Yorkshire's charms compensate for difficulties getting there

You have to give the M1 its due: It's consistent. In all the years I've lived in the UK, I have never managed a smooth and quick run up this critical North/South motorway. It seems to attract construction, accidents and gridlock like open garbage lures foxes. 

Somewhere in my fifth hour of creeping Northward, I began to question whether the weekend could possibly be worth it. Twenty four hours later, scrambling up the strange formations at Brimham Rocks to view the lush patchwork of Yorkshire Dales spreading to the horizon, sun on my face and distant bleating of hundreds of lambs in my ears, I had to admit the answer was "Yes". 

Yorkshire is a pain to get to, but once you're there it is surely one of England's best counties. 

 Our objective was countryside, walking and a bit of culture, all of which come thick and fast in this county. We mostly avoided the towns, getting only close enough to York to see the outline of the minster, and spending just an hour strolling through the early Victorian charms of Harrogate. The discovery of the trip was, without doubt, the aforementioned Brimham Rocks. 

The rocks are large formations, some up to three or four stories tall, worn away by erosion into truly bizarre shapes. My favourite, thanks to my university nickname, was the Dancing Bear. You'll note the resemblance. The rocks are scattered across the top of a long, partly-wooded ridge, as if some gigantic child had spilled his collection of prized stones over the land. The hilltop situation means the impact of the strange shapes is augmented by spectacular views of up to 40 miles. You can climb, walk round, lounge atop or simply admire the stones; a circle of the whole site is about three miles. 

 

Equally impressive, though the work of man rather than glaciers, is the landscape at nearby Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal. Fantastically picturesque abbey ruins sit at the bottom of a deep, wooded valley, bisected by a sparkling stream. When the late 18th/early 19th century appreciation of the picturesque was at its height, a local aristocrat noted the potential of the site and "improved" it with a landscape garden stretching along the stream below the abbey. The water follows its natural course to a lake, then disappears under a bridge to reappear in the next valley as a set of rigidly sculptural pools dotted with classical statuary. Paths lead up into the hills where you discover a range of follies in different architectural styles, all carefully situated to take in the views below. This ranks, along with Stowe and Stourhead, amongst the country's finest landscape gardens. 

 

Yorkshire is not, however, just about the great outdoors. There's an impressive density of country houses up here; probably greater than any place in England outside of the Southeast. The obvious magnet for most tourists is Castle Howard, and we didn't resist its lure. I had been there on one of my first trips to England and wasn't that impressed. Many know the house through productions of Brideshead Revisited and have high expectations of the exterior and the grand hall. But few appreciate that most of the house was destroyed in the 1940s, leaving the majority of its state rooms an empty shell. When I visited in the '80s, 

I remember being irritated at paying quite a lot to see a small handful of rooms. It just wasn't value for money on the average country house scale. I am happy to report that things have changed a lot in 20 years, and the Howard family now makes the most of what's on hand. There are still only a handful of state rooms to see, with the main hall and long gallery being both most impressive and most familiar from the film sets. But now there's a series of guided tours of the grounds led by an articulate and scholarly lady; a fascinating exhibit on the women of the family in the burnt-out section of the house; a reconstructed first floor with exhibits on the two versions of Brideshead filmed here, one of the film sets left in situ and great views over the main hall; a range of quirky, interesting shops and a good buffet-style restaurant with an elegant dining room. 

The weather, though windy enough to chill our bones, was sunny and clear. Thus the walks through the bluebell woods and around the gardens were just as visually stirring as the architectural treasures inside. Like Fountains Abbey, Castle Howard's grounds are a giant landscape garden with long views over rolling landscape to outrageously lavish garden follies. 

The Howard Mausoleum is just as beautiful, architecturally, as the house itself, and the temple of the Four Winds is certainly one of the most pleasing follies to be found in any garden. One of the guided tours offered us the chance to get inside the latter; a rare treat. Were I very, very rich, this is exactly the kind of place I'd create to house al fresco dinner parties. I think I'd get along well with those old Howards... 

While almost everyone knows Castle Howard, few have heard of Beningbrough Hall. Which is a shame, because this place is a little jewel. An elegant, simple mid-Georgian house of red brick with white stone accents, it's grand enough to be showy but small enough that you could fantasise about moving right in. (If you won a big lottery.) Beningbrough didn't come to the National Trust with any furnishings, but they've done a fine job over the past few decades getting some appropriate pieces in place. It's the house itself that appeals here, however, especially the cool, elegant entry hall and the magnificent cantilevered staircase. Beningbrough also serves as the overflow gallery for the National Portrait Gallery's collection of 18th century portraits, and the room stewards are well informed about who's hanging on the walls and why they're interesting. The dining room holds half of the portraits of the Kit Kat Club, an 18th century gang of movers and shakers who decided to be immortalised in unified style. The scandal, political intrigue and relationship dramas associated with the men in the portraits convinced me that someone is missing one hell of a historic soap opera opportunity here. Just as good as the Tudors, but fresh and unfamiliar. Maybe I should be pitching to Showtime... 

We were particularly impressed with how efficiently the place is set up to appeal to visitors. In addition to the room stewards, several of whom are costumed as people in the portraits, there's an informative audio tour of the whole house. This comes as part of your admission fee and is, sadly, still a rare treat at National Trust properties. On the top floor you'll find a series of exhibits for kids that are so engaging you'll wish you were ten again. 

We were dying to have our faces photographed and laid over those of the famous portraits, but elbowing the tykes out of the way didn't seem appropriate. 

Add to all of this a range of attractive walled gardens, a well-stocked farm shop and a charming village with a cozy pub serving hearty traditional fare and you'll see why we spent most of a day here. Amazingly, none of these attractions is more than 30 miles away from any other. Once you've fought your way up the motorway, you don't have to do much more driving as everything is on your doorstep. We headed south vowing that we really needed to head up here again soon. There's a lot left to see once you break free of that damned motorway.