Ripon

Every night at 9pm, without exception, the Wakeman's horn is sounded at the four corners of the obelisk in the Market Place, a tradition dating from 886. It takes five minutes, costs nothing, and is one of the few surviving nightly rituals of its kind in England.

Ripon Cathedral on Minster Road is free to enter, with a suggested donation. The crypt beneath the crossing was built by Wilfrid in 672 and is one of the oldest intact Anglo-Saxon structures in the country — a low, cramped stone chamber reached by narrow steps. Ten minutes, and worth the whole trip.

Four miles west via the B6265, National Trust, around £20 for adults and free to members. Allow four hours minimum: the abbey ruins, the Studley Royal water garden with its mirror ponds, and the deer park with three herds. Park at the visitor centre; the walk down through the valley is the right approach.

The Workhouse on Allhallowgate, the Courthouse on Minster Road and the Prison and Police Museum on St Marygate, all within a few minutes' walk and covered by one combined ticket of about £13. The workhouse vagrants' wards and the Victorian cell block are unsentimental and genuinely informative.

Ripon Racecourse sits on Boroughbridge Road about two miles east of the Market Place, running flat meetings from April to September. Course enclosure entry starts around £15 to £20. It calls itself Yorkshire's garden racecourse and unusually for the sport it is a pleasant place to spend an afternoon even if you do not bet.

The Ripon Canal, restored and just over two miles long, starts at the basin off Bondgate Green and joins the Ure at Oxclose Lock. Flat towpath, herons, moored narrowboats and almost no one on it. It is the best short walk in the city and takes about 40 minutes each way.

Ripon has no railway station, so plan for a connection. The 36 bus runs Leeds–Harrogate–Ripon roughly every 20 minutes and takes about 35 minutes from Harrogate station, which is on the Leeds and York lines. From the East Coast Main Line, Thirsk station is 11 miles east and Northallerton 16, both about £25 to £30 by taxi. Leeds Bradford Airport is 45 minutes by car, Manchester Airport around two hours. Within the city everything except the racecourse and Fountains Abbey is walkable in under 15 minutes; buses run to Fountains only sporadically, so drive or take a taxi, about £12 each way.

There is a limited bus service on some days, so check current timetables rather than relying on it. A taxi from the Market Place costs roughly £12 to £14 each way and takes ten minutes, which for two people is usually the sensible choice. Cyclists can ride the B6265 in about 25 minutes, though it carries traffic.

Correct — the line closed to passengers in 1967 and the trackbed is largely built over. The frequent 36 bus to Harrogate is the practical link, taking 35 minutes, or a taxi to Thirsk for East Coast Main Line services to London and Edinburgh. It is the main reason Ripon rooms are cheaper than Harrogate ones.

Yes. The horn is sounded at 9pm at the obelisk and again at the mayor's house, 365 nights a year, and has been maintained in unbroken form for centuries. There is no ticket and no seating — you simply stand in the Market Place. It lasts about five minutes.

For Nidderdale and Wensleydale, yes. Pateley Bridge is 25 minutes, Masham 20, Leyburn 35 and Hawes about an hour. You are also 20 minutes from Harrogate and 40 from York. It is one of the better-placed towns in the county if you have a car, and one of the worst if you do not.