Scenic Drives from Headlam Hall: Four Journeys Through the North of England

Sep 21, 2026

You leave Headlam after breakfast, settle into the car and head off into the countryside. There's nowhere you need to be at any particular time. Maybe you've got a route in mind, maybe you just know which direction you fancy going. For Cheryl and me, that's most of the pleasure of driving around this part of the country.

A good driving day isn't about covering miles. It's about quiet roads, decent scenery, a village you didn't know existed, and somewhere that makes you want to pull over.

The landscape starts changing almost immediately. Within five miles of the hall you've left the arable country behind and it's all grass, moors and livestock. That's one of the real advantages of being based here - the Durham Dales, the Pennines, the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors are all within comfortable reach of a single day out. It's part of what makes Headlam such a good base for a luxury countryside escape in County Durham.

So rather than listing everything you could possibly see, here are four drives we'd choose ourselves. The advice running through all of them is the same: don't rush.

1. Up Teesdale and into the Pennines

Headlam → Teesdale → Eggleston → Middleton-in-Teesdale → Alston

Given a completely free day, this is the one I'd pick. North west, up Teesdale and on into the high Pennines towards Alston.

The traffic's generally lighter than in the busier parts of the Yorkshire Dales, and the transformation is quick. Follow the Tees out of Headlam and within half an hour the road is climbing, the views are widening and you're somewhere genuinely remote. There's something about a road across open moor — the big skies, the sense of being a long way from anywhere — that no other kind of driving quite matches. Motoring journalists staying with us have used this route to test cars, which tells you something about it.

I'd stop near the top of Eggleston Bank. The view opens out ahead of you as you crest it and, to me, that's the English Dales in one frame. There's a layby, so you can take it in properly instead of catching it at speed. A few miles further on towards Middleton-in-Teesdale there's another, looking across the Tees.

No need to press on. Stop for a photograph, stretch your legs, follow the river for a while, find a coffee, carry on when you feel like it. If you want more of a day of it, High Force is the obvious reason to leave the car and explore on foot.

And if you've taken out one of Headlam's classic cars, this is exactly the landscape for going the long way round. You don't need a classic to enjoy it, mind. You just need to enjoy driving.

2. Across the Yorkshire Dales

Headlam → Barnard Castle → The Stang → Arkengarthdale → Reeth → Richmond → Headlam

The Yorkshire Dales are very pretty, which is precisely the problem with them in August.

Our favourite way in is through Barnard Castle and over The Stang, dropping down into Arkengarthdale and running on to Reeth. It's a lovely road, but timing matters more here than on any of the other routes. On a summer weekend you'll meet visitors, motorhomes and farm traffic on roads that aren't wide enough for all three, and what should be a relaxing morning turns into a series of reversing manoeuvres. An early start makes an enormous difference.

When you get to Reeth, park on the green and stay a while. Have a picnic, walk up onto the moor behind the village, let the day slow down. There's no list of things you're meant to do there - the landscape is the attraction, and Arkengarthdale behind you is full of the ruins and spoil heaps of the old lead workings if you want a bit of history with your walk.

From Reeth it's an easy run down to Richmond. The castle keep sits directly above the Swale and you can see it from most of the town; the Market Place is cobbled and steep enough that parking takes some nerve. Good for an hour's wander and a coffee before the last stretch home.

There's plenty of scope to adapt this one. With more time you can push further west into the Dales, and if you're happy with the route as it stands there's no obligation to add miles for the sake of it.

3. Across the North York Moors

Headlam → Helmsley → North York Moors → Stokesley

This one is a different proposition again, and not the drive most people expect from the North York Moors. But it's here because it doesn't feel like anywhere else within an hour of Headlam.

Head for Helmsley, where the character of the country starts to shift, then take the road north towards Stokesley. What surprises people is that it isn't really a moor road, not in the way the north Pennines are. There's none of that vast, exposed emptiness. It's closer to driving in the lower Alps — green fields, pine trees, a valley that keeps its shape around you — with only a hint of proper moorland near the top before you drop down to Stokesley.

That drop is the best part of it, and it's worth knowing it's coming.

There's no single attraction you're aiming for, and that's rather the point. It's simply a very good road, and on a route like this the road is the reason to go.

Helmsley is worth a pause before or after, with its independent shops and places to eat. And if food is the reason you're getting in the car at all, The Star at Harome is worth building a drive around.

The one thing I'd avoid is turning the journey into a checklist. Take the road because the road is good, stop because the view's worth stopping for, and if the weather turns, enjoy that too.

For my money the best conditions of all are a sunny but cold morning in spring or autumn, when the mist sits in the fields as you head up the dale and the low sun gives everything a completely different colour. Autumn is probably my favourite season for driving up here.

4. When the road meets the sea

Headlam → Yarm → Stokesley → Great Ayton → Saltburn

There's something particularly satisfying about a drive that starts inland and finishes beside the sea. If Cheryl and I are heading for the coast, we'll usually go via Yarm, Stokesley and Great Ayton and then drop down to Saltburn.

It's a good progression - countryside, market towns, the open country under Roseberry Topping, and then that moment when the horizon suddenly widens and the sea is there. That's one of the real pleasures of driving towards the coast.

Our version of a day at Saltburn involves two things: the dogs get a run on the beach, and we eat fish and chips sitting on a bench or in the car before driving home. It doesn't need to be more complicated than that. If you'd rather finish at a table, The Seaview does chips downstairs and a proper seafood restaurant upstairs looking straight out at the pier - worth booking.

Staithes is a very different proposition if you want to explore further down the coast, all narrow streets and a working harbour, and Whitby and Sandsend are popular for good reason. But there's no need to attempt all three in a day. Pick one, give it some time, then come home.

Don't rush

If I gave anyone one piece of advice before setting off from Headlam, it would be that.

On twisty rural roads I reckon about 45 minutes at the wheel is enough before you want to stop for a leg stretch or a coffee. Beyond that, driving starts to feel like work. That's obviously different from a motorway, where a couple of hours is nothing - but these aren't motorway journeys.

A good day might be forty minutes of driving, a stop somewhere scenic, a walk, a coffee, then back in the car and on to lunch. Maybe there's an attraction along the way and maybe there isn't. Maybe you find a village you'd never heard of, or the weather turns and the whole landscape changes character. Leave yourself enough time for that to happen.

Before you set off

These routes deliberately avoid the very narrowest lanes, but rural driving has its own hazards. Sheep are a genuine factor on the moor roads, and conditions can change quickly as you climb - check the forecast and allow more time than you think you need.

If you're in an electric car, we've three chargers on site, so you can set off with a full battery. And bring sensible footwear. Some of the best parts of these days begin when you get out of the car.

Somewhere to come back to

The nice thing about exploring from Headlam is that you don't have to fit everything into one day. You can drive somewhere beautiful, have lunch, take a walk, watch the light change over the fells and then turn for home - and home is a drink before dinner, or an hour in the spa, or a quiet corner and a bit of time to think about where you've been.

The best road trips aren't the ones where you cover the most ground. They're the ones where you remember a particular view, a good lunch, an empty road, or the moment the sea appeared on the horizon.

Don't rush. There's plenty to find from here.

Thomas Robinson Owner and Managing Director