Lealholm

The village sits at the bottom of steep Crunkly Ghyll, where it grew up around a crossing of the River Esk. The seventeenth-century bridge carries the road over the water, with riverside buildings, the village green and the church all close by in a small, walkable core.

A line of named stepping stones fords the Esk beside the village.

• Treat them as a river crossing, not a path. The stone can be wet, uneven and slippery.
• Choose a dry day if you actually want to cross. After rain the river runs higher and the stones get slick.
• If in doubt, use the bridge instead, and do not attempt a crossing when water is running over the stones.

For a village this size the choice is decent: two tea rooms, a bakery, a post office and village store, a fuel and service station, and a pub, The Board Inn. Enough for a coffee, a cake or a pint, and enough to restock if you are walking.

The village has its own stop on the Esk Valley Railway, which makes it one of the easier moorland villages to reach without a car. Paths through the village form part of the Esk Valley Walk, and a seasonal summer Moorsbus also serves it.

The best known route is Lealholm to Grosmont, 5.75 miles and roughly three hours, mostly easy going, with gates, one stile and a stone trod that gets slippery after rain. Walking one way and returning by train is the classic plan.

The name means settlement by the willow trees. A corn mill worked here from the fourteenth century until shortly after the Second World War, and the river crossing shaped the village layout. The church, St James, is a 1902 building by Temple Moore. Look out for the flood lines marked 1840 and 1930, a blunt reminder of what the Esk can do.