Goathland

infobox UK place
country = England
official_name = Goathland
latitude = 54.40022
longitude = -0.71995
population = 407 (2001 census)
civil_parish = Goathland
shire_district = Scarborough
region = Yorkshire and the Humber
shire_county = North Yorkshire
constituency_westminster = Scarborough and Whitby
post_town = WHITBY
postcode_district = YO22
postcode_area = YO
dial_code =
os_grid_reference = NZ831012

Goathland is a village and civil parish in the Scarborough district of North Yorkshire, England. It is in the North York Moors national park situated due north of Pickering, off the A169 to Whitby. It is surrounded by beautiful scenery, and has the advantage of having a station on the North Yorkshire Moors steam railway line.

According to the 2001 UK census, Goathland parish had a population of 407.cite web
url = http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=798197&c=Goathland&d=16&e=15&g=476758&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1215470575796&enc=1&dsFamilyId=779
title = 2001 Census: Key Statistics: Parish Headcounts: Area: Goathland CP (Parish)
accessdate = 2008-07-07
work = Neighbourhood Statistics
publisher = Office for National Statistics]

Goathland village sits 500 feet above sea level and has a history extending back to Viking times. The village was a spa town during the nineteenth century. There are many hotels and guest houses in the village, the largest being the Mallyan Spout Hotel, named after the nearby beautiful waterfall. Much of the surrounding land is owned by the Duchy of Lancaster. The tame black faced sheep have a common right to graze on the village green and surrounding moorland that extends back for hundreds of years. As a result they are used to the many visitors to Goathland and will sometimes beg for food.

The village is now famous as the setting of the fictional village of Aidensfield in the "Heartbeat" television series set in the 1960s. Fans of Heartbeat will not be disappointed by a visit to fictional Aidensfield, as many of the series landmarks are recognisable, including the stores, garage / funeral directors, the public house and the railway station. In reality the pub is called the Goathland Hotel but in the series is the Aidensfield Arms. After filming for some years in the real pub, a precise replica (complete to the morris dancers' "swords" on the wall) was built in the studio.

It is often possible to see the stars of the show as filming for the series is commonplace throughout the week. But some other regular settings in the series are located outside of the village. The police house can be found about 70 miles away in the small village of Askwith near Ilkley and the police station can be found in the town of Otley. This was a real police station in past years.

Goathland railway station is on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. It is a private charitable trust with a number of paid staff but mostly operated by volunteers, running nearly all the year including at Christmas. It carries upwards of 250,000 passengers a year and is the second-longest preserved line in Britain. It links Grosmont in the north with Pickering in the south. It follows the route of the 19th century line that originally connected to Whitby; from the spring of 2007 some trains on the railway are timetabled to run all the way to Whitby. Goathland station has also been used as the location for Hogsmeade railway station in the "Harry Potter" films, and the line was filmed for Harry's journey.

References

External links

* [http://www.goathland.info/ "Visit Goathland website the definitive Goathland information source online"]
*You can see some excellent photographs of Goathland on: http://www.glendalehouse.co.uk/pages/goathland.htm
* [http://www.itv.com/page.asp?partid=1876 Heartbeat on ITV]