York Nutcracker Trail ~Easy Walk

Distance Covered: 2.5 miles Time to Complete Walk 2 hours

Suitable for dog walking: Yes

York comes alive at Christmas with its xmas markets and its overall Christmassy feel with shops adorned with xmas decorations. This walk follows the festive Nutcracker trail in which you have to find 10 Nutcracker statues dotted around the historic city. This years theme is countries of the world. Great for kids who will love finding each Nutcracker!

General Safety Tips: York does get manic at Christmas take care crossing roads. 

The York Nutcracker Trail walk

Getting There

The walk starts from the train station and during Christmas this is the best way to travel to York and is £22 for a return journey from Middlesbrough.

Maps of the York Nutcracker Trail walk

The Walk

From the railway station turn left on Station Road and head over Lindal Bridge.

Once over the bridge head left into the museum gardens and the start of the Nutcracker trail and the first Nutcracker is in this area.

Exit the museum and gardens and cross over the road to Lendal which soon becomes Coney Street. Look toa side alley on your right for Nutcracker number 2.

From here head back to the Christmas tree on Stonegate and head up and then right onto Swinegate for Nutcracker number 3.

From here head to York Minster which you cant miss. Head to the right of the minster and up the street and Nutcracker 4 is on your left.

Nutcracker 5 can be found by heading up and under the York castle walls. Cross over the junction and the nutcracker can be found on your left on the pavement.

Retrace your steps to the castle wall and head left along Aldwick which is the first left turning you come to. Keep ahead and cross over the road for Nutcracker Number 6.

Follow the road to your left down The Stonebow and turn left onto Picadilly. Cross over the road to the pavement and Nutcracker number 7 can be found here.

Turn around and head along Piccadilly until you come to a path next to the river on your left. Emerging into a car park, head out of the car park towards Clifford Tower.

Head down to the right along Tower Street and down cross over the bridge. Once over the bridge head right onto Skeldergate. Nutcracker number 8 can be found on the street.

Keep ahead on Skeldergate and then turn left onto Micklegate. Follow the road you will find Nutcracker number 9 on the other side of the road.

Keep on Micklegate until you come to a junction and head left onto Queens Road. Follow the path back to the railway station and search for Nutcracker number 10 around the railway station.

York Nutcracker Trail

This year's theme, Christmas Around the World, celebrates the unique and diverse communities that make up York.

Find all 10 countries and use the clues painted on each one to work out which country is represented. Pick up a map from the Visitor Information Centre on Parliament Street to write your answers on, then submit your entry at the Visitor Information Centre or post it into Santa’s Post Box in Museum Gardens for your chance to win a £250 York Gift Card!

About the designs

To create the designs, York BID and MarcoLooks have worked alongside a local community group at Our City Hub. The Hub works with newly arrived migrants and refugees to access the resources they need to thrive in York and feel connected to their community. Inspired by their suggestions, each Nutcracker design is painted in the colour of its country’s flag and celebrates some of its most well-known landmarks.

We’d like to say a huge thank you to Bianca Vartic (Cultural Integration and Partnerships Manager) and the Our City Hub project team, volunteers, and community groups for their involvement. To find out more about their activities in the York area, please visit Our City Hub on Facebook or Instagram.

Wykeham & Hutton Buscel ~ Easy Walk

Distance Covered: 4.5 miles Time to Complete Walk 2 hours

Suitable for dog walking: Yes

A fantastic walk especially in the Autumn when a carpet of leaves replaces the woodland paths. Starting at Ruston, walk through two lovely villages, Wykeham with its church and abandoned railway station platform and Hutton Buscel with its church graveyard and out in the surrounding countryside and then following an old railway line trail back to Ruston.

General Safety Tips: Take extra care crossing the busy A171 at the start of the walk and in Wykeham and also on the road returning to Ruston.

The Wykeham & Hutton Buscel Walk

Getting There

From Middlesbrough head on the B1257 towards Stokesley and then towards Helmsley. Leave Helmsley on the A170 passing through Pickering and Ruston is shortly after on your left. Park on the roadside in Ruston.

Maps of the Wykeham & Hutton Buscel Walk 

The Walk

From the roadside head over the bridge in the middle of Ruston.

Head along the pavement and turn right up Burton Terrace.

Head to the left side of Black Smiths Barn and carefully cross the A170 to some steps on the other side.

The Walk

From the car park turn right and head past the small church on your right.

Climb the steps and turn left and follow the fingerposted path signed to Wykeham.

Climb over a stile and head over another directly opposite.

Head along the path until you come to a fingerpost directed right to Abbots Meadow.

Follow the path until it veers left and follow the path to a kissing gate.

Go through the kissing gate and head right and cross the road to another gate.

                                        

                                                        

     

Follow the fenced path as it bends left and left again until you arrive at the road into Wykeham.

Head up the road to the church steeple and cross the road over to the church.

Follow the path right signposted to the Ice House passing behind the church.

Head through the woods until you come to a right turn signposted to Hutton Buscel.

Follow the path until you arrive at the old station platform.

Pass the station platform and follow the grass path ahead.

Go over a hummock and cross the road and head on the track opposite.

Head to the left on the track and through a gap in a stone wall into Hutton Buscel.

Follow the pavement into Hutton Buscel until you come to St Matthews church on your right.

Head through the gate and follow the path to the left.

Keep on the path as it heads through the graveyard and then to another church entrance.

Go through the gate and look for a path immediately on your left which is a cobbled path above the road.

                                     

At the junction turn right and then look for a left turn towards a red telephone box.

Follow the lane down until it peters out to a track and go through a gate on your left.

Follow the path with the hedge on your right and go through a gate onto a road.

Turn left and follow the road and shortly after look for a path on your right between two stones.

Follow the path until it enters some woods and then go over a footbridge.

After the footbridge emerge onto a clearing and go through a gap in the wall and follow the path to the right of the wall.

Follow the path as it bends keeping the wall on your left and emerge onto a road.

Follow the road carefully and just before the railway bridge head down some steps to the old railway path below.

Follow the path to your right and head through a gate.

Head through another gate and down left to another gate back into Ruston. The bridge at the start of the walk is on your left.

Ruston

Ruston is a small village in the former Scarborough district of North Yorkshire, England, forming part of the civil parish of Wykeham. The village is situated just off the A170 road, and approximately 7 miles (11 km) south-west from Scarborough. Ruston is mentioned in the Domesday Book as having ploughlands and woodlands, though the derivation of the name is unknown; it could possibly stem from Hrōst, which is Old English for roof-beam.

Wykeham

Wykeham is a small village and civil parish in the Scarborough district of North Yorkshire, England, on the outskirts of Scarborough and the southern boundary of the North York Moors National Park.

It consists of a main street adjacent to the only pub; The Downe Arms. It lies around 7 miles (11 km) away from Scarborough and surrounding villages include: East Ayton, West Ayton, Snainton, Hutton Buscel, Brompton and Ruston. It has a cricket ground also which is hidden away in a small turning off the main road. To the north of the village is Wykeham Forest, which covers over 1,114 acres (451 ha).

According to the 2011 UK census, Wykeham parish had a population of 280, a decrease on the 2001 UK census figure of 290. In 2015, North Yorkshire County Council estimated that population had remained static at 280.

A nunnery was established at Wykeham between 1140 and 1160 that was located to the south east of the village. The Anglican church in the village is a grade II* listed building. St Helen's and All Saints Parish Church was built between 1853 and 1855 by William Butterfield. A primary school is tied to the church. Wykeham Church of England Primary School, which has a nominal capacity of 60 pupils, was rated Good by Ofsted in 2016.

Charm Park, a Point-to-point racecourse is close by the village, as are the Wykeham Lakes.

Hutton Buscel

Hutton-Buscel derives its name from it having been the "High town of the Buscel or Bushel family" whose ancestors arrived following the Norman conquest.

St Matthew's Church

The parish church of St Matthew is a Grade I listed building. It was built in the 12th century with additions in the 13th and 15th centuries and it underwent restoration by William Butterfield in 1855. Among the monuments in the church is one dedicated to Richard Osbaldeston, Bishop of London, who died in 1764.

Edward Baines, in his 1823 directory, lists the village as Hutton Bushel and gives the population as 419. The manor of Hutton-Buscel was purchased from the Osbaldeston family in 1839, by Marmaduke Langley. By 1848 the population had increased to 506 in the township and 811 in the parish.