Full steam ahead H

ARROGATE is consistently voted one of the happiest places to live in Britain – and it’s not hard to see why.

It’s a Georgian spa town and a perfect base for the Rail Discoveries five-day tour, Yorkshire By Steam.

I’m staying at the Cedar Court Hotel, a four-star, Grade II listed building just a short walk from the town centre.

Set back from the road with a large front lawn, it is an imposing building. Sitting on the site of Harrogate’s first hotel it has views over the famous Stray parkland. My double room looks out over the front of the hotel, the armchair is comfortable and the bathroom spacious. The hotel’s Porterhouse restaurant serves a good variety of traditional dishes from the grill, alongside pasta and salads. The Yorkshire cheese board is especially generous.

A trip to Betty’s Tea Room is a must during a trip to Harrogate and I am not disappointed, with my Earl Grey tea and custard slice. Suitably refreshed, there’s time to wander round the town centre – a perfect mix of local businesses and familiar high street shops. The town is also blessed with lots of green spaces in which to sit back, enjoy the architecture and people-watch.

Gin lovers will adore the Slingsby Gin Experience, handily just around the corner from Betty’s. Made with water from the world-famous Harrogate aquifer, Slingsby Gin is a local success story and well worth a visit.

But steam trains are the focus of this trip and our first encounter is on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, where we start our journey at Keighley.

Highly evocative of an era long gone by, walking into the station is like stepping back in time. The engines are no less impressive. An army of volunteers has been restoring and maintaining the buildings and trains since the line was re-opened in 1968. The Preservation Society now runs it full-time after emerging victorious from a six-year battle with British Rail.

The line takes you from Keighley through Ingrow, where you can visit not one, but two award-winning railway museums.

We spend an extremely enjoyable few hours in the Carriage Works where we are lucky enough to sample the plush surroundings of a restored first-class carriage, complete with individual leather chairs. The commitment of the volunteers is clear to see – they are all passionate about the railway.

Back on board, we wind our way through Damems, the smallest railway station in the UK, to Oakworth, made famous by the iconic 1970s film The Railway Children.

We alight at Haworth and are treated to a visit around the engine sheds by one of the many very knowledgeable volunteers who keep the railway alive and functioning.

It is possible to climb the (very) steep hill from the station and head up to Haworth Village, home of the Haworth Parsonage – a pilgrimage for fans of the Brontë sisters, who wrote most of their novels there. The local graveyard is also worth a visit. Although the Brontës are not buried there, it contains many fine Victorian headstones.

In keeping with the transport theme of our trip we take a heritage bus back to Ingrow from Haworth, before returning to Harrogate.

Our next visit is to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. At 18 miles long, it is one of the longest heritage railway lines in Britain and currently boasts more passengers per year than any other heritage line. In 2007, the railway was given permission to extend a further six miles over Northern Rail track to Whitby on the coast.

We board the train at Pickering and sit back to enjoy the journey through to Whitby. We stop along the way at Goathland – it was Hogsmeade Station in the first Harry Potter film and also Aidensfield in the TV programme Heartbeat. Fans of both can find a small gift shop alongside the platform.

One of the best ways to see a steam train is to stand on the railway bridge as it passes through a station, and the bridge at Goathland affords a splendid view of the trains as they round the bend.

Whitby is our final destination, a seaside town that is a lively mix of traditional English seaside fayre – it’s famous for its sailing boats, fish and chips and Grade II listed piers.

The majestic Abbey on the headland, when photographed through the Whale Bone Arch, makes for an iconic Whitby view.

Captain Cook and Bram Stoker’s Dracula are both woven into the town’s history.

Stoker visited Whitby in 1890 and the town was said to be part of the inspiration for his gothic novel.

There is plenty of time on the trip to explore the quaint alleyways and shops that lead you from the harbour to the steps up to the Abbey.

Rail Discoveries Yorkshire By Steam is a great way to pack in several heritage railways, museums, a spa town and a trip to the seaside.

It’s the perfect way to discover a slice of Yorkshire and take a trip through railway history at the same time. This is pure nostalgia.