Yorkshire's Rural Riches

Gillian Thornton explores Herriot country and the national parkland of North Yorkshire

- GILLIAN THORNTON

Standing on top of Sutton Bank in North Yorkshire, I'm soaking up a countryside view made famous by one of England's best-loved writers.

Before me, the Vale of York stretches in a patchwork of fields to the horizon, a view once described as the finest in England by veterinary surgeon Alf White, better known to his millions of international readers as author James Herriot.

Look up at Sutton Bank from the flat land below and you're treated to yet another iconic view. Carved into the steep limestone escarpment of the Hambleton Hills, the vast White Horse of Kilburn is Britain's most northerly turf-cut figure, visible for miles around. The brainchild of Victorian schoolmaster Thomas Taylor, the White Horse today marks the south-western boundary of the North York Moors National Park.

A mix of heather moors and pastoral dales dotted with market towns and heritage sites, the Park covers more than 550 square miles, stretching eastwards from Sutton Bank to the holiday resorts of Scarborough and Whitby on the North Sea coast.

Park at the Sutton Bank National Park Centre for a gentle three-mile circular trail past the Yorkshire Gliding Club to the White Horse. Or walk down to Lake Gormire, the only natural lake in the National Park. You can also hire bikes to explore a range of routes graded for families as well as experienced mountain bikers.