Possible tour guide for Yorkshire Dales or Moors
 

I have read a lot of the posted info on this area, but I haven't seen mention of hiring a tour guide. My family of 5 has one day for a daytrip out of York. One daughter has great interest in Herriot, one daughter loves wild and rugged scenery. I adore photos of the evocative abbey ruins. Does anyone know of a guide we could hire for the day? This would be someone who knows the area well, and could shuttle us between points A, B, and C. Ideally he/she could provide some background on the places, and propose some sort of short hike/walk for experience the terrain. I know this is asking quite a bit, but I'm open to suggestions.
Thanks,
Staci

Hi
This link might help-
www.driver-guides.org.uk/tours-yorkshire.html
It sounds as if you could tailor your day to your specific requirements.
I live locally so would be happy to help you if you wanted some advice on where to go. Reading your post I think the Yorkshire Moors would suit you best (don't try and do Moors and Dales in one day, much too big an area).

You could do the Moors, Thirsk (where the actual vetinary surgery is) and Rievaulx/Byland Abbeys in one day. And even squeeze in a ride on the North Yorkshire Moors steam train. All of these places are near each other and any decent guide could work out a reasonable day trip. But they would also be very easy to do on your own.

I definitely agree w/ Morgana that the Moors and Dales aren't doable as a single day trip.

Janis I'm thinking the same, but maybe an early start and Fountains first??? Think it opens at 10am. Such a shame to miss this place although it's not really in the right direction.
Goodness knows how much a private tour would be!!! I'd hate to think.
I could easily help with the walking part - got dozens of 'Walks in North Yorkshire' books!

Thank you Morgana and Janis. I did look at that guide link, and I think you are correct - it will be very expensive. I suppose we could rent a car in York for 1 day. Between the 2 of you, are you saying that we can fit in Fountains, Abbeys, Thirsk and Moors in one day? Which walk would you recommend Morgana. I think we'll skip the steam train if we rent the car. If you can sketch an outline of the day, I should be able to figure it out with a good map. To me, the Moors just seem so vast that I don't know where to begin.
Thanks,
Staci

You could fit in Fountains too - but you would want an early start. I'd think about booking the car from the night before so you don't have to diddle around w/ the hire paperwork etc that morning.

As for the Railway - whether you rent a car or not shouldn't have any bearing on whether you ride the train or not. You'd drive out the A170 to Pickering, ride the train up to Goathland (MAJOR Harry Potter connections) and then ride back to Pickering. Or you could take a shorter R-T.

Thetrain is a great way to see the Moors. Or, of course you could drive - but it would not be a time saver.

Fountains > Thirsk > Rievaulx Abbey/Terrace > Pickering/Moors would be a doable day

I am not use if this is of interest, however, you might want to take minute to check out Throstlenest Dales Tours. They are located in Leyburn and have different tours of the dales by minibus.

Hi again
I think renting a car would be a far better way to spend a day - and cheaper too, so you could have a great lunch out with all the money you are saving!
I normally agree with Janis but I would defintely skip the Railway - you don't have enough time. Also a lot of the track follows a valley floor with thick woods either side and the views aren't that great for a lot of the journey.
Ok, I'd start off at Fountains Abbey, and I would so some of my walking here as the estate is vast.
www.fountainsabbey.org.uk
Park at the main visitor centre and walk down to the abbey ruins. If you are here at opening time you'll have the place practically to yourself. explore ruins and then walk along the river to Studley Royal Water Gardens (all part of the same estate). Then back in a big loop to your car. This will take most of the morning. The website has a map and plenty of info.
Then in the car and drive to Byland Abbey. If you are hungry the Byland Abbey Inn does wonderful food (you would ned to check it opens at lunchtime). Ask for a seat overlooking the abbey ruins.
Then to Thirsk to the Herriot Museum.
www.worldofjamesherriot.org
Then to Rievaulx Abbey, and Terraces (2 different places, one overlooking the other).
Then if you have time a drive out on the Moors towards Chopgate. Roughly how far would you want to walk if you did a hike on the Moors?
There's no right or wrong route across the Moors but a road map would let you work out a circuit - ask your rental car people for one.
/www.walkingenglishman.com/northyorkshire.htm

Our family spent a week based near Harrogate two years ago and later did the Coast-to-Coast walk, so we have seen much of the area that you are talking about.

Fountains Abbey (and the adjacent park called Studley Royal) is a wonderful location and quite a bit to see there. You could spend much of a day and also get quite a bit of walking.

Our daughter (actually our whole family) is also a big Herriott fan, and we had her birthday while we were there. I had found a little booklet about James Herriott World that included a 70-mile Herriott driving tour. For her birthday this is what she wanted to do, and it was a wonderful day. Even without the Herriott connection, we got to see so much of the countryside and the route took us to places we would not otherwise have ever gone, some of which we later passed through on our walk across England.

At the end of our week we visited the Herriott Museum in Thirsk, which we all really enjoyed.

Brinham Rocks is another possibility your family might enjoy-- a very unusual place. This could be combined with a half-day at Fountains Abbey perhaps.

But the problem is that you have just one day and there is so much to see. I would also recommend that you rent a car, if you are comfortable with driving in England. (My husband has never had a problem adapting quickly.) But you are going to think carefully about what can be done in a day and focus yourselves. The Herriott-related driving tour may be a possibility for you. If you are interested, e-mail me at [email protected] and maybe I could copy and mail the info to you.

You might enjoy my blog of our week in Yorkshire: http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/...es/000584.html (the James Herriott day is Thursday). And there are some photos here: http://www.slowphotos.com/photo/show...y.php?cat=3232

Kathy

The thing to understand, WishIwasthere, is that we Brits don't hire guides, we do it ourselves. (The exception being on bus tours which mainly cater for pensioners.) I think that would go for other Europeans too. So such guides as exist are very much aimed at rich Americans and Japanese. I think you can have a much nicer time on your own !

So buy a guidebook to the area, read up on what's there, then let the local experts guide you as to what's doable in a day. I know that's what people here are already trying to do, but it would be easier if you read up on what's available first so you can pick out the specific places which most interest you.

Having said that, if I were suggesting an itinerary I'd recommend driving to Thirsk then across the North York Moors (wild & rugged scenery) to Whitby (which has evocative abbey ruins - and the Dracula connection).

Thank you very much to everyone. You've given me much food for thought, and I appreciate all of the help.

Here's a site that covers all of the Yorkshire Cistercian abbeys:
http://cistercians.shef.ac.uk/

I just read your report of your week in Yorkshire, Kathy - a nice account of one week in what looks like an amazing 14 month adventure.