See menusBook afternoon teaCall the cafe

Plan a day in Thirsk · 13 places

Dog-friendly days out from Thirsk

Riverside walks, market-square mornings and a ride on the moors railway, where dogs travel for 3 pounds. Every pick here is picked because a dog is actually welcome, not merely permitted.

  1. The weir on Cod Beck, with its footbridge and railings
    1

    Cod Beck riverside walk

    2 min walk · Thirsk on foot

    The stream that made Thirsk, with a flat two to three mile riverside loop you can pick up two minutes from the square

    Free · allow about 1 hours

  2. The open green at The Holmes, with picnic benches along the path
    2

    The Holmes

    5 min walk · Thirsk on foot

    The riverside green on Cod Beck where Thirsk goes to sit on the grass, five minutes from the square

    Free · allow about 45 minutes

  3. The open grass of Sowerby Flatts in late summer, dry and pale, with a line of trees along the far edge
    3

    Sowerby Flatts and Pudding Pie Hill

    20 min walk · Thirsk on foot

    A Victorian lime avenue, an open water meadow and an Anglo-Saxon barrow, all on a flat circuit of two to three miles from the square

    Free · allow about 1.5 hours

  4. Watercolour illustration of a countryside path, willow and streamCountryside illustration
    4

    Sutton Bank and the White Horse

    15 min drive · Short drive

    The escarpment James Herriot called the finest view in England, with the Kilburn White Horse a mile and a half along the edge

    Centre free to enter; parking 3.90 for up to two hours... · allow about 2.5 hours

  5. Thirsk Market Place on a market day, with plant stalls, people sitting out at tables, a busker playing beside the phone box and the clock tower behind
    5

    Thirsk Market

    1 min walk · Thirsk on foot

    A traditional charter market on the cobbled square outside our door, every Monday and Saturday

    Free to browse · allow about 45 minutes

  6. Watercolour illustration of a steam train in the countrysideRailway illustration
    6

    North Yorkshire Moors Railway

    50 min drive · Worth the day

    A 24-mile heritage line running steam and heritage diesel from Pickering through Newtondale to Levisham, Goathland and Grosmont, deep inside the North York Moors National Park

    Day Rover adults 48.95 at the regular rate or 38.50 on... · allow about 6 hours

  7. A concrete slab footbridge over the stream, moss along its shaded edge, with the path running on into the trees
    7

    The Seven Bridges walk

    12 min walk · Thirsk on foot

    The little wooded path that carries on past the weir, crossing and recrossing a stream on a string of small footbridges

    Free · allow about 45 minutes

  8. 8

    The South Kilvington field path

    15 min walk · Thirsk on foot

    An unnamed run of field paths and old lanes between Thirsk and South Kilvington, hidden behind the hedge from the A19

    Free · allow about 1.3 hours

  9. 9

    Woodland Lakes Fishery

    6 min drive · Short drive

    Around forty five acres of coarse fishing lakes at Carlton Miniott, open to anyone with a day ticket and a rod licence

    Day tickets for two rods, with a lower concession rate,... · allow about 5 hours

  10. 10

    Cod Beck Reservoir

    25 min drive · Short drive

    A mile and a half circuit round the head of the same beck that runs through Thirsk, at the western start of the Lyke Wake Walk

    Free, and the car parks are free too · allow about 1.5 hours

  11. 11

    Ripon Canal

    30 min drive · Worth the day

    A restored two-mile canal to the northern edge of England's connected waterways, with a walk-up trip boat and a bittern reserve on the bank

    Free to walk the towpath, and parking at the basin is... · allow about 2 hours

  12. 12

    Brimham Rocks

    40 min drive · Worth the day

    Millstone grit weathered into stacks, arches and balancing boulders across 400 acres of open moorland above Nidderdale. Free to walk, with parking the only charge

    Free to get in · allow about 2.5 hours

  13. 13

    Aysgarth Falls

    60 min drive · Worth the day

    A three-tiered limestone waterfall on the River Ure in Wensleydale, free to visit and best after heavy rain

    Nothing to pay to see the falls, at any hour of any day · allow about 2 hours

More ideas

Other ways to spend the day

  • The great abbey ruins near Thirsk

    Six monastic ruins within an hour or so of the market square, and no two of them run the same way.

  • Walks from Thirsk market square

    Flat riverside loops you can do in an hour, a lime avenue out to Sowerby, and the cliff-top paths above Sutton Bank when you want a view.

  • Things to do near Thirsk with children

    Animals to feed, a vet's surgery children can play in, birds of prey flying twice a day, and enough open grass to let everyone off the lead.

  • Historic places near Thirsk

    Two of the finest ruined abbeys in the country are within half an hour, and the town itself holds a 1940s vet's surgery, a Perpendicular church begun around 1430 and the birthplace of the man Lord's cricket ground is named after..

  • What to do in Thirsk when it rains

    Yorkshire being Yorkshire, this is the list people actually need.

Every one of these starts or finishes well at Tea Time Cafe, 87 Market Place. Build a plan with walk times and print it for the day.