Explore the Area around Church House Farm

For Adventure

Take a look at Yorkshire Coast Nature for seabirds and whale adventures, birdwatching and wildlife tours and boat trips, workshops and discovery days; North Yorkshire Water Park for paddle boarding, kayaking, sailing, aqua park, zipline, climbing wall, cycle path and lakeside walk; Saltburn Surf School for surf lessons and hire of equipment; Go Ape Dalby Forest for tree top adventures. 

Walking

Heading out for a walk is the best way to experience our beautiful landscape here at Church House Farm with footpaths from our door across the stunning moorland.  Walk to Danby Lodge National Park Centre, Danby Castle and Danby Beacon with panoramic views across the moor and sea.  St Hilda's Way is a 43-mile walk which passes by Church House Farm and ends at Whitby Abbey.  The Esk Valley Walk follows the river Esk from its source high on the Moors to the coast.  Complete stages of the Coast to Coast and the Cleveland Way routes or walk up to Roseberry Topping.

River Esk at Danby Lodge

Danby Lodge National Park Centre has an adventure playground, gallery, cafe, and shop with maps and information on events in the local area.  North York Moors National Park website has a series of Walking Guides available to download with many walking routes close to the Esk Valley Railway enabling you to return to your starting point.  Check out Share With Care a guide to help everyone enjoy the national park and keep it special and perfect for getting close to nature.  Adventures for the Soul offers guided walks, yoga and dark skies everts.

Historic Sites

Our favourite historic sites and museums to visit are Whitby Abbey, Pickering Castle, Rievaulx Abbey, Helmsley Castle, Scarborough Castle, Mount Grace Priory and Bylands Abbey.  There is also Scampston Hall, Nunnington Hall, Beningborough Hall, Castle Howard and The Yorkshire Arboretum; as well as the historic city of York founded by the Romans with a huge gothic cathedral, Jorvik Viking Centre, Railway Museum and Castle Museum.

Surrounding Villages

We are close to the villages of Danby and Castleton where we are lucky to have 4 local pubs serving food: The Fox and Hounds Inn, The Downe Arms, The Eskdale and The Duke of Wellington. Danby also has a bakery and cafe, village shop and Railway Station with trains running on the Esk Valley line to Whitby. Castleton has a small supermarket, village shop 'Off The Scale’ and The Old Chapel Tea Rooms. Botton Village just down the lane has a large village shop and cafe. We are spoilt for choice with pubs and restaurants in the surrounding villages including the iconic The Lion Inn high up on Blakey Ridge; and the famous fish and chip restaurants in Whitby, Staithes and Satlburn-by-the-sea. Visit the pretty village of Lealholm, Hutton-le-Hole and Lastingham with St Mary’s Church famous for its eleventh century crypt and Grosmont with The Geall Gallery. The world famous North York Moors Railway runs from Pickering to Whitby, through Grosmont, where you can visit the engine shed where the steam locomotives are maintained and restored, and Goathland best known as Aidensfield in the TV series Heartbeat.

Wildlife around Church House Farm

Church House Farm is a fantastic place for wildlife from the buzzards, kites and kestrels that soar high above our heads to the swallows and swifts who return to us each year our greatest delight is a glimpse of the barn owls or hearing the hooting of the tawny owls and little owls sitting in the big oak tree.  

Small mammals we commonly see are rabbits, hares, moles, stoats, pipistrelle and lesser horseshoe bats.  The wildlife pond has mallards and moorhens and around the property we see pheasants, starlings, goldfinch, chaffinch, pied wagtails, grey wagtails, spotted flycatchers, wrens, robins, blackbirds, cold tits, blue tits, sparrows and pheasants to keep us entertained.  

Then look closely and you will see butterflies and moths including the hummingbird hawkmoth, dragonflies and at least a dozen species of bumblebees, and insects galore!

Cycling and Horse Riding:

The national park has cycle routes on country roads, bridleways, moor and woodland tracks with cafes and traditional pubs to stop off including the nearby Yorkshire Cycle Hub cafe.  There is the Moors to Sea Cycle Network and Dalby Forest and Guisborough Forest offering graded mountain bike routes.  Check out North York Moors National Park website for cycling information.

Horse riding for everyone see Bilsdale Riding Centre

Dark Skies

We are lucky to be in one of the best places to see stars because of the low light pollution and clear horizons, with breathtaking views of up to 2,000 stars at any one time. The North York Moors is a designated international Dark Sky Reserve and in 2026 a new Dark Skies Observatory opened at nearby Danby Lodge National Park Centre.