GOTHIC GRANDEUR
START in York and take a 32km trip on the A59 to the spa town of Knaresborough. Explore the dungeons of its ruined castle, then head into the shadows of Mother Shipton’s Cave and see her ‘petrifying well’. Stay at Knaresborough Caravan Club site.
Relax on day two as it’s just 19km to Ripon. Look at the carvings under the pews in the Gothic cathedral which gave Lewis Carroll inspiration for Alice In Wonderland. Pack a picnic and head to the National Trust’s Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden for your own tea party. Stay at the River Laver Holiday Park.
Drive 80km through the stunning North York Moors National Park to Lealholm, billed as ‘the prettiest village in Yorkshire’. Stepping stones cross the River Esk to the 250-year-old Board Inn pub. Stay alongside llamas at Lawnsgate Farm Campsite.
It’s then just 16km to the coast at Whitby. Stand under the 5.7-metrehigh whalebone arch before climbing 199 steps to Whitby Abbey, where the spirit of Dracula lives on – the Gothic architecture inspired Bram Stoker’s 1897 horror novel. Stay by the sea at Sandfield House Farm Holiday Park.
An eight-kilometre drive gets you to Robin Hood’s Bay and the twisting streets and hidden alleyways of ‘Smugglers’ Town’. Guided tours are great fun while the beach is prime fossil-hunting territory. Stay at Hooks House Farm.
Head 24km south to Scarborough, soon to celebrate 400 years as a seaside resort. Return to Victorian times in the Cliff Lift. Stay at Scarborough Camping And Caravanning Club.
Yorkshire’s food capital is 40km away in the town of Malton, with plenty of little eateries, shops and food markets.
Then walk it off in the 1,000-acre grounds of Castle Howard. Stay at Brickyard Lakes Country Park, then it’s 32km back to York.