Top Hidden Gems Day Trips from York
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The top Hidden Gems Day Trips from York include Pompocali Earthworks, Smawthorne Marsh, Beckett Street Cemetery, Rievaulx Abbey, Penny Pocket Park, The Maven, City Varieties Music Hall and The Leeds Library.
York is a treasure in its own right, yet its quirkiest lesser-known corners actually lie out beyond the city walls, so this is one for those happy to travel. Most of these gems cluster south-west around Leeds, an easy run down the A64.
On the edge of the city you can climb the grassy Pompocali Earthworks near Bardsey, while nearby Castleford hides the quiet wetland of Smawthorne Marsh. In Leeds itself lie a clutch of curiosities: the Victorian graves of Beckett Street Cemetery, the railway-side lawns of Penny Pocket Park, the Prohibition-style cocktail den called The Maven, the ornate City Varieties Music Hall and the venerable Leeds Library.
For a change of scene, strike north instead into the North York Moors, where the majestic ruin of Rievaulx Abbey waits near Helmsley. None sit within York, but all reward the trip out.
Here are eight hidden gems for a day trip from York.
Pompocali Earthworks
Photo: Gordon Hatton via Geograph.org.uk
Climb the Pompocali Earthworks The closest of the bunch, a drive south-west toward the edge of Leeds, this stretch of grassy earthworks sits just south of Hetchell Wood, between Bardsey, Thorner and Scarcroft. You can happily walk and climb its banks, ridges and mounds.
Despite the Roman ring to its name, that came from an old mapmaking slip rather than any known Roman town, and the mounds are now thought to be waste from limestone quarrying at the nearby crags, though digging here may reach back to Roman days, when a Roman road passed close by. It makes a fine stop on the walk around Hetchell Wood, an open, unmarked spot with no facilities to speak of.
Smawthorne Marsh
Photo: David Pickersgill via Geograph.org.uk
Wander Smawthorne Marsh A little further out, in the town of Castleford in West Yorkshire, this small patch of woodland, pond and wetland is kept as a green space. Informal paths thread through the trees and marsh, and the water draws ducks and other wildlife, with woodland birds and small mammals about the place.
A group of local volunteers looks after it. This is an unassuming urban nature spot rather than a set attraction, free and open to all, a quiet pocket of greenery tucked into the town, with no facilities laid on.
A modest but restful stop if you are exploring this corner south-west of York.
Beckett Street Cemetery
Photo: Stephen Craven via Geograph.org.uk
Explore Beckett Street Cemetery In the Burmantofts district of Leeds, opposite St James's Hospital, lies this large Victorian cemetery, opened in 1845 as one of the first in England paid for by the town rather than a private company. It was laid out in two halves, one for Church of England burials and one for everyone else, each with its own chapel and lodge.
Among the monuments are the guinea graves, shared headstones beneath which poorer people were buried together, each name inscribed for roughly a guinea as a dignified alternative to an unmarked grave. It closed to new burials in 2001 and remains open to walk, a thought-provoking corner of the city.
Rievaulx Abbey
Photo: John Baker via Geograph.org.uk
Discover Rievaulx Abbey For a complete change of direction, head north into the North York Moors, where this great Cistercian ruin stands in the wooded valley of the River Rye near Helmsley. Among the most complete and atmospheric monastic remains in England, it was founded in 1132 and grew into one of the wealthiest abbeys in the land before Henry the Eighth dissolved it in 1538.
You can wander among the tall, roofless walls of the church and the ranges around the cloister, with a museum of finds from the monks' daily lives on site, plus a cafe and shop. English Heritage cares for it, and it well repays the drive up from York.
Penny Pocket Park
Photo: Betty Longbottom via Geograph.org.uk
Stroll Penny Pocket Park Back in the centre of Leeds, opposite Leeds Minster on Kirkgate, this small park occupies the site of the Minster's old graveyard. When the railway viaduct was driven through in the nineteenth century, an embankment was banked up over the graves while the headstones were left in place, so the park today is a grassy slope of lawns, trees and winding paths, with rows of old flat gravestones set into the banks beside the railway.
A charity owns it and the city council tends it. It is a quiet green corner among the railway arches and busy streets, an unexpected pause in the heart of the city.
The Maven
Photo: Stephen Craven via Geograph.org.uk
Slip into The Maven Also in central Leeds, tucked away on the first floor at the corner of Call Lane by the Corn Exchange, this cocktail bar is styled after a 1920s Prohibition drinking den. From the street there is barely a hint of it beyond a plain door marked with a small gold letter, but a stair leads up to a dark, panelled room full of vintage portraits and taxidermy, where the drinks are all cocktails, brought to your table.
It is strictly for over-eighteens, with a smart-casual dress code, and it offers tasting flights and private rooms for a special night out in the city.
City Varieties Music Hall
Photo: JThomas via Geograph.org.uk
Catch a show at the City Varieties Music Hall A short stroll away in central Leeds stands this Victorian music hall, a small, ornate galleried theatre opened in 1865 by a local publican as a hall attached to his inn off Swan Street. It is best known as the home of the BBC television series The Good Old Days, recorded here from the 1950s until 1983, in which both performers and audience dressed and played in the old music-hall style.
Following a restoration in the late 2000s, it is a working theatre once more, staging variety, comedy, music and an annual pantomime. As a listed building, it is a real slice of Leeds history worth catching a show at.
The Leeds Library
Photo: Stanley Walker via Geograph.org.uk
Browse The Leeds Library Last of all, on Commercial Street in the centre of Leeds, this independent subscription library was founded in 1768, making it the oldest surviving library of its kind in the country. It has occupied its purpose-built premises since 1808, a Greek Revival building with shop units along the street front whose rents once helped keep it running, behind which lies a galleried Georgian interior holding well over a hundred thousand books.
It remains a members' library, owned by its members, and it also hosts events. Do note it is a separate institution from the city's public libraries, a hidden treasure to round off a day out from York.
FAQs
Are there any hidden gems within York itself?
Not in this selection. The quirky spots here sit out toward Leeds and the North York Moors, so a day trip from York involves a drive or train, the closest being the Pompocali Earthworks near Bardsey, about half an hour away.
Which gems work best in bad weather?
For a wet day, choose the indoor options around Leeds, such as The Leeds Library, the City Varieties Music Hall or The Maven cocktail bar, all of which keep you sheltered when the Yorkshire rain sets in.
How do I get to Rievaulx Abbey from York?
Rievaulx Abbey lies north of York near Helmsley, in the North York Moors, and is really best reached by car, roughly forty-five minutes to an hour's drive from the city.
Conclusion
York itself may be the star attraction, but a day trip out into the wider region opens up a very different set of pleasures. Most of these gems lie in and around Leeds, an easy run south-west, where you can wander Victorian cemeteries and gravestone-strewn parks, sip cocktails in a hidden bar or take in a show at an old music hall.
Others reward a longer drive: the earthworks near Bardsey, the marsh at Castleford, or the soaring ruins of Rievaulx Abbey up in the North York Moors. Mix the indoor and outdoor spots to suit the weather, check opening days and dress codes where they apply, and give yourself time for the journey.
From ancient mounds to grand old libraries, these are the hidden gems for a day trip from York.
