North York Moors National Park is a National Park in the north of England. Its size is 1,436 km² (554 square miles), and it is one of the largest expanses of heather moorland in Britain. 83 % of the Park's area is in private ownership. The area is very well defined; on three sides rampart-like escarpments rise up from the flat Yorkshire countryside, whilst the fourth (eastern) side is a cliff-edged coast.

Many visitors to the moors are engaged in outdoor pursuits, particularly walking; the parks has a network of rights of way almost 2300 km (1400 miles) in length, and most of the areas of open moorland will be open access under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Popular named walks included the Cleveland Way, which circles the moors, and has a section along the coast; and the Lyke Wake Walk, which leads directly across the heart of the moors.

The area also offers opportunities for cycling, mountain biking, and horse-riding. The steep escarpments that define the edges of the park on three sides are used by several gliding clubs.

There are few major settlement within the National Park; the town of Whitby (just outwith the Park boundary) is often regarded as the capital of the North York Moors. Whitby is linked to Middlesbrough and the Teesside conurbation via a railway along the Esk valley The Esk valley line itself links with the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, one of Britain’s most popular and picturesque preserved railways, at Grosmont.

The moors have a not changed much in the past 50 years, and are often used a backdrop to British television programmes and films, one of the most famous being the popular ITV series, Heartbeat. The North Yorkshire Moors Railway was used for scenes in the recent Harry Potter films.

Popular attractions

• North Yorkshire Moors Railway
• Cleveland Way National trail (long distance footpath)
• Lyke Wake Walk (long distance footpath)
• Forge Valley NNR National Nature Reserve
• Farndale LNR Local Nature Reserve
• Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Reserves: Ashberry Pastures, Bridestones, Ellerburn Bank, Fen Bog, Garbutt Wood, Hagg wood Marsh, Hayburn Wyke, Littlebeck.
• River Seven, River Dove, River Rye, River Seph, River Esk

External link

• North York Moors National Park (http://www.moors.uk.net/)