Top Ways to Enjoy Happy Holidays

‘Boxing Week’ doesn’t have to be a festive hangover – for many, it’s becoming the time when the holidays really start. So, five market towns in Ryedale, North Yorkshire - Helmsley, Kirkbymoorside, Pickering, Malton and Norton - have got together to create some unusual alternatives for making the most of your holiday this year, including a trip to the Milky Way, sight-seeing at Yorkshire’s Grand Canyon, witnessing a phantom Midnight Mass or getting up close to a rare, living relic of the Ice Age.

1. Trips to the Milky Way: if the stress of Christmas leaves you wanting to get away from it all, then how about an escape to the edge of the Galaxy? With the UK’s darkest skies on their doorstep, the Ryedale towns are the perfect places to enjoy this rare star-gazing phenomenon. There are even nearby observatories for those who want to unlock the deepest secrets of the universe, and a Dark Sky Festival in February.

2. Winter Walking: as well as Britain’s most impressive skies, Ryedale’s market towns - nestled between the North York Moors National Park and the Howardian Hills, an official UK ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ - are surrounded by some of Britain’s most impressive landscapes and wildlife, so there’s no need to venture far to enjoy a winter wonderland that will help recover festive spirits. For winter walking, there are over 1400 miles of trails that criss-cross Ryedale’s market towns. A favourite is a meander along Cleveland Way National Trail between Helmsley to English Heritage’s Rievaulx Abbey (open 27 & 31 December), once one of Europe’s most important medieval monasteries, but now haunting ruins with visitors hearing ghostly bell-ringing on winter afternoons, and even witnessing a phantom Midnight Mass during Christmastide. Or explore the woodland paths, lakeside terraces, fountains and temples – perfect for hide and seek – within Castle Howard’s stunning parkland, spanning over 1000 acres and open daily during the winter.

3. Great (and romantic) train journeys: experience something completely unique this year, and enjoy a romantic Steam Train ride on Pickering’s North Yorkshire Moors Railway (27 December – 3 January), journeying across the iconic moorland and snow-clad valleys to the coastal, gothic splendour of Whitby from the comfort of a vintage carriage.

4. Natural healing: the five market towns shelter in their own unusual microclimate, on the southern fringes of Britain’s driest national park. With two out of every three winter days being dry, it’s a pleasure to gorge on rejuvenating lungfuls of some of the freshest air in the country. Not surprisingly, the area has become a hot-spot for Spas, including the Verbena Spa at the Feversham Arms Hotel in Helmsley, achieving a UK Top 5 listing in Tatler magazine, and the Natural Healing Clinic in Helmsley, or the Orange Tree, Appleton Spa and Little Yoga Company near Kirkbymoorside.

5. Winter Safaris: the peaceful landscapes surrounding Ryedale’s market towns are a haven for some of our most popular, and rarest, wildlife. Intrepid explorers can be rewarded by an encounter with Merlin – not the wizard, but Britain’s smallest and rarest bird-of-prey, as well as many other creatures, including deer, bats, and owls; you can marvel at Yorkshire’s Grand Canyon – the Hole of Horcum, near Pickering, or wander through the UK’s oldest and tallest trees in ancient woodland, and find Ice Age survivors in plants like juniper or cloudberry.

6. No Bootcamp!: Ryedale’s winter retreats come with a health warning, because there is No Boot Camp in Sight. Just because it’s ‘post-Christmas’ doesn’t mean that the indulgence has to stop. Ryedale’s market towns are at the epicentre of Britain’s Capital of Cake, and Malton is Yorkshire’s Food Capital, so there’s no reason to detox yet, with a tempting range of tea-rooms, delicatessens, bakeries, sweet shops and chocolatiers.

7. Shop for real bargains – not High Street tat: in these quintessential English towns, with their historic streets and market squares, visitors can find all of the ingredients for a dream holiday, with a warm welcome from hundreds of independent, distinctive, award-winning shops, all offering the very Best of British, home-grown and hand-crafted from the heart and soul. Helmsley is also officially Britain’s Best Market Town, 2015’s winner of the Great British High Street awards.

“You don’t need to spend a fortune on exotic get-aways,” explains Craig Nattress of Visit Ryedale, the partnership helping to support the market towns’ renaissance. “What makes Ryedale’s towns so special is their easy proximity to tranquil, unspoilt landscapes, so that you can experience something breath-taking and unique in the UK – like a ‘Milky Way’ class Dark Sky - but still enjoy the indulgent luxury you deserve – like great food and drink and shopping - during the holidays”.

The five market towns of Helmsley, Kirkbymoorside, Pickering, Malton and Norton are located just a few miles – or 45 minutes - apart from each other along the A170 and A169. They are easily accessible on day-trips from Leeds, Beverley or York. For Boxing Week or winter short breaks, there is a wide range of top-class accommodation available locally, from award-winning B&Bs and hotels, with roaring log fires and four-poster beds to self-catering woodland cabins. To enjoy the Dark Skies at close-range, stay at Helmsley and Kirkbymoorside for Sutton Bank Observatory and Pickering, Malton or Norton for the Dalby Observatory.

For more information about Ryedale’s market towns, visit www.visitryedale.co.uk.

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For more media information please contact:

Nicola Bexon, Pyper PR: 01904 500698 or nicola@pyperyork.co.uk

Notes to The Editor

Visit Ryedale is supported by Ryedale District Council and over 700 tourism businesses and works in partnership with VisitYork, Visit Hull & East Yorkshire, Welcome to Yorkshire and Visit England.

Visit Ryedale's aim is to market Ryedale and its market towns as a must-see destination to the leisure visitor, and ensure investment to develop the quality of tourism in Ryedale.  Visit Ryedale is responsible for leisure marketing, visitor services (running the district's Visitor Information Points) and ensuring a quality visitor experience.

Key facts: 5 million visitors annually, £209 million total visitor spend, supporting 7,000 jobs