Richmond, home from home
Above: The town and castle
Above: The Bowling Green, Quacker Lane
Above: The newly transformed station
Above: Cornforth Hill
Above: St Mary's Parish Church
R
ICHMOND, it’s a long way away, isn’t it? Well, OK, it isn’t if you’re living in the town. But if you’re living in, say, York, and you’re travelling up to Richmond via the A1 – which, for some reason, becomes closed northbound… hmmm… well, then take my word for it, Richmond seems like an eternity away. But after zig-zagging the car slowly up the county for a couple of hours, a view of this pretty North Yorkshire market town, situated on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, suddenly filled my windscreen. Immediately, I forgot about the horrendous journey I’d had, because, from the start, Richmond grabs your attention. It’s a little jewel. Even five hours in the car would have been worth the slog to get here.
If you’re a Richmond newbie and want to know where best to start, the thing to do is visit the tourist office where you’ll find Tina Coates. That’s what I did, anyway. ‘Have you seen our theatre?’ she asks. ‘It’s a genuine Georgian theatre, the oldest working one in the country, still in its original form. It has been renovated, but sympathetically. It survived because it was planked over for years, and it wasn’t until the 1960s that they lifted all the boards off. Underneath they found a genuine Georgian pit and, scratching back the paint, they found the original colours. It’s now been refurbished and furnished, and looks as it would have done in Georgian times.’ It’s very impressive.
Tourists come to Richmond just to see the theatre but, when they get here, realise that there’s loads going on offstage too. That’s because the town is very visitor-friendly. There are lots of shops, cafes and bars, plus a couple of good hotels and plenty of B&Bs and, being on the edge of open countryside, it’s popular with walkers and ramblers. ‘Most people who come here are either visiting family or they’re walking,’ says Tina. ‘Years ago it was known as James Herriot Country, because this is where the series was filmed.’ If you’re a Herriot fan, the Richmondshire Museum houses the sets used in All Creatures Great And Small (it closes during the winter and opens again on April 1st).
The huge cobbled marketplace was once the outer bailey, or defence, of Richmond Castle, the historic Norman fortification which dominates the town. It’s been a marketplace for 700 years. Back in the day, you could do your shopping here and then watch one of several gruesome medieval entertainments because this is where prisoners were held in stocks and where the public whippings took place. Think about that while you pop across the cobbles to Boots or WH Smith.
Bob Ions runs Richmond Books in the marketplace. ‘It’s a very cosmopolitan town,’ he says. ‘We’ve been here 14 years now, and came down from Northumberland. It’s a good location which is one of the reasons we moved here.
We’re settled. There are a lot of people from all over the country who come to Richmond on their holidays and like it so much they think: “Wouldn’t it be nice to retire here?” So they do.’ One of the most impressive developments in Richmond is the old railway station (now called The Station). The trains don’t run through here anymore, not since Dr Beeching wielded his axe. For many years the station was used as a garden centre but when the lease ran out it was taken over by the newly formed Richmondshire Building Preservation Trust, and money was raised to turn the building into a two-screen cinema, restaurant, café, and conference centre. ‘It’s going to have a bakery, a brewery and an ice-cream parlour,’ says Tina. ‘It’s a fantastic building and it’s very good for Richmond and very good for visitors.’ I take a drive down there and marvel at the renovation which only started in 2006. The results are sublime.
There’s one other thing about the town of Richmond: it’s very clean, which must please the tourists no end. ‘It’s exceptionally clean,’ corrects Tina. ‘We have a good team of council workers who go out and clean the streets. And you do see local people putting their litter in bins… so it isn’t a problem here.’
And that speaks volumes about this place. If you live here, you love it and appreciate it. You’re not oblivious to its architectural charms or picturesque cobbled streets and snickets. ‘There are lots of volunteers involved in the running of Richmond’s organisations,’ says Tina. ‘The tourist office has volunteers, so does the Georgian Theatre, The Station and the Green Howards’ Museum. We’re passionate about the place.’