Food and drink

The valley is well provided with the two essentials of a good day out: pubs and tea rooms. Most villages have at least one of each, and the walk between them is half the point.

Pubs

The Esk Valley's pubs are proper village locals, most serving food and several with rooms. Among the best known are the Postgate Inn and Horseshoe Hotel at Egton Bridge, the Arncliffe Arms at Glaisdale, the Board Inn at Lealholm, the Duke of Wellington at Danby, the Wheatsheaf at Egton, the Station Tavern at Grosmont and the tiny Birch Hall Inn at Beck Hole, where the beer is served through a hatch. In Goathland the Goathland Hotel doubled as the Aidensfield Arms in Heartbeat. Opening hours in the villages can be limited, especially in winter and on weekday afternoons, so check before you rely on one for lunch.

Tea rooms and cafés

There are tea rooms at Grosmont and Goathland stations, in Lealholm and Castleton, at The Moors Centre in Danby and at Midge Hall beside Falling Foss, among others. Whitby has more cafés than anyone could visit in a week.

Fish and chips

Whitby's fish and chips are famous for good reason: the fish comes straight off the quay. The most celebrated shops have queues along the street in summer; the smaller ones tucked away on the east side are often just as good.

Local produce

Look out for Whitby crab and lobster, kippers from Fortune's smokehouse on Henrietta Street, which has been curing them since 1872, moorland lamb, locally reared beef, honey from heather-fed bees, and gooseberries in season. Grosmont Co-op, Lealholm's shop and the village stores at Castleton and Danby stock local produce, and there are farm shops around Sleights and Whitby.

If you run a pub, café or food business in the valley, we would be glad to list you. Contact us.