Pickering

As I mentioned earlier, I have been thinking of going places since I am a young child. Among places which I told myself that I will visit one day are the Royal Observatory where the Greenwich Meridien line is, the Stonehenge at Salisbury Plains and Yorkshire. Yorkshire? One may ask. Yes. Yorkshire. Why? Out of reading "The Railway Children" and "The Secret Garden" of course. And somehow maybe as my Great Uncle was somebody who was attached to KTM, I do not know about this one, but influence can work in a funny way too. For whatever reason it may be, I do love taking train rides.
During our visit to Yorkshire, one of our itineraries is to take the train from the North Yorkshire Moor Railway ("NYMR") in Pickering to Whitby. Though it is only an 18 miles journey, and since it is allowed, we planned to hop on-hop off at stations which caught our attention - among the stations which we planned to hop off are Levisham & Goathland (this station was used in the filming of Harry Porter)both reputed to be beautiful and picturesque villages. However, due to some unforeseen circumstances as well as misunderstanding the quite complicated time-table, we found ourselves spending time in the beautiful little town of Pickering.

The little town has its own share of attractions. It is the major station on the NYMR and the line from Pickering to Whitby is the third line in Yorkshire - passenger carriages were pulled by horses until the first steam engine was introduced in 1847. Today, the steam engine is still in good working condition and appealing to most railway enthusiasts. Hopefully, in our future travel, we can realize our itinerary.
Pickering is also home to the Beck Isle Museum of Rural Life. It displayed the largest collection of Sidney Smith photographs as well as collection of rural crafts and exhibits of living style from the bygone era.
A small town it may be but Pickering has its share of good souvenir shops, ice-cream parlour - my children go crazy about the 36 flavours on offer
Though we missed the train that day, visiting the little town of Pickering more than made up for it. It is a clean, beautiful town with friendly people ready to greet you with a smile on their faces "'owdai'elp tha?"