Skip York and Whitby—these six North Yorkshire market towns offer a quieter, more authentic experience.
The dales, moors, abbeys, and coastline draw visitors, but North Yorkshire’s market towns showcase centuries-old history and offer rare opportunities to explore sites undisturbed by crowds.
These towns are not hidden but maintain traditions such as weekly markets, historic pubs, castle ruins, and medieval churches. Limited tourist amenities help preserve their character.
This authenticity keeps these towns special: their real, unchanged character amid scenic landscapes invites visitors to experience unfiltered North Yorkshire across the Dales, Moors, and Vale of Mowbray.
- Visitors benefit from ancient charters, independent high streets, Georgian and medieval architecture, and proximity to landscapes—features that enrich any visit with history and beauty.
- Best days to visit: Market days, which are listed for each town below
- Reaching these towns is easy—most are accessible from the A1 or A19, making them hassle-free to visit and perfect for spontaneous trips.
1. Middleham
Lower Wensleydale, 2 miles south of Leyburn
Every town tells a story, but Middleham’s winding history is woven into the fabric of England itself, offering echoes of the past amid tranquil streets.
Best known as one of Richard III’s childhood homes, Middleham Castle dominates the town. From its Norman great tower, one of the largest in the country, the castle developed under the powerful Nevilles into a residence worthy of a family that dominated English affairs for over two centuries.
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, became master of the castle in 1471. He used it as his political base for ruling the North on behalf of his brother Edward IV. Richard married Warwick’s daughter, Anne Neville, in 1472. Middleham Castle is where their son Edward was born and died in April 1484. Later known as the Windsor of the North, the keep built in the 1170s still stands to its full height.
Today, Middleham is known for horse racing. Isaac Cape, the first racehorse trainer here, started in 1765. People call Middleham the Newmarket of the North. Each morning, racehorses walk through town to the gallops on the moor—a unique sight most visitors miss.
The town has two marketplaces: the larger, lower one with Middleham Market Cross, and the upper, or swine market, focused on the 15th-century Swine Cross remains. Most old buildings predate 1600. The Church of Saints Mary and Alkelda, founded in 1291, holds a replica of the Middleham Jewel, found in 1985 and now in the Yorkshire Museum, thought to have belonged to the Neville family, possibly Anne Neville.
- Market day: Middleham no longer has a weekly market. Historically, its livestock market moved to Leyburn. While there is no set market day, visitors can explore the historic market squares and observe the daily horse gallops.
- Where to Stay: The Richard III Hotel is a 17th-century inn with six rooms and views across the dale. Its location on the market square offers a two-minute walk to the castle ruins.
- Worth Knowing: English Heritage manages Middleham Castle, and it is open to visitors throughout the year. The climb to the top of the keep on a clear day, with Wensleydale spread below, is one of the finest views in the county.
2. Bedale
Edge of Wensleydale, near the A1
Bedale rarely draws attention from the A1, yet it illustrates, with quiet charm, all that a market town should be, blending history and a welcoming ambience.
Bedale is a compact market town where Bedale Beck flows from the eastern edge of Wensleydale through to the River Swale. The cobbled streets feature shops offering jewellery, antiques, and gifts, as well as two acclaimed butchers. Every Tuesday, the street hosts a market—a tradition dating to the 1251 charter.
Notable sights include the Georgian Leech House, where medicinal leeches were kept, and the 14th-century market cross. The Leech House stands on the high street next to Georgian shop fronts that look much as they did two centuries ago.
The church of St Gregory dominates the high street. Grade I listed, it has a 14th-century tower with a portcullis. Inside, find a Viking grave marker showing the legend of Wayland Smith.
Just outside Wensleydale, Bedale is near Thorp Perrow Arboretum, an 85-acre woodland with one of northern England’s largest private tree collections.
- Market day: The main street market runs every Tuesday. Additionally, a monthly farmers’ market is held on the third Sunday of each month.
- The Buck Inn at Thornton Watlass, four miles from Bedale, overlooks the village green. It offers five letting rooms, an open fire, local ales, and on-site food. This country inn is one of Yorkshire’s most exceptional pubs.
- Worth Knowing: The Wensleydale Railway heritage line stops at Bedale station, connecting to Leyburn and Northallerton. It is a good way to move between several of these towns without a car.
3. Kirkbymoorside
Edge of the North York Moors, between Helmsley and Pickering
Kirkbymoorside, the self-styled Gateway to the Moors, hums with life every Wednesday. Its mix of medieval market heritage, unusual private market, and robust stone buildings defines its local character.
The name Kirkbymoorside points to a key reason for the settlement: shelter from the southern slopes of the moors. Anglo-Saxon and Viking artefacts include a silver coin from around 790, found on the grounds of the parish church.
The Norman baron Robert de Stuteville built a wooden moated castle on Vivers Hill. The Wake family took over in the 13th century, bringing prosperity. In the 14th century, the Black Death struck, and soon the wooden castle began to decay. After 1408, the Nevilles, a renowned family, took charge.
Visit the historic Black Swan Inn, the 13th-century George and Dragon Inn, and Market Place’s Georgian buildings. Kirkbymoorside is a gateway to peaceful valleys like Bransdale, Farndale, and Rosedale. The Villiers, the Second Duke of Buckingham, died in Kirkbymoorside in 1687. Once among England’s most powerful men, he inspired Zimri in Dryden’s “Absalom and Achitophel.” During a foxhunting trip, he died in a small house still standing today and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
- Market day: Wednesday. The traditional open-air market has run every Wednesday in the marketplace since 1254.
- Where to Stay: The Feversham Arms Inn, Farndale, is a country inn eight miles from Kirkbymoorside. It offers three en-suite rooms, a stone-flagged bar, an open fire, and valley views. From March to April, wild daffodils line the River Dove, creating a seasonal spectacle.
- Worth Knowing: St Gregory’s Minster at Kirkdale, a mile from the town, is a Saxon church of exceptional quality. Its sundial, dating to about 1060, features one of England’s longest Old English inscriptions.
4. Stokesley
Cleveland Plain, at the foot of the North York Moors
Stokesley exudes a composed grace at the foot of the North York Moors, where elegant Georgian facades line a wide, bustling market street and cobbled lanes lead to tranquil riverside vistas.
Henry III granted Stokesley a market charter in 1223. The 17th-century pack-horse bridge over the River Leven and the town’s Georgian architecture add to its unique character.
The widThe wide High Street has independent shops in stone buildings. Stokesley’s location between Middlesbrough and Northallerton helps preserve its character. Stokesley has notable landmarks, including the 12th-century Church of St Peter and St Paul, which features stained glass and woodwork by Robert Thompson, the Mouseman of Kilburn. His oak furniture, carved with mice, appears across Yorkshire.
Market day: Every Friday on the High Street. A farmers’ market runs on the first Saturday of every month; the Stokesley Show, an annual agricultural fair, draws around 20,000 visitors nearby.
- Where to Stay: The Leven Hotel, Stokesley, formerly Chapters, a family-run hotel on the High Street in a building that has been serving the public since 1793. The hotel sits alongside the River Leven with a terrace garden for summer dining. Rooms have been recently refurbished.
- Worth Knowing: Roseberry Topping, the distinctive hill visible from the eastern end of the high street, rises to 320 metres and provides one of the most recognisable horizons in the north of England. The summit walk from Great Ayton is around 5 miles return.
5. Leyburn
Wensleydale, gateway to the Yorkshire Dales National Park
Leyburn, a gateway town, reveals its best secret above town: the Shawl, a peaceful limestone ridge with sweeping, little-travelled trails overlooking classic Wensleydale scenery.
The Shawl takes its name from the legend that Mary, Queen of Scots, dropped her shawl here while trying to escape from Bolton Castle, where she was imprisoned by Elizabeth I. One popular walk takes in Leyburn Shawl, a limestone escarpment offering superb views of the surrounding countryside.
Leyburn’s stature increased by the 17th century when a market charter was granted by Charles II in 1686. Tennants Auctioneers, situated on Harmby Road, is one of the largest auction houses in the UK, holding more than 80 sales each year and attracting buyers and sellers from around the world.
Market day: The main outdoor market is held every Friday in Leyburn’s main square, alongside a livestock auction mart that began in 1918. This is a longstanding tradition in the town’s history.
Milners of Leyburn, a department store opened in 1882, is still run by the same family, now in its fifth generation. That’s rare for any English market town—or anywhere else.
Bolton Castle, seven miles west, is a 14th-century fortress that held Mary Queen of Scots for six months. Middleham Castle, two miles south, was where Richard III grew up. The town is surrounded by history at a density that most regions would consider unusual.
- Market day: Friday.
- Where to Stay: The Golden Lion, Leyburn, a Grade II listed 1850s hotel on the market place, family-run, with 14 en-suite rooms. The Golden Lion sits directly on the market square and is one of the more comfortable places to stay in lower Wensleydale. Dogs and families welcome.
- Worth Knowing: The Forbidden Corner at Tupgill Park, four miles from Leyburn, is an 18th-century-designed landscape of tunnels, chambers, follies, and surprises, originally built as a private garden. It is one of the most unusual visitor attractions in the north of England and requires advance booking.
6. Thirsk
Vale of Mowbray, between York and Northallerton, is the best-known of these six towns, but not for what you might expect. Alf Wight, better known as James Herriot, worked here as a vet and drew on a fictionalised version of Thirsk called Darrowby for his books. The books and TV shows were huge hits, and Thirsk has leaned into the Herriot link for decades.
Many people visit Thirsk just to see the World of James Herriot museum, then leave. But by doing that, they miss a real cobbled market square, old medieval streets, and a history that goes back to about 500 BC.
Thirsk is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, known for its racecourse and for being depicted as the fictional Darrowby in the works of local author James Herriot. Archaeological finds indicate there was a settlement in Thirsk around 500 to 600 BC.
You can see what James Herriot called the best view in England at Sutton Bank, just six miles from Thirsk. There are hiking and cycling trails, plus a visitor centre about the area’s history. From the top, you can see the Vale of York, the Yorkshire Dales, and even the Pennines on a clear day. Herriot’s ashes were scattered here.
Thomas Lord was born in Thirsk in 1755 and founded Lord’s Cricket Ground. The Ritz Cinema in the town is one of the oldest continuously operating cinemas in Britain. The market square on a Saturday morning, with stalls set up and coaching inn fronts behind them, is what most people imagine when they think of an English market town.
- Market day: Monday and Saturday.
- Where to Stay: The Golden Fleece Hotel, Thirsk, a Georgian coaching inn on the cobbled market square with 26 individually designed rooms. One of England’s oldest coaching inns, still with its original coaching clock in the entrance hall. Private car park. The starting point for most of what is worth doing in this part of North Yorkshire.
- Worth Knowing: The World of James Herriot at 23 Kirkgate is the original home and veterinary surgery where Alf Wight lived and worked, meticulously restored to the 1940s period. It is a better museum than most people expect, even those who have no particular attachment to the Herriot books.
Practical Tips
- Navigation: Download the AllTrails app for walking routes around all six towns. The countryside here is great for walking, but signs can be hard to find. Market days are listed for each town. Visiting on a market day is a bonus, but these towns are good any day.
- Driving between towns: Middleham, Leyburn and Bedale form a natural cluster. Thirsk, Stokesley and Kirkbymoorside form another. The distance between the two clusters is around 30 miles on good roads.
- What to buy: Each town has at least one independent butcher, sometimes two. The meat is top quality because you’re in real farming country. It’s definitely worth trying. The markets exist because local people use them, not because tourists photograph them. Buy from the stalls. Eat in independent pubs rather than chains. Park in designated car parks rather than on residential streets, especially on market days when space is tight.
Reader Q&A
Which of these towns is most accessible by public transport?
Thirsk is on the East Coast Main Line, with regular services from York and Newcastle. Northallerton, served by the same line, is close to Bedale and Stokesley. Leyburn and Bedale are connected to Northallerton by the Wensleydale Railway heritage line on some days. Middleham and Kirkbymoorside are effectively car-only destinations.
Which town has the most to do for a full day?
Middleham rewards a full day if you include the castle, the church, and an early morning visit to watch the racehorses on the gallops, combined with lunch at the Richard III and a drive to Bolton Castle in the afternoon. Thirsk also fills a day easily if you include the Herriot museum and the walk at Sutton Bank.
Are these towns good in winter?
All six are good in winter. The Georgian market squares and stone high streets are well suited to cold weather, and the pubs are at their best when the fires are lit. Middleham in winter, with the moors above the gallops under frost, is a version of the town that most visitors never see.
What is the most underrated of the six?
Stokesley. It sits in the shadow of the North York Moors and is close enough to Middlesbrough that it has never had to package itself for tourists. The high street, the river walk, the agricultural show and the surrounding moorland make it one of the most complete small towns in the county.
Where to Stay
- The Richard III Hotel, Middleham, for Middleham, Bolton Castle and Wensleydale
- The Buck Inn, Thornton Watlass, for Bedale and the southern Dales
- The Feversham Arms Inn, Farndale, for Kirkbymoorside and the North York Moors valleys
- The Leven Hotel, Stokesley, for Stokesley and the Moors
- The Golden Lion, Leyburn for Leyburn, Middleham and Wensleydale
- The Golden Fleece Hotel, Thirsk, for Thirsk and the Vale of Mowbray
Most of North Yorkshire’s fame comes from a few well-known places. But there’s a lot more in between, and it’s much quieter. These six towns have been serving their communities—trading, meeting, feeding, and housing people—since medieval times. They still do. The tourist brochures haven’t caught up yet, and that’s their biggest advantage for now.
