Easy
Sutton Bank and Gormire Lake
The finest view in England, then a descent to a hidden glacial lake and a climb back through the woods.
🏰 History & heritage
Photo: Barkmatter, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Easy
Easy
Challenging
🏰 History & heritage
🏰 History & heritage
🏰 History & heritage
Helmsley Castle
Medieval castle with a shattered keep, Tudor mansion and Civil War history in the middle of the town.
Helmsley Castle was built around 1120 and its keep was deliberately blown in half after the Civil War siege of 1644. The Elizabethan mansion inside the walls survived and now holds an exhibition on the castle's 900 years.
Combine with the Walled Garden next door, five acres of restored Victorian kitchen garden with glasshouses and a cafe, and with a walk along the Cleveland Way to Rievaulx.
Walks nearby
Easy
Easy
Helmsley to Rievaulx Abbey
The first stage of the Cleveland Way: woods and meadows from the town to the most beautiful abbey in the north.
Challenging
The Cleveland Way
National Trail in a horseshoe around the moors: 109 miles of escarpment and sea cliff over about nine days.
More history & heritage
🏰 History & heritage
Rievaulx Abbey
One of the most complete and beautiful Cistercian abbeys in England, in a wooded valley near Helmsley.
🏰 History & heritage
Ryedale Folk Museum
Open-air museum of rescued moorland buildings: cottages, workshops, a chapel and a Victorian shop.
🏰 History & heritage
Whitby Abbey
Dramatic Gothic ruin on the East Cliff that inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula.