North York Moors

The North Yorkshire Moors National Park is one of the most stunning landscapes in the country; it will simply make you stand and stare. It really is a special place. The great variety of landscapes in the North York Moors makes it unique, with a character that so many people enjoy.

This is a land where dreams are made. Here you can experience the vast open space of moorland, or listen to the call of the upland birds. You can wander through woods or saunter through picturesque villages of honey sandstone. All around are the signs of past generations - historic abbeys, embattled castles, churches, crosses, ancient routes. Local culture and traditions are strong here.

This riding covers most of the North Yorkshire Moors National Park. Its centre is in Rosedale, with rides to the west around Osmotherley, Rievaulx and Farndale. To the east, you can ride around Heartbeat country, made famous by the TV series, follow a disused railway line along the coast between Scarbrough and Whitby, or see the more wooded country around Newtondale. There are few gates, few roads and few people but lots of buzzards, grouse, and curlew. There are long stretches of open moorland and a few steep and stony tracks, so you need a fit horse. Sometimes low cloud and sea mists come in from the east coast, so we offer low-level alternative routes in case of bad visibility.

The western side of the network can be ridden as a place-to-place loop over several days. The scenery is an interesting combination of remote and beautiful moors in the north and lush, steep sided valleys in the south west, where you can visit the ruined medieval Abbey at Rievaulx. There is one long day ride of 20 miles-plus along the western edge of the National Park which crosses several steep sided valleys, although most of the bottoms of the dales are sheltered and fertile.

The eastern part of the network has one-centre holidays with a variety of 'petal' rides, and some opportunities for 'place-to-place' rides. For example, on a route along an old railway line above the coast between Scarborough and Whitby, and on forest tracks through Cropton and Dalby Forests, as well as on wilder stretches of open moor around Goathland, Newtondale and Rosedale.

A petal ride via Sturdy Bank, Rudland Rigg and Farndale disused mine railway -  this is a long route across the heart of the moors, through remote and little-visited dales. You start along a disused railway line around the head of Rosedale, which gives you a good view of the dale, and crossing Farndale you go along a spine of moor on one of the old ‘roads’ before returning along another disused railway. The first third of this ride includes some steep climbs and descents which make for slow going, though the final third is much easier across open moor, following well worn tracks.

This ride is 20.25 miles with three pub-stops and a lesson about mining and industrial development along the way.

Call us on +44 (0)1225 000000 or email contact@redlandsequestrian.com to check the ride availability and dates, once we have confirmed availability you can download and fill in a booking form:

• UK Rides Booking Form
• Worldwide Rides Booking Form

Each rider in the party must also complete a riding ability questionnaire before we can complete the final confirmation of your holiday booking.