Grosmont

Grosmont is a railway village. It grew up in the 1830s around George Stephenson's Whitby and Pickering Railway and later around ironstone mining and ironworks, and today it is the northern terminus of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, where the heritage line meets the Esk Valley line. On a summer day the village is alive with steam, whistles and the smell of coal smoke.

Walk through the original 1835 tunnel beside the station to reach the engine sheds, where the railway's locomotives are maintained and where visitors can watch work in progress from the viewing gallery. Grosmont station has been restored to its 1950s appearance and has a tea room, shop and bookshop.

The village has a pub, the Station Tavern, a café, a gallery and the Grosmont Co-op, founded in 1867 and one of the oldest independent co-operative stores in the country.

From Grosmont the Rail Trail follows Stephenson's original horse-drawn route to Goathland, through the hamlet of Beck Hole, and you can ride back on the steam train. Riverside paths lead west to Egton Bridge.