Goathland
Goathland North Yorkshire YO22 5LX
Does it all look oddly familar? That's because Goathland – a cute, traditional moorland village – is also Aidensfield, the soft-focus 1960s' village in the 'Heartbeat' TV series. Hence the yesteryear village store, garage and Ford Anglia police car, all nicely lined around the village green up for a zillion tourist photographs a year. Head down to the back-in-time village railway station – a stop on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway – and you're set for more double-takes once you've clocked that it was used as the location for Hogsmeade station in the first Harry Potter film. To say that Goathland trades on these associations would be an understatement, but to be fair there's plenty more to see and do on a lovely summer's day than gawp at gift-shop windows. The short walk down to Mallyan Spout waterfall, for one, is always a delight – the seventy-foot fall is spectacular after heavy rain (look for the start of the path to the side of the Mallyan Spout Hotel). Or Beck Hole and its cracking little pub is only a mile's walk away, with Grosmont another couple of miles further down the track; while a longer hiking route beckons for anyone wanting to get to grips with the mystery of Wade's Causeway. Goathland itself has grassy greens and verges, wandering sheep, tea rooms and a pub – the Goathland Hotel (or, if you must, the 'Aidensfield Arms').
