The 8 best market towns in North Yorkshire
Stalls under awnings on a cobbled market square in a North Yorkshire town
Eight towns ranked on what you can actually do in a morning there, from the county's best-looking square to the two that only justify the drive on the right day of the week.
1. Helmsley
Helmsley wins because everything is within four minutes of the market place and all of it is good. A ruined castle with a broken keep sits directly behind the square, the five-acre Walled Garden beside it grows heritage fruit against warm brick, and Duncombe Park's grass terraces run off south. The Friday market has been trading since the 13th century. On the north side, the Cleveland Way begins its 109-mile run to Filey, so this is also where you find serious outdoor shops next to a delicatessen selling local cheese.
It is the most expensive of the eight for coffee and lunch, and in August the square becomes a car park with a town attached. Go on a weekday morning outside school holidays and it is close to perfect. The essential add-on is Rievaulx Abbey, three miles north-west down a steep lane, plus the National Trust terrace above it. Base here for two nights if you want the western moors without driving far; small hotels and inns around the square generally run £110 to £180 a night in summer.
2. Malton
Malton has spent fifteen years turning itself into Yorkshire's food town, and unlike most such claims this one holds up on a normal Tuesday. Talbot Yard, a converted stableyard off Yorkersgate, houses a bakery, a coffee roaster, an ice cream maker and a gelato counter within thirty paces of each other. The Shambles and the Market Place carry independent butchers, a cheesemonger and a game dealer. There is a monthly food market and a bigger annual food festival, both of which draw crowds from York, half an hour away by train.
The town itself is handsome without being twee, and property prices in the surrounding Howardian Hills mean the shops are aimed at people who cook. Castle Howard is fifteen minutes west, Eden Camp is on the northern edge of town, and the Yorkshire Wolds start immediately east. The honest catch is that Malton's centre is bisected by traffic and the outer streets are ordinary. Come for the eating, not the strolling, and check dates for the monthly market before travelling, because the town is much quieter without it.
3. Richmond
The best-looking town in North Yorkshire and the only one where the topography does the work. Richmond's cobbled market place is one of the largest in England, sloping away beneath a Norman castle keep of 100 feet that you can climb for a view down the Swale gorge. Below the town the river tumbles over the Falls, walkable in ten minutes from the square via Riverside Road. The Georgian Theatre Royal of 1788 is the most complete of its age in the country and still stages a full programme.
The reason it is third rather than first is distance: Richmond is right at the northern edge of the county, about an hour from York and 25 minutes off the A1(M). Once you are there it repays two days, with Easby Abbey a mile downstream on a flat riverside path and Swaledale opening west towards Reeth and Keld. Saturday is market day in the square. The Green Howards Museum in the old church on the market place is far better than a regimental museum has any right to be.
4. Skipton
The busiest working market town on this list, and the one that feels least like a museum piece. Stalls fill the broad High Street four days a week, usually Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, running up to the gates of Skipton Castle, which is among the best-preserved medieval castles in England precisely because it was never left to rot. Behind the High Street the Leeds and Liverpool Canal cuts through town, with narrowboat trips, a towpath walk to Gargrave and canalside pubs on Coach Street.
Skipton is the gateway to Wharfedale and Malhamdale and has the transport to prove it: direct trains from Leeds and Bradford, buses up the dales, and the Embsay steam railway two miles away. That accessibility means weekend crowds and car parks that fill by mid-morning; use the long-stay off Coach Street. Prices for food and rooms are noticeably lower than Helmsley or Harrogate, with pub rooms often £80 to £120. If you want one base for the southern Dales without a car, this is it.
5. Masham
Masham exists in most people's minds as two breweries, and that is fair enough, because Theakston and Black Sheep both run visitor centres and tours within a few minutes' walk of a market square big enough to land a plane on. Do the tours on separate visits rather than back to back; each takes about an hour and a quarter and includes tasting. The square itself hosts a market on Saturdays and a sheep fair in late September that is worth planning around, with fleece classes and a working town full of farmers.
What lifts Masham above a brewery stop is the setting on the edge of Wensleydale, with the River Ure below and Jervaulx Abbey's romantic ruins five miles up the road. Swinton Estate's grounds sit just west of town. It is small, so a morning covers it; do not plan a full day unless you are doing both breweries. Check tour times and booking requirements with each brewery directly, since capacity is limited and family groups often fill the weekend slots well ahead.
6, 7 and 8: Settle, Thirsk and Leyburn
Settle takes sixth on the strength of its Tuesday market, its 17th-century arcaded Shambles and the fact that the Settle-Carlisle railway starts here, giving you the county's finest train ride from the middle of town. It is a walkers' town, small, steep and genuine, with Malham eight miles east and the Three Peaks all around. Thirsk is seventh: a proper cobbled square with markets on Monday and Saturday, a racecourse on the edge of town, and the World of James Herriot in Alf Wight's actual surgery on Kirkgate, which is a better museum than the theme suggests.
Leyburn is eighth and unashamedly functional, a Friday market town serving mid-Wensleydale from a large open square, with a shooting-and-farming feel and the Shawl escarpment walk giving a mile of dale views ten minutes from the shops. It earns its place because of what it accesses, not what it holds: Bolton Castle, Aysgarth Falls and the Wensleydale Railway are all within fifteen minutes. If you are choosing between the three, Settle for walking, Thirsk for a family half-day, Leyburn only as a base.
Market days, parking and the ones to skip
Market days make or break these visits, and they shift with bank holidays, so confirm before you drive. The rough pattern is Friday in Helmsley and Leyburn, Saturday in Richmond, Masham and Thirsk, Monday and Saturday in Thirsk, Tuesday in Settle, and four days a week in Skipton. Arrive before ten if you want a stall to still have anything good. Most town car parks are pay and display and run under £4 for three hours; several accept phone payment only in the smaller towns, so download the app in advance.
Skip Northallerton as a day out, despite being the county town: its long high street is dominated by chains, and the one genuine reason to stop is Lewis and Cooper, the century-old grocer's, plus its tea rooms. Skip Bedale and Easingwold unless you are already passing; both are pleasant and neither will fill a morning. If you can only do two towns, pair Helmsley with Malton for a food-and-ruins day in the east, or Skipton with Settle for markets and limestone in the west.
Before you book
What people ask before booking York.
Malton, at about thirty minutes by train or car, with Talbot Yard's food producers, independent butchers and Castle Howard fifteen minutes away. Helmsley is the better-looking option at around an hour's drive, but has no railway station, so you need a car or the bus via Hovingham.
Skipton. It has direct trains from Leeds and Bradford, dale buses heading north, the canal towpath on foot, a castle in the town centre and markets four days a week. Settle is the alternative if you want the Settle-Carlisle line and walking straight from the door.
In Skipton, Richmond and Settle, yes, because the stalls fill the historic square and the towns feel entirely different on those days. Elsewhere the market is a bonus rather than the point. Check the day with the town council or market operator, as bank holidays commonly shift trading.
