17 Best Things to Do in Ripon (Top Attractions & Hidden Gems)

Are you planning a trip to Yorkshire and wondering whether Ripon is worth visiting? The simple answer is a resounding “Yes”!

From the beautiful, ancient cathedral to the Victorian workhouse museum, thriving market, and unique town hornblower, you might be surprised about the number of things to do in Ripon, UK, for the whole family!

In this post, I’ll share all the best things to do in Ripon, including some of my favourite places and hidden gems – in the town and the surrounding Nidderdale area – that only Yorkshire locals like me know about.

Let’s visit one of England’s smallest and most beautiful cities.

We start immediately with the best things to do in Ripon on your city break.

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The Best Things to Do in Ripon, Yorkshire

Every time I visit Ripon, I discover something new about this charming, walkable city. It’s an excellent place for a day out and well connected to other historic sites and attractions in North Yorkshire. Plus, there are some great independent places to eat and the prettiest houses to drool over!

This complete guide to the best things to do in Ripon will help you to discover where to eat and stay, plus where to find ghosts and ghouls, precisely what the literary connection is between Alice in Wonderland and Ripon Cathedral, and when and where to see the famous Ripon Hornblower.

1. Visit Ripon Cathedral ⛪️

While not as big or famous as York Minster, Ripon Cathedral is breathtakingly beautiful and completely dominates this small city! It’s also moments from the main car park in the city and the bus station 🙂

With regular special events and exhibitions, visiting Ripon Cathedral is one of the highlights of visiting the city.

My favourite place is the medieval chancel, which was rebuilt at the end of the 13th century. It has a sensational geometric east window in the Decorated Gothic style and the most beautiful carved wooden choir stalls.

2. Enjoy A Day At The Races 🏇

Did you know that Yorkshire has more racecourses than any other county in England? There are plenty of race meetings to choose from if you’re a racing fan, and Ripon has a long tradition of horse racing.

For over 300 years, Ripon Racecourse (known as “Yorkshire’s Garden Racecourse” has hosted some of the best racing in the country: it was voted “Best Small Racecourse in the North” by the Racegoers Club in 2011, 2014, and 2015.

During the flat racing season, a day at the Ripon Races is an enjoyable way to spend the day, and Ladies’ Day is a real treat!

3. Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal Park 🕍

One of the best places to visit near Ripon is the hauntingly beautiful UNESCO World Heritage site, Fountains Abbey – a national historic site.

This medieval monastery was founded in 1132 by Benedictine Monks and was ruined centuries later on the orders of King Henry VIII during the dissolution of the monasteries. 

Fountains Abbey is England’s best-preserved Cistercian monastery. It sits within the Studley Royal estate’s beautiful gardens, including the magnificent Studley Royal Water Gardens, St Mary’s Church, Fountains Hall, Fountains Mill, and a stunning deer park!

4. Newby Hall and Gardens 🏡

Glorious Newby Hall is a late-17th-century stately home next to the River Ure. I love visiting as it’s like stepping back through the pages of history to meet some of England’s most famous designers!

• Sir Christopher Wren was involved in the house design.
• Robert Adam (who designed the Victoria & Albert Museum in London) helped remodel the interiors.
• Thomas Chippendale (the most skilled cabinet maker of his day) crafted the hall and dining chairs and the Pembroke tables for the house.

The chairs in the Tapestry Room are covered with unique tapestry fabric from the famous Gobelins Manufactory in Paris. They are the only remaining Chippendale suite still to have original coverings and to be in their original setting.

Other highlights at Newby Hall include the Sicilian marble floors, stucco panels, mahogany doors, Corinthian columns, Renaissance paintings, and alabaster urns.

If (like me) you love visiting gardens, you’re in for a treat with the 25 acres of award-winning gardens. You’ll want to look out for the double herbaceous border, water garden, rose garden, tropical garden, woodland garden, and two rock gardens! Find out more about Newby Hall, including opening hours.

5. Lightwater Valley Family Adventure Park 🎢

Just 10 minutes from Ripon, Lightwater Valley is a popular theme park for family visitors with kids under 12. There are over 40 thrilling rides, children’s play areas, animal attractions, and plenty of open spaces to tire out young legs.

Eagle’s Creek Farm has pygmy goats, Shetland ponies, and donkeys for visitors who want less adrenalin rush.

6. The Ripon Workhouse Museum 🕍

Ripon has three fascinating museums known as the Yorkshire Law and Order Museums. If you’re looking for indoor things to do in Ripon, visiting these museums is a perfect plan.

With one “all museums ticket”, you can visit the three museums, and it’s easy to see them all in around 3-4 hours, as they are located very close to each other.

➡️ Buy your 3-in-1 Ripon museum entry tickets here.

The Workhouse Museum is a monument to Victorian times when attitudes to poverty, vagrancy, and illness (both mental and physical) were quite different. It’s a chilling place to visit, to discover how the “inmates” lived, where they slept, what they ate, and what jobs they did to earn a meagre wage.

Don’t Miss: The vast kitchen gardens, where volunteers grow produce for local restaurants using age-old skills and traditional plants.

7. The Ripon Prison and Police Museum 👮🏼

Ripon’s House of Correction for Vagrants was founded at the end of the 17th century, becoming the Liberty Prison in 1816, then as Ripon Police Station until 1956. The museum brings to life the history of policing in Yorkshire, from Anglo-Saxon times to the foundation of a professional police force in 1829.

You can get locked in a cell and see some of the historical forms of punishment, like a restraint chair and pillory. You’ll also get a taste of Victorian-style hard labour by climbing a treadmill, winding a crank, and shot drilling.

8. The Ripon Courthouse Museum 🕍

This elegant Georgian Courthouse is almost unchanged since it was built in 1830, with interiors maintained in the original colour scheme.

The most interesting room is the Court Room. Seats for the Justices are raised high over the rest of the Court, and you’ll see the well where the Clerk to the Court and any advocates sat.

You can stand in one of the boxes where witnesses and defendants faced the court – where men and women were fined, sentenced to hard labour, or transported to Australia! Behind the boxes are benches for the Constables, Surveyors of the Highways, and Overseers of the Poor.

There’s also a box where defendants in custody had to wait their turn to appear before the bench. This box has a ceiling that protects prisoners from missiles thrown from the public gallery!

9. Markenfield Hall 🕍

Markenfield Hall is a mostly 14th-century Grade I-listed manor house with a 16th-century Tudor gatehouse and a moat. Inside the historic buildings, there’s a vaulted Gothic undercroft/kitchen, a great hall, a chapel, and an impressive four-poster bedroom!

10. Browse Ripon Market 🛒

Market Place is only a two-minute walk from the St. Marygate car park.

In the middle of it stands a curious column of stone, imitating the obelisks of the ancients, tho’ not so high, but rather like the pillar of the middle of Covent Garden, or that in Lincoln’s Inn, with dials also upon it.

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Market Place has been the centre of Ripon since the beginning of the 13th century. It’s fronted by historic houses and the 18th-century Palladian Town Hall, which houses the tourist information centre.

The Obelisk (market cross) in the centre of the market, which went up in 1702, is the UK’s earliest free-standing obelisk. It’s where the Ripon Hornblower “sets the watch”.

On Thursdays, Market Place buzzes with the sights, sounds, and scents of Ripon Market. Traders sell fruit, vegetables, confectionery, cheese, fresh-baked bread, pastries, flowers, and fabrics. Look out for the stall with the mouth-watering homemade olives! 

📍 Ripon Market Square

11. See The Ripon Hornblower 📯

In 886, King Alfred the Great recaptured London from Viking invaders and toured England to get support from his people. On arrival in Ripon, he warned the small settlement to be vigilant about a potential Viking invasion.

The townspeople appointed a “Wakeman” to keep watch throughout the night. Every night since then, the city’s hornblower has sounded his watch at 9 p.m. at each corner of the Obelisk in the Market Square. It’s one of England’s oldest ceremonies, and (apart from the pandemic lockdown) not one night has been missed in over 1100 years!

11. Stroll in Ripon Spa Gardens 🏡

This genteel little park has a Victorian bandstand where local bands play on Sunday afternoons in the summer. There’s also a bowling green, an 18-hole putting green, tennis courts, and a tree sculpture of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

The beautifully maintained park has dainty flowerbeds, topiaries, and exotic trees, making wandering around the gardens very pleasant.

12. Walk Along Ripon Canal 🏞️

The picturesque canal was built in the late 18th century to ship coal to Ripon and to transport locally mined lead from the city. When the (now disused) railway came to Ripon, the canal declined but was restored in the 1990s.

Today, the canal is a lovely place to take a short (2.3 mile) stroll around the city. You’ll also see ducks and swans, glorious wildflowers, pretty little bridges, and glimpses of the cathedral through the trees. It’s one of the best things to do in Ripon with dogs!

13. Discover The Leper Chapel (St Mary Magdalen’s Chapel) ⛪️

In the 12th century, Archbishop Thurston of Ripon founded a hospital dedicated to St Mary Magdalen. He gave funds for Masses in the Hospital chapel and for nuns to provide food, clothing, and shelter to any leper born or living locally.

While the church is known as the “Leper Chapel”, the long-vanished Hospital looked after the lepers, and today’s building is the medieval Hospital chapel.

The limestone chapel has an incredible 12th-century entrance in the southwest corner and a bell turret above the west gable.

Inside the chapel, look out for the stunning four-light Perpendicular Gothic style window to the East, a 15th-century screen, a medieval stone altar, 17th-century communion rails with turned balusters, and late medieval floor tiles.

14. Take a Ripon Ghost Walk 👻

While not as famous for ghosts as York (reputed to be the most haunted city in Europe!), Ripon has its fair share of ghouls, ghosts, and dark history to discover too!

Join a spooky 90-minute ghost walk to discover Ripon’s dark history! Your guide will take you to ancient burial sites and curious bone finds, telling stories of people who lived hundreds of years ago.

Local Tip: Look out for special Ripon ghost hunts at Halloween and Christmas, when the dark nights lend an extra spooky atmosphere to the tour!

Ripon ghost walks can be adapted for wheelchair users (if you let them know in advance that you’ll be joining the tour).

15. Take a Scenic Ripon Canal Cruise

Step aboard the charming 12 seater “Pride of Ripon” narrowboat for a gentle putter along the scenic Ripon Canal.

The 30 minute cruises operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, from 11am until 3.30 pm.

16. Cycle The Way of the Roses 🚴‍♂️

Ripon is one of the points on a 170-mile coast-to-coast cycle route from Morecambe on the West Coast to Bridlington on the East Coast. The Way of the Roses route mostly uses quiet lanes, disused railway tracks, and designated cycle paths.

From Ripon city centre, head west into the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty for testing climbs and distant views. If you prefer something more leisurely, you’ll find the route to the east of the city is mostly flat 🙂

17. Explore Ripon Walled Garden 🌳

Once a working kitchen garden within the Bishop’s Palace, Ripon Walled Garden is now a peaceful oasis used and developed by the Ripon Community Link Charity for its work supporting adults and young people with learning disabilities.

It’s a tranquil green space with a plant nursery, orchard, and woodland. There’s also a cosy little shop selling snacks, drinks and products made from ingredients grown in the garden. You’ll find delicious jams, chutneys, and apple juice locally pressed from the garden’s apples. The honey from the hives on site is particularly good.

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Seasonal Things to Do in Ripon

The Christmas Gift and Food Fair 🎄

This atmospheric Christmas fair takes place in the stunning setting of Ripon Cathedral in late November. More than 100 local traders sell seasonal goodies to help you find that perfect present!

Music and Lights at Fountains Abbey ⛪

See the ancient Fountains Abbey buildings lit up in brilliant colour on the week before Christmas. It will be cold but absolutely mesmerising! Highly recommended!

Celebrate Christmas at Ripon Cathedral 🎄

One of the best things to do at this special time of year is listen to the bells and the wonderful singing of the cathedral choir. Find service details here.

FAQs: Best Things to Do in Ripon

Wrap Up – The Best Things to Do in Ripon

As you can see, the historic city of Ripon has some great things to do, so you’ll want to take time to explore the city’s main attractions.

While you’re in the area, I recommend you check out more of the things to do near Ripon – in the surrounding Yorkshire Dales National Park. It’s a stunningly beautiful place with a fascinating history, interesting places to visit, and plenty of hidden treasures.

• 25 Unique Things To Do in Nidderdale AONB
• Visiting Ripley Castle, Gardens, and Village
• What to See and Do at Fountains Abbey
• Discover Coldstones Cut: Britain’s Biggest Public Artwork
• A Sensational North Yorkshire Gin Distillery Tour!
• The 20 Most Beautiful Towns and Villages in Yorkshire
• The Best Day Trips from York
• Things to Do in Harrogate
• 17 Best Things to Do in Knaresborough

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