2 Best Sights in Helmsley, Yorkshire

The perfect marriage of architecture and landscape, Rievaulx (pronounced ree-voh) Abbey sits in a dramatic setting two miles northwest of Helmsley, its soaring arches built to precisely frame the forested hillside rushing down to the River Rye. Founded in 1132 by a French Cistercian sect (there's a 13th century shrine containing the remains of the first abbot, William, at the entrance to the Chapter House), Rievalux soon became one of the most powerful monasteries in Britain. By the end of the 13th century, the abbey was massively wealthy thanks to the monks involvement in the wool trade. The evocative ruins still give a good indication of how vast it once was, from the church's huge 13th-century presbytery (one of the finest examples of Early English architecture in northern England) to the imposing refectory (dining hall). You should also get a glimpse of the 12th-century cloisters with their (reconstructed) symmetrical columns.

By the time of the suppression of the monasteries in 1538 under Henry VIII, the abbey had shrunk dramatically, with only 23 monks still living there. The new owner, the Earl of Rutland, subsequently dismantled what was left of the abbey, sending off the roof leads and bells to the king and allowing villagers to cart away the abbey's stones to build their houses. What remains is a beautiful ghost of the magnificent building that once stood here. From Rievaulx Abbey it's a short climb or drive up the hill to Rievaulx Terrace, an 18th-century escarpment with a magnificent view of the abbey. At either end of the woodland walk are two mid-18th-century follies in the style of small Palladian temples.

The Brontës aren't the only literary lions to have emerged from this part of Yorkshire. In his eccentric, satirical novel Tristram Shandy, Laurence Sterne experimented with the techniques of postmodern fiction in 1760, long before the traditional novel form had emerged as a literary genre. Despite the book's often bawdy humor, Sterne was the local vicar, living and writing in this charming 15th-century house with 18th-century additions. Restored in the 1990s, it contains the world's largest collection of Sterne's work and memorabilia. Admission to the house is only by guided tour (11:30 am and 2:30 pm) or by advance appointment. There are also 2 acres of notable gardens.