Pickering

Pickering is a market town in North Yorkshire featuring independent shops, local businesses, and traditional stone buildings arranged around its main streets and central market square. The town center maintains the classic layout of an English market town with its characteristic architecture and public spaces.

The motte-and-bailey castle was built between 1069 and 1070 under William the Conqueror as a key medieval landmark that still defines the town's heritage. This fortification was strategically positioned to control the region and remains a central feature of the landscape today.

The parish church displays medieval wall paintings showing religious scenes that survived the Reformation intact and still speak to the faith of people who lived here long ago. These artworks remain one of the few places where you can see what mattered most to the community in medieval times.

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway offers regular steam train services from Pickering to Whitby through the national park landscape. This heritage railway connection allows visitors to experience the surrounding countryside in a traditional way while traveling between towns.

The Beck Isle Museum displays authentic Victorian-era shops and workshops with original tools and equipment used by local craftspeople long ago. This collection reveals how tradespeople worked and lived during the 1800s, offering a tangible connection to the past.