Beverley

Beverley sits a few miles north of Hull, tucked between the flat farmland of Holderness and the chalk hills of the Yorkshire Wolds. It is one of those English market towns that looks almost too complete: a medieval street plan still traced by North Bar, East Gate and Wednesday Market, Georgian townhouses in soft red brick, and at its heart a parish church, St Mary's, that would be a cathedral in most other places. Beverley's actual cathedral-scale building, the Minster, rises above the rooftops and is visible from the surrounding Westwood pasture for miles around.

What sets Beverley apart from many similarly pretty towns is that it has never stopped being a working place. The Saturday market still fills the square with stalls, the racecourse on the Westwood still runs a full calendar of meetings, and the town's independent shops, many in listed buildings, trade alongside cafes and pubs rather than being crowded out by them. There is very little sense of a town preserved purely for visitors; Beverley simply carries on being itself, and that unforced quality is a large part of its appeal.

The surrounding countryside adds another layer. To the north and west, the Yorkshire Wolds roll away in gentle chalk ridges, popular with cyclists and walkers and largely overlooked by tourists heading for the coast or the Dales. To the south, Hull's Museums Quarter and the striking aquarium known as The Deep are a short train ride away, making Beverley a good base for exploring the wider East Riding without having to stay in a city.

Top things to do in Beverley

Beverley rewards unhurried exploring, but a handful of sights and experiences should not be missed.

• Beverley Minster is one of the finest Gothic churches in Europe, larger than many English cathedrals, with medieval misericords, the famous Percy Tomb and a peal of bells visitors can often hear practising on weekday evenings.
• St Mary's Church, at the opposite end of the town, is a smaller but still remarkable building, reputedly the inspiration for Alice's White Rabbit through a carving on one of its pillars.
• Beverley Saturday Market fills Saturday Market Place with stalls selling local produce, flowers and bric-a-brac, a tradition recorded since the twelfth century and still the best time to feel the town at its busiest.
• Beverley Westwood is a wide common of grazed pasture and gorse on the edge of town, criss-crossed by paths, dotted with grazing cattle and home to the racecourse and the town's golf course.
• Beverley Racecourse, set within the Westwood, runs flat racing through the spring, summer and autumn and is one of the prettiest small racecourses in the north of England.
• North Bar, a fifteenth-century gatehouse still used by traffic today, is the last of the town's medieval bars and marks the start of the handsome North Bar Within and North Bar Without streets.
• Beverley Art Gallery, housed with the town's library and archive in the Treasure House, holds works by the local painter Fred Elwell alongside changing exhibitions.
• Beverley Beck, a quiet arm of the River Hull once used for barge traffic, makes for an easy waterside walk from the town centre out towards open country.

Getting to Beverley

Beverley has its own railway station on the line between Hull and Scarborough, with connections south to Doncaster and London. Direct services from London Kings Cross, run in part by Hull Trains, take a little under three hours, calling at stations including Grantham, Doncaster and Hull before reaching Beverley; more frequent journeys involve a change at Doncaster or Hull onto local TransPennine or Northern services, typically taking around three to three and a half hours in total. From Leeds, the journey is roughly an hour and a half with a change at York or Selby.

By road, Beverley sits just off the A1079 between York and Hull, with the M62 motorway feeding traffic from Leeds and the M1 to a junction near Hull, then north on the A1079 or A164. The town is also close to the A63, which links to the M62 and gives access from the south and the Midlands. Beverley has several central car parks, including ones close to the Minster and the Saturday Market, along with a park and ride service operating from the edge of town at busier times such as race days.

Best time to visit Beverley

Spring brings daffodils and blossom to Beverley Westwood and the Minster gardens, along with the start of the flat racing season at the racecourse, making April and May a pleasant time to combine a town visit with a day at the races. Summer is Beverley at its busiest and most sociable, with longer opening hours at cafes and pubs, folk and early music festivals held in and around the Minster, and warm evenings well suited to walking the Westwood or the Beck.

Autumn brings a quieter, golden version of the town, with the Wolds countryside turning colour and the Beverley Food Festival, one of the region's larger culinary events, usually held in October. Winter has its own charm, with the Minster illuminated for Christmas, a festive market in Wednesday Market Place, and log fires in the town's older pubs; this is also when accommodation prices are at their lowest and the town at its most peaceful.

Where to stay in Beverley

The streets immediately around the Minster and Wednesday Market are the obvious choice for a first visit, putting guests within walking distance of the shops, cafes and main sights, and well suited to anyone without a car. North Bar Within and North Bar Without, just beyond the old gatehouse, offer a slightly quieter version of the same central experience, with period townhouses converted into guest houses and small hotels.

Those wanting more space and quiet, particularly families or couples on a longer break, might prefer the villages just outside town, such as Walkington or Tickton, where country house hotels sit in their own grounds a short drive from the centre. Travellers arriving by train and planning day trips to Hull or the Wolds are well served by the town centre itself, given the short walk from the station to the Minster and market.

Food and drink in Beverley

Beverley's food scene ranges from proper Yorkshire pub classics to some of the best cooking in the region. The town is within easy reach of the Michelin-starred Pipe and Glass Inn at nearby South Dalton, one of Yorkshire's most celebrated gastropubs, while in the town itself the Beverley Arms on North Bar Within offers a more formal restaurant alongside its afternoon teas.

For something more everyday, the Saturday Market and the smaller Wednesday Market both host food stalls alongside general produce, and the town's bakeries are known for Yorkshire specialities such as parkin and pork pies. Beverley also has a good spread of independent cafes around the Minster and Flemingate, along with traditional pubs such as those near North Bar serving cask ale from regional breweries including Yorkshire's own Wold Top and Great Newsome.

The Beverley Food Festival, held most years in October, brings together producers from across the East Riding and the Wolds, and is a good opportunity to sample local cheeses, smoked fish from the coast and produce from the surrounding farmland in one place.