Easingwold

Easingwold is a working market town of about 4,600 people at the 2011 census, on the road between Thirsk and York and about 12 miles north of York itself. It serves the villages around it with independent shops, pubs, banks and a post office, and it makes a relaxed half day out, especially on a Friday.

Friday is market day. The open-air market fills the Market Place with stalls selling fresh produce, fish, flowers, cheese, eggs, bread, clothes and antiques, along with guest traders. Markets have been recorded in Easingwold since 1221, and the market in its current form was revived in June 1975 on the cobbles around the Buttercross. It celebrated its 50th anniversary on Friday 6 June 2025. On the third Wednesday of each month a farmers' market sets up on the cobbles as well.

The town council says all parking in Easingwold is free, which makes it an easy place to stop for an hour.

From Tea Time Cafe at 87 Market Place, Easingwold is about 25 minutes by car, heading south on the road towards York. The town council says all parking in Easingwold is free.

The bus is a good car-free option. Coastliner runs the 29, 30 and 30X from Thirsk Market Place to York, calling at Easingwold, roughly once an hour Monday to Saturday. Departures from Thirsk run from 9.10am to 6.05pm, and the 9.10am reaches the George Hotel in Easingwold at 9.34am. The timetable changed on 30 August 2026, so check the current times for the return leg. The timetable we checked shows no Sunday buses.

Start in the Market Place. On a Friday, work your way round the stalls, then look at the market cross. It is Grade II listed: the base of the cross is probably medieval, and it stands under a mid-19th-century canopy on cast iron columns with a Welsh slate roof. The Church of St John and All Saints is worth a look on the way round.

For a walk, Millfields Open Space is the largest of the town's parks, with a leisure park and woods. With children, Memorial Park off Crabmill Lane has a playground, a picnic area and a bandstand, and Claypenny Park has another playground and a community orchard. The town also has a skate park, a library and the Galtres Centre. There are places to eat and drink in town.

The Friday market gives the town its character, and the story behind it is a good one: trading here goes back to at least 1221, and the modern market started again in 1975 and is now past its 50th year. The listed market cross, old stone under a Victorian canopy, is the obvious landmark. Free parking everywhere and an hourly bus from Thirsk Market Place make Easingwold one of the simplest short trips from the cafe. The town's name appears in the Domesday Book as Eisicewalt, and between 1891 and 1957 it had its own small private railway, a branch line to Alne that carried passengers until 1948.

Go on a Friday for the market, or on the third Wednesday of the month for the farmers' market. Neither council publishes the market hours, so arrive in the morning to see it at its fullest. Parking is free throughout the town. The public toilets in the Market Square close at 6pm, and the disabled toilet needs a RADAR key. If you take the bus, check the return times before you set off, as the timetable changed at the end of August 2026. Newburgh Priory, Shandy Hall at Coxwold and Byland Abbey all sit on the lanes between Thirsk and Easingwold, so the town works well as the second stop in a longer day.