Sleights

A long village climbing the hill from the Esk on the road to Pickering, with pubs, shops and riverside walks.

Photo: DTwigg, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

Sleights stretches for over a mile up the hillside from the river bridge to the top of the A169, the main road from Whitby to Pickering. The lower village, by the river and the station, is known as Briggswath on the north bank.

The village has a good range of shops, pubs and a village hall, and St John's Church stands beside the main road. Sleights Moor above the village gives wide views across the valley and towards the coast.

From Sleights station, paths follow the river downstream towards Ruswarp and upstream towards Grosmont, and lanes climb to the pretty hamlet of Littlebeck and the waterfall at Falling Foss.

Things to do in and around Sleights

Nature & views

Falling Foss and Midge Hall

A waterfall dropping some 30 feet into a wooded gorge, with a tea garden in a woodsman's cottage beside it and a hermit's cave nearby.

Food & drink

Plough Inn, Sleights

The village pub near the river and station at the bottom of Sleights, closed for refurbishment and due to reopen in 2027.

Nature & views

Sleights Moor and Blue Bank

The famous viewpoint on the Whitby to Pickering road, looking down the Esk Valley to the sea.

Walks from Sleights

Falling Foss and May Beck5.0 km · Easy

More photos