How to spend winter and Christmas in Yorkshire

There are plenty of reasons to plan a winter getaway to Yorkshire during November and December, not least because there are Christmas events taking place all over the county to get you into the festive spirit.

Whether you fancy seeing one of the country’s finest stately homes decorated for the festive season, keeping the kids entertained at a family-friendly attraction or enjoying a glass of gluhwein as you wander around the stalls of a Christmas market, Yorkshire has options for everyone.

Ingrid Flute’s Yorkshire Holiday Cottages have compiled some of the best places to visit in the lead-up to Christmas with lots of cosy cottages where you can spend quality time with family and friends.

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• Yorkshire Christmas markets
• Festive stately homes
• Family-friendly winter wonderlands
• Winter walks
• Map of Yorkshire winter and Christmas activities

Browse the stalls at a Yorkshire Christmas market

There’s no better way to get into the festive spirit than by browsing the stalls of a Christmas market with a glass of mulled wine in hand. Luckily, Yorkshire has plenty of options to choose from, whether you prefer a big city extravaganza or a trip back in time to a Dickensian Christmas market in a cobbled Yorkshire Dales village. Take a look at some of the best Yorkshire Christmas markets to visit this year.

Leeds Christmas Market

Leeds is home to one of Yorkshire’s largest Christmas markets and the city is completely transformed into a festive wonderland for 4 weeks from the end of November. Wandering amongst the traditional, German-style wooden chalets at this popular Leeds Christmas event, you’ll find food and drink stalls, live music performances and the chance to toast marshmallows over an open fire. 

Fairground rides include the Leeds Wheel of Light where you can enjoy spectacular views over the city. There’s also an outdoor ice-skating rink and Thor’s Tipi where you can drink mulled wine under twinkling lights, next to a roaring log fire.

Christmas in Haworth

Best known for its connections to the Bronte sisters, Haworth is a cobbled village that’s surrounded by the rugged moorland featured in Wuthering Heights. There’s a whole host of festive activities that take place in Haworth during the run-up to Christmas including carol services, fun runs, craft fairs and a torchlight procession along Main Street. 

The Christmas market takes place during the second weekend of December with a variety of local artisan stalls to browse in Haworth’s Central Park and a range of brass bands and other musical performances to enjoy around the West Yorkshire village. 

York Christmas Market

York is regularly named one of the UK’s most festive cities thanks to its beautifully decorated shops that are festooned with lights, characterful buildings that glow during late-night shopping trips, and the award-winning York Christmas Market that’s on for most of December.

The alpine chalets that line the city streets are filled with handmade artisan gifts and there’s even a vintage carousel which adds to the traditional festive feel of the city, and keeps the little ones happy. It’s well worth calling at Kahle Wohlfahrt, a magical German Christmas shop that’s filled with joy (and handmade decorations).   

Grassington Christmas Festival

One of the prettiest Yorkshire Dales villages; Grassington is the setting for cosy period TV drama All Creatures Great and Small. The market square is filled with festive stalls during the annual Grassington Christmas Festival which takes place over two weekends in December with brass bands, carol singers and roasted chestnuts to get you fully into the festive spirit.

There are plenty of cosy pubs in the village where you can warm up after browsing the market stalls and you can step into the past at The Grassington Folk Museum, which opens its doors to coincide with the Christmas market.

Visit a fabulous and festive stately home

If you’re looking to go big with your own Christmas decorations this year, why not draw some inspiration from some of Yorkshire’s finest stately homes? With themes that change each year, giant Christmas trees and grand installations, these places certainly don’t do things by half. Even the Grinch himself would find it hard not to succumb to the festive spirit after experiencing one of these spectacular Christmas displays. 

Castle Howard

Image credit: Castle Howard

Castle Howard is one of the UK’s most spectacular stately homes to visit in the run-up to Christmas with giant Christmas trees and beautifully decorated rooms. Visitors will go down the rabbit hole for an Alice in Wonderland-themed Christmas extravaganza with light shows and special effects helping to enhance the feeling of stepping into the pages of a fairytale.

Other highlights of a Christmas visit to Castle Howard include finding the perfect decoration in the Bauble Emporium and going for a wintery walk around Ray Woods before catching the land train back to the house for a festive afternoon tea.

Harewood House

With festive workshops, artisan markets and a farm shop that’s full of Christmas goodies, there are lots of reasons to visit Harewood House in December. The main draw is a mansion house, that’s been featured in Downton Abbey and Victoria, and dressed to the nines for Christmas.

Expect lights dancing across ornate ceilings and tales from the past that are brought to life through a mixture of theatrical installations and digital wizardry. The grounds of Harewood House are also decorated for winter walks and younger visitors can meet Father Christmas in the Old Library for a festive tale or two.   

Wentworth Woodhouse

Image credit: Wentworth Woodhouse

The grand state rooms at Wentworth Woodhouse are traditionally dressed for Christmas with Victorian decorations inspired by the classic poem ‘Twas the night before Christmas’. Each room is based on a different line in the tale, and you’ll see mice, stockings by the fireplace, prancing reindeer and, of course, St Nicholas himself.

As well as exploring the decorated mansion house, visitors can follow an enchanting light trail which winds its way through the tree-lined paths of Wentworth Woodhouse’s historic West Front Garden.  

Nunnington Hall

You can explore some of the ghosts of Christmas past on a visit to Nunnington Hall, a Yorkshire manor house that’s managed by the National Trust and nestled on the banks of the River Rye near Helmsley. 

Each of the period rooms are decorated for a different festive era; so you can witness a sumptuous Tudor feast, a grand Georgian extravaganza and even a 1980s Christmas party as you wander around the stately home. There are a couple of festive evenings at Nunnington Hall during December where you can enjoy mulled wine by a roaring fire.    

Keep the kids happy at a winter wonderland

With skating rinks, light trails and plenty of Santa’s grottos to be found, there are many places where you can keep the kids entertained during the Christmas holidays and weekends leading up to the big day in December. Children won’t be able to contain their excitement on a visit to one of these fun-filled Yorkshire attractions and you can keep warm and toasty with a marshmallow-topped hot chocolate – yum!  

Stockeld Park

Image credit: Stockeld Park

This family-friendly fun park features an assortment of adventure playgrounds and a giant covered skating rink where kids can whizz around on the ice to their heart’s content.

The Christmas Adventure at Stockeld Park adds an extra sprinkle of magic to this popular Yorkshire attraction with a Santa’s grotto, live shows and lots of surprises

The centrepiece of the festive fun is the Enchanted Forest which is lit up with festive decorations and illuminated trails as day turns to night. There is also a glittering snowflake maze to try and find your way out of and the chance to pick a Christmas tree that has grown at Stockeld.   

Yorkshire Wildlife Park Light and Lanterns Festival

There’s much more than the animals to see when you visit Yorkshire Wildlife Park in the winter. This large wildlife park near Doncaster is holding a Light and Lantern Festival from November through to January with illuminated trails, fairground rides and plenty of festive fun for kids of all ages to enjoy.

The theme for the illuminations this year is ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ and there are special lantern installations celebrating some of the wildlife park’s animal inhabitants from six different continents. The Yorkshire Hive, which is home to the wildlife park’s shops and restaurants, is also transformed into a winter wonderland during December, with a Christmas Fair open on selected dates. 

Yorkshire’s Winter Wonderland

Yorkshire’s Winter Wonderland is a free-to-enter Christmas attraction located at York Outlet Centre on the edge of the city. Families can enjoy skating together on a giant outdoor ice rink that has a 30-foot Christmas tree in the centre, and kids can get a gift from Father Christmas in Santa’s grotto that’s accessed via an illuminated snowy woodland walk.

If you don’t fancy taking to the ice, there’s a viewing platform where you can watch the fun unfold and there are also funfair rides and a ski chalet-style cafe where you can enjoy a range of food and drink including hot chocolate and mulled wine.  

Winter walks

There’s no need to let colder weather put you off exploring Yorkshire’s beautiful coast and countryside. Wrap up warm and head outdoors to discover peaceful pathways, quiet beaches and dramatic clifftop views. You’ll burn more calories in colder weather too, so you can treat yourself to a post-walk mince pie. 

Hardcastle Crags

This wooded valley near Hebden Bridge has more than 15 miles of footpaths to explore, which are perfect for adventures with four-legged friends. There are woodland and riverside walks depending on what you fancy, and the 3-mile Crags Constitutional walk is a great way to get the heart pumping on a chilly day.

Head to Hardcastle Crags on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday during the winter months and you can take a look around the 19th-century Gibson Mills and get refreshments at the on-site cafe.

Whitby to Sandsend

The coastal part of the Cleveland Way National Trail runs from Saltburn to Sandsend, so there are lots of opportunities for a bracing winter walk with sea views. The section between Whitby and Sandsend starts at Whitby Abbey where you can look out across the popular seaside town before heading along the clifftop path to pretty Sandsend.

It’s worth stopping here for a while and getting refreshments at the Wits End Cafe before walking back to Whitby Abbey, either along the dog-friendly beach or back along the Cleveland Way.

Malham circular

This circular trail takes in some of the best natural scenery at the western reaches of the Yorkshire Dales. It starts and finishes at the Malham National Park Visitor Centre, where you can warm up and get some refreshments after your walk.

The route takes in Malham Cove, a spectacular limestone amphitheatre that featured in Harry Potter, and Janet’s Foss which is one of Yorkshire’s prettiest waterfalls. There’s plenty of classic Yorkshire Dales countryside on the route with streams trickling through rolling hills that are criss-crossed with dry stone walls. 

Ripon to Fountain’s Abbey

This lovely winter’s walk starts in Ripon, where it’s well worth exploring a cathedral that inspired Lewis Carroll, before following meandering paths through the crisp Nidderdale countryside to nearby Fountains Abbey, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

An avenue of lime trees takes you through Studley Royal Deer Park where you can enjoy views out over the water garden and abbey remains. It’s up to you whether you spend time exploring Fountains Abbey, which is specially illuminated for the festive season, before heading back through the Seven Bridges Valley to Ripon where you’ll find lots of cosy pubs around the historic market square.   

Map of Yorkshire Christmas and winter activities

Find the best festive things to do during a winter getaway to Yorkshire with this handy map. 

Book your cosy Yorkshire cottage for Christmas

If this has inspired you to head to Yorkshire during November and December for a winter break that’s full of festive fun, there are plenty of cottages available to book for short breaks and longer holidays.  

You can even spend the big day in a Yorkshire holiday cottage for Christmas, where you can gather with family and friends, or escape it all for a bit of me time. Browse our full range of Yorkshire cottages, many of which come with wood burners, to find your perfect festive base.