In Knaresborough, the Yorkshire town with an iconic viaduct and England’s oldest pharmacy

The railway station is a pretty, Victorian affair, occupying a niche in the hillside that rises from the River Nidd.

When I arrived there as a boy (a common occurrence, as I grew up in nearby York), there was always a family discussion about whether I should walk first to the riverside with its ice creams and rowing boats, or to the quaint shops and tearooms of the inner city: a festive prospect in both directions, hence the dilemma.

Today the station itself is an attraction, the buildings on Platform 2 having been adapted to accommodate a pub called the Track & Sleeper, an antique shop and the Old Ticket Office cafe, where I started my most recent visit with an early lunch. After Earl Gray tea and a delicious toasted cheese sandwich, I told the proprietress, Doreen, that I had visited Knaresborough for the first time in ten years. “Oh, people always come back,” she said. “And it’s often the little things – to see the paddling pool in Bebra Gardens or the black and white houses.”

I passed two such houses as I descended the sleepy Water Bag Bank to the Nidd; a few more were visible when I reached Waterside.

No one is quite sure why certain old houses in Knaresborough look like 3D chessboards. It is speculated that some used to be cafes, the color scheme a form of advertising.

‘The railway station is a fine, Victorian affair, occupying a niche in the hill rising from the River Nidd,’ writes Andrew

Many Knaresborough highlights are visible from Waterside. From the river rises the great limestone outcrop on which the ruins of the castle stand, and the locals take pride in being known as ‘rock rats’.

Most of the castle – apart from the keep which is open to the public – was demolished by Cromwell, the town being a Royalist stronghold in the Civil War.

But it has had an afterlife as many of the best houses in Knaresborough are made of castle limestone.

The modern counterpart, so to speak, of the castle is the turreted limestone railway viaduct, the star of many vintage railway posters, making even the humble Northern Trains railcars look dignified as they cross the river.

Andrew reveals that he had often gone rowing in Knaresborough in the mid-1970s

Just beyond the viaduct, the red-green rowing boats that are rented out by Blenkhorn’s Boats await

Just beyond the viaduct, the red-green rowboats for hire, operated by Blenkhorn’s Boats, await. I told the attendant, Jacob, that I had often rowed in Knaresborough in the mid-1970s.

“Then you’ve been in one of these,” he said, pointing to the moored fleet. ‘They were built in 1971’ which is the recent past for Blenkhorn’s as they have been offering red and green boats on the Nidd since 1881.

I crossed over to the other side of the river, where the park is dedicated to Mother Shipton (1488-1561), a soothsayer who made several predictions, such as the Great Fire of London.

“Nobody really knows why certain old houses in Knaresborough look like 3D chessboards,” Andrew says of the town’s black and white buildings

A passage to Knaresborough Castle

The park is home to the haunted grotto where Mother Shipton is said to have been born and the waterfall where tourists have been hanging objects for several hundred years to be petrified by the minerals in the water; a stony clog was originally a Victorian bonnet.

Crossing the river again, I ascended through the exotic vegetation of Bebra Gardens to the elegant Market Place, home to England’s oldest chemist’s shop.

It’s basically been a sweet shop since 1997, with a café on the endearingly kinked first floor, where I ordered a very Yorkshire combination: tea and toast. Then back to the station for a pint in the surprisingly chic Track & Sleeper.

As my train whizzed across the viaduct to Leeds, I vowed not to leave the train for another ten years before visiting this city again.