does reliable pub food and has a good selection of local ales.

Saturday Morning: Rievaulx Abbey

After breakfast in the motorhome, drive the three miles from Helmsley to Rievaulx Abbey. This twelfth-century Cistercian monastery is one of the most evocative ruins in England - the soaring arches of the nave, the stone tracery of the refectory, and the peaceful setting in the Rye Valley make it genuinely moving, regardless of your interest in medieval religion. English Heritage manages the site, and an audio guide is included with entry. Allow an hour and a half to explore the abbey and the surrounding grounds.

From Rievaulx, drive up to Rievaulx Terrace (National Trust) - a grass terrace cut into the hillside above the abbey that provides one of the finest viewpoints in the Moors. The view down through the trees to the abbey ruins is carefully framed and has barely changed since it was landscaped in the 1750s.

Saturday Midday: Hutton-le-Hole

Drive east across the moors to Hutton-le-Hole, about thirty minutes via the back roads through Kirkbymoorside. Hutton-le-Hole is a picture-postcard village - a wide sloping green with a stream running through it, sheep wandering freely, and a cluster of stone cottages. It is popular and can be busy on summer Saturdays, but a spring or autumn weekend is quieter.

Visit the Ryedale Folk Museum, which occupies six acres at the top of the village. It is an open-air museum with over twenty reconstructed buildings from across the Moors - a medieval thatched manor house, a crofter's cottage, a blacksmith's forge, and an Edwardian daylight photographic studio (the oldest surviving in the country), all furnished with period items. It is the kind of museum where you lose an hour without realising it.

Have lunch at the Barn Tea Room in the village - unpretentious, good value, and the kind of scones that justify their existence.

Saturday Afternoon: Across the Moors to Goathland

From Hutton-le-Hole, drive north across the moors towards Goathland. This road takes you through the heart of the national park - open heather moorland stretching to the horizon on both sides, with sheep and the occasional grouse for company. In late summer, when the heather is in bloom, this drive is one of the most spectacular in England. In spring, the landscape is green and dotted with lambs.

Goathland is famous for two reasons: it was the filming location for the television series Heartbeat (the village playing the fictional Aidensfield), and Goathland station appeared as Hogsmeade station in the first Harry Potter film. The station is still a working stop on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, a heritage steam railway that runs eighteen miles from Pickering to Grosmont through some of the most scenic landscape in the park.

If the timetable works (check nymr.co.uk - services typically run at weekends year-round and daily during holidays), take the steam train from Goathland to Grosmont and back. The journey takes about twenty minutes each way, and the sight and sound of a steam locomotive working hard up the gradient through Newtondale is worth every penny of the ticket price.

Before or after the train, walk to Mallyan Spout - a seventy-foot waterfall in a wooded ravine on the edge of the village. The path drops steeply from the Mallyan Spout Hotel through woodland to the base of the falls. It is about a mile each way, moderately steep, and can be muddy after rain. Wear boots.

Saturday Evening: Camp at Goathland

Your second night is at Goathland Caravan and Camping Site, a small site on the edge of the village with basic but clean facilities. It is a quiet spot with moorland views, and the walk into the village for an evening pint takes five minutes. The Goathland Hotel (the Aidensfield Arms in Heartbeat) is the obvious choice - it is a genuine working pub as well as a filming location, with real ales and decent food. Alternatively, the Mallyan Spout Hotel serves more formal evening meals with views across the valley.

Sunday Morning: The Coast

From Goathland, drive the twelve miles to Whitby. The road drops down through the Esk Valley, and the first glimpse of Whitby harbour with the abbey on the clifftop above it is one of the great arrivals in English touring. Park in the car park near the bridge (motorhome accessible, though it fills up early on summer weekends) and spend the morning exploring the town.

Essentials: walk up the 199 steps to the abbey ruins and St Mary's Church (the views across the harbour and out to sea are worth the climb). Browse the jet shops on Church Street - Whitby jet is a genuine local speciality, not a tourist gimmick. If it is a weekend, the swing bridge opens to let fishing boats through, and watching the operation from the harbourside is oddly compelling.

For lunch, the Magpie Café on the harbour front serves fish and chips that consistently rank among the best in the country. The queue can stretch down the street in summer, but it moves quickly and the food justifies the wait. If you cannot face the queue, Trenchers on New Quay Road is a reliable alternative.

Sunday Afternoon: Home via the Moors

Leave Whitby after lunch and head home via the A169 across the moors. Stop at the Hole of Horcum - a vast natural amphitheatre scooped out of the moorland plateau, three-quarters of a mile across and four hundred feet deep. There is a roadside layby where you can park and admire the view (or walk down into the Hole if you have time - allow an extra hour for the descent and climb back). Continue on the A169 to Pickering, then the A64 to the A1(M) and south to Pontefract. The drive is about ninety minutes.

Drop the motorhome back at our depot on your way home, or extend your trip by adding a third night somewhere on the route - Pickering, Scarborough, or the southern edge of the Moors all have campsite options.

North York Moors Motorhome Weekend Summary

Friday: Pontefract to Helmsley (90 mins). Explore Helmsley, dinner at The Star Inn or Feversham Arms. Camp at Golden Square.

Saturday: Rievaulx Abbey and Terrace. Hutton-le-Hole and Ryedale Folk Museum. Drive across the moors to Goathland. NYMR steam train, Mallyan Spout waterfall. Camp at Goathland. Evening at the Goathland Hotel.

Sunday: Goathland to Whitby (30 mins). Explore the town, 199 steps, fish and chips at the Magpie. Home via A169 and the Hole of Horcum (90 mins to Pontefract).

Total driving across the weekend: approximately four and a half hours, spread across three days. No single drive is longer than ninety minutes. The pace is relaxed, the stops are varied, and you see the best of the North York Moors without rushing. If this is your first North York Moors motorhome adventure, this route is an ideal introduction - short drives, easy parking, and enough variety to show you what motorhome touring is all about. For more, see our Whitby campsites guide.