Richmond

The English Heritage keep on Tower Street is entered from the market place end; roughly £9 on the door, open daily 10am-5pm in summer and reduced days in winter. Climb to the roof for the Swale, the Cockpit Garden below and Swaledale opening westward. Half an hour up, half an hour in the garden.

Victoria Road, a two-minute walk from the market place. Built 1788, restored in 1963, and the museum holds the oldest complete set of painted scenery in Britain, from 1836. Daytime tours take you into the pit, the boxes and the under-stage; evening tickets for touring plays and music usually run £14 to £24.

Start at The Batts below the castle, follow the Swale past the falls and the old railway path, and reach the ruined Premonstratensian abbey in about 25 minutes. Free, open access, and the neighbouring parish church of St Agatha has thirteenth-century wall paintings that most visitors walk straight past.

Station Yard on Station Road, over the bridge from Bargate. The 1846 station building now holds a two-screen cinema, a bakery, food producers and an ice-cream counter; films most evenings, and the riverside terrace catches late sun. Tickets are far below city prices and the Swale runs under the platform end.

Trinity Church Square, right in the middle of the market place inside the old Holy Trinity church. Three hundred years of the county regiment, sixteen Victoria Crosses, and unusually good curation for a small town museum. Around £6, generally open Monday to Saturday, closed for a stretch in deep winter — check before travelling.

Service 30 leaves the market place for Reeth, Gunnerside and Keld — only a handful of departures a day, so read the timetable on the shelter carefully. It is the cheapest scenic drive in the Dales: stone barns, drystone walls and the lead-mining scars above Gunnerside. Get off at Reeth for the green and the tearooms.

There is no station in Richmond. Arrive at Darlington on the East Coast Main Line — about 2h30 from London King's Cross, 25 minutes from York — then take the Arriva 34 bus, roughly every 30 minutes on weekdays, 35 to 40 minutes and around £5; a taxi is about £28. Teesside International Airport is 20 minutes by road, Newcastle and Leeds Bradford both around 1h15 to 1h45. Once here, walk: the market place to the castle is two minutes, to The Station five. Everything is steep and cobbled. Park at Nuns Close or Station Yard rather than circling the square, and expect around £1.50 for two hours.

No — the line closed in 1969 and the station is now a cinema and food hall. Darlington is your railhead, twelve miles away on the East Coast Main Line, with the 34 bus running into Richmond market place in about 35 minutes. Northallerton is a further alternative if you are coming from Leeds. Book a taxi in advance for late arrivals, as evening buses thin out badly after 7pm.

It is the classic rest-day stop, and beds go early — most walkers plan a night or two here around the two-thirds point. Book July and September accommodation several months ahead, and tell the B&B you are walking so they know about the early breakfast and the drying room. Baggage-transfer firms all serve Richmond, and the market place has the outdoor shop and cashpoints you will want before Swaledale.

Richmond has far more to do in the evening — the theatre, the cinema at The Station, a proper choice of restaurants — and it sits at the mouth of Swaledale. Leyburn is smaller, cheaper by roughly £15 a night, and better placed for Wensleydale, Bolton Castle and Aysgarth. If you have one car and five days, Richmond wins; if you are chasing waterfalls and racehorses, Leyburn.

Very steep. The market place sits high, the river sits low, and Cornforth Hill and Bargate are cobbled ramps between them. Without a car you can reach the castle, theatre, museum, The Station and Easby Abbey entirely on foot. Beyond that you are relying on the 34 to Darlington and the sparse 30 up Swaledale, so check the last departure times before you commit to a day out.