EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

One of the moors' most appealing towns, HELMSLEY makes a perfect base for visiting the western moors and Rievaulx Abbey. Local life revolves around a large cobbled market square (market day is Friday), dominated by a vaunting monument to the second earl of Feversham, whose family were responsible for rebuilding most of the village in the last century. The old market cross marks the start of the 110-mile Cleveland Way. Close to the square is Helmsley Castle (April-Sept daily 10am-6pm; Nov-March Wed-Sun 10am-1pm & 2-4pm; £2.40; EH), its unique twelfth-century D-shaped keep ringed by massive earthworks.

To the southwest of the town, overlooking a wooded meander of the Rye, stands the Fevershams' country seat, Duncombe Park (house & garden: April-Oct Mon-Thurs & Sun 11am-5.30pm; parkland & visitor centre: same days 10.30am-6pm; house, gardens & parkland £6, gardens & parkland £4, parkland only £2; ), built for the Fevershams' ancestor Sir Thomas Duncombe in 1713. The grounds are perhaps more appealing than the house (which was extensively rebuilt after a fire in 1879), boasting swathes of landscaped gardens and a brace of artfully sited temples.

Helmsley is a hub for the Moorsbus , which takes trippers out to Sutton Bank, Rievaulx, Byland Abbey, Coxwold and Kilburn. Make sense of all the connections in the tourist office in the town hall on Market Place (Easter-Oct daily 9.30am-5pm; Nov-Easter Sat & Sun 10am-4pm; tel 01439/770173, ), which also has full details about the Cleveland Way , one of England's premier long-distance National Trails, which starts at Helmsley and follows a route that embraces both the northern rim of the moors and Cleveland Hills and the cliff scenery of the North Yorkshire coast. The Cleveland Way Project (The Old Vicarage, Bondgate, Helmsley, YO6 5BP; tel 01439/770657) produces an annual Accommodation and Information Guide , an invaluable route-planning aid. There's plenty of accommodation in Helmsley itself, starting with Stilworth House , 1 Church St, behind the tourist office and square (tel 01439/771072; no credit cards; £50-60). Other modest B&Bs are scattered along Ashdale Road, a few hundred yards up Bondgate from the Market Place and on the right. Pricier hotels include the classy Feversham Arms , 1 High St, behind the church (tel 01439/770766; £90-110), and the Black Swan , on Market Place (tel 01439/770466; £110-150). The youth hostel (tel 01439/770433, ) is a few hundred yards east of Market Place - follow Bondgate to Carlton Road and turn left. The old pubs in the Market Place - the Royal Oak and the Feathers - are both atmospheric places for a drink and a bite to eat. For a drive out into the country, and a fine meal, you can't do better than the Star Inn (tel 01439/770397; no food Sun eve & Mon) at Harome , a couple of miles south of the A170.