Holiday Attractions in PickeringHoliday attractions and places to visit while visiting Pickering. Pickering is an ancient market town and civil parish in the Ryedale district of the county of North Yorkshire, England, on the border of the North York Moors National Park. It sits at the foot of the Moors, overlooking the Vale of Pickering to the south. The tourist venues of Pickering Castle, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and Beck Isle Museum have made Pickering popular with visitors in recent years. Nearby places include Malton, Norton, Scarborough. In 1922 an old mill was converted to the Memorial Hall in memory of the Pickering men killed in the First World War. This hall, now much modernised, serves as a community centre for the town. The Castle Cinema was built in 1937 in Burgate. Tourism has been a major occupation in the town since the reopening of the North York Moors Railway as a restored steam railway and the filming of the television series “Heartbeat” on the moors. The parish church is located at the eastern end of the Market Place and dominates views of Pickering from all directions. It is a Grade I Listed building that dates from the 12th century. It is most notable for its mid-15th century wall paintings which are extensive, covering both the north and south walls. To the north of the church at the top of the hill is Pickering Castle which was built in the late 11th century to defend the area against the Scots and Danes. The sloping Market Place between the church and the beck is lined with two and three storey buildings which date from a variety of periods. Most are listed for their historical or architectural interest. This area is the centre of the town's main Conservation Area. The town of Pickering is situated at the junction between the A170, which links Scarborough with Thirsk, and the A169 linking Malton and Whitby. It occupies a broad strip of land between the Ings and Low Carrs to the south of the main road and a ridge of higher, sloping ground which is surmounted by the castle to the north. It is sited where the older limestone and sandstone rocks of the North York Moors meet the glacial deposits of the Vale of Pickering. The limestone rocks form the hill on which the higher parts of the town and the castle are situated. Pickering beck is an attractive natural watercourse that runs north to south through the centre of the town. This beck rises on the moors and drains southwards through Newton Dale before reaching Pickering. The town centre lies to the east of the beck though the population is almost equally divided between the east and west wards of the town. Pickering has developed around the old Market Place but the majority of houses are now in the form of residential estates off the main A170 road. To the north of Pickering lies the high moorland of the North York Moors, rising from 160 feet (49 m) above sea level at its southern edge to over 1,410 feet (430 m) on Urra Moor. It is dissected by a series of south flowing streams which include Pickering Beck. There are two main shopping areas which are Market Place, which is by far the larger, and Eastgate Square, which is a mixed housing and retail development. There is a small supermarket off the Market Place. Pickering is an important tourist centre and there are banking, insurance and legal services in the town as well as an outdoor market each Monday. There are three theatre venues in the town offering a very wide range of amateur and professional productions. In July the annual Jazz Festival is held in Pickering. There is a leisure centre, a swimming pool and a modern library and information centre. Sports activities include athletics (track and field), football (soccer), cricket, badminton and bowls. Places of interest in and around Pickering:
Pickering station has been a terminus since 1965 when the Malton-Pickering route connecting to the York to Scarborough main line was closed. Trains only head north from here. Prior to the station becoming a terminus, the double-track railway took up the space now occupied by The Ropery (a road) and the car park to the east of it. Trains run every day from mid-March to early November, plus selected dates through the winter. Trains are mostly steam-hauled; however in some cases heritage diesel engine is used. At the height of the running timetable, trains depart hourly from each station. Recently, during summer months, steam services have extended to the seaside town of Whitby. The busy summer days will see trains running through from Pickering and Goathland to Whitby.
Bus services connect Pickering to York via Malton (#840, operated by Yorkshire Coastliner), and to Scarborough (#128, operated by Scarborough and District), Whitby (also served by #840) and Thirsk. There is also a town bus which travels a circular route around the town. The nearest mainline railway station is at Malton, 8 miles (13 km) away and the North Yorkshire Moors heritage railway runs seasonal services to Grosmont and Whitby. |
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