School trips to North York Moors National Park

Why visit the North York Moors?

Explore diverse landscapes

The North York Moors National Park is perhaps most famous for having one of the largest continuous expanses of heather moorland in the UK. But the landscape here is much more diverse than that.

The park incorporates part of the North Yorkshire coast, including the Heritage Coast and Robin Hoods Bay. It’s also home to dramatic valleys (known as dales), carved out of the limestone belt by glacial meltwaters, pasture land and woodland.

In fact, around 23% of the park’s area is covered in woodland and the North York Moors National Park is home to the largest concentration of ancient trees in northern England.

On your school trip to the North York Moors, you can spend some time exploring Dalby Forest, where you can walk through upland plateau and a unique ‘rigg and dale’ landscape, discovering the incredible biodiversity of the area as you go.

There are also plenty of opportunities to discover more about river landscapes – from freshwater biology to flood management.

Practise fieldwork skills

On your geography school trip to the North York Moors, your students will have plenty of opportunity to work on fieldwork skills.

They’ll explore coastal landforms and coastal management issues around Whitby, a popular seaside resort since the Georgian period.

They’ll learn more about how the moorlands can act as an indicator for climate change. And they’ll find out what the impact of tourism is on this area of outstanding natural beauty and what measures are being taken to protect this precious environment.

If you’re looking for a school trip to inspire your young geographers and help them to understand the fragility of the environment and how important it is to protect it, then the North York Moors could be the perfect choice of destination for you.