Ruswarp, however, is a small village on the River Esk, a mile-and-a-half from Whitby.

On the face of it, Ruswarp mart shouldn't work, all logic is against it. The sea doesn't supply many farmers. Moreover, the recent track record for livestock markets in this area is not good. Seamer, just outside Scarborough, was closed 20 years ago to make way for a new supermarket. Guisborough and then Stokesley, to the west of Whitby, both finished, the latter once again giving way to a supermarket. Pickering once had a livestock market, but it's nearest now are Malton, 30 miles away, and Northallerton, 40 miles.

You might have expected the drop in farmer numbers over the past two decades to have also delivered a killer blow to distant Ruswarp mart where people are thin on the ground anyway.

"Yes, there are fewer farmers," says Ken Halley. "But our business is booming. I know that some markets have suffered but we are doing really well. We had 1,500 cattle at our suckler sale, which is run over two days, and the quality was exceptional. That's not us just blowing our own trumpet. The reason why there were so many was because of the buyers who were attending.

"We do a great deal of work in attracting the right quality of stock, and that is what brings in the buyers."

Daphne Jackson works in the mart office and her father has farmed in Fryup Dale all his life. On the day of the sale she said: "Prices are looking really good. The cattle around here are very well bred and will do well wherever they go because of their hardiness. They have usually come straight from the cow and been single-suckled. If they get onto feed now they will do really well and will fatten quite quickly."

Ruswarp has been going for more than a century, having started as a farmer-owned market back in the 1880s. Since the 1920s, it has been run by Richardson and Smith, who are also land agents and estate agents with offices in Whitby. The original partners were Alan Richardson, of Sleights, whose brother, Walter, ran the local butcher's shop,
and Charles Smith, of Glaisdale.

Ken Halley began here as a schoolboy in 1945-46. He spent three years in the Army prior to joining up with Charles Smith and Maurice Dixon to run the mart business.

At Ruswarp's recent autumn suckler sale he was assisting his son, Ian, in selling the cattle in the sale ring.

"There have been a tremendous number of changes since I started here," he says.

"When I first came, the market was almost completely in the open air. It was only when cattle testing for TB was brought in during the 1950s that the main building was built."

In comparison with the newer mart buildings at Skipton, Thirsk and York, the livestock pens and sale ring here are pretty spartan. There is nothing that smacks of anyone getting carried away with anything other than creating the best price for the livestock.

The café is a small cabin-style affair, which concentrates more on good food and homeliness.

Tony Richardson, who farms at Egton Banks Farm, Glaisdale, has been a regular for nearly 45 years.

"I come here practically every week," he says.

"I pick up a bit of banter and chat with other farming lads. I believe Alan Richardson, one of the founders, was a relative of mine.

"The market has been modernised a bit over the years but the layout has always been similar and even though we're at the seaside here it has always been a popular market. I couldn't imagine it not being here. It's run on family lines and I've a feeling it will continue for a long while yet. I certainly hope so."

The North York Moors plays a huge part in supplying Ruswarp, which is known for not only the quality of its beef cattle but also its sheep. Once this area used to be one of the biggest dairy producing regions in the county. It was also home to its own dairy processing centre.

"Dairying has reduced dramatically in the Esk Valley and North York Moors area over the past 20 years," says Ken Halley.

"About 40 years ago, the North-East Yorkshire Suckled Calf Association was formed and that has proved very good for us. Malton, ourselves and Stokesley were all involved initially. We now have a great reputation for breeding quality beef cattle in this area. The farmers around here are using better breeding bulls and that is bringing in the numbers, both buyers and sellers."

Nonetheless, there are some beef cattle farmers who have started selling their stock direct off the farm, on contract, therefore bypassing the livestock mart system. There were predictions, some years ago, that this would mean the end of livestock markets.

One of the local farmers who has gone down that route is Ron Stainthorpe. Nevertheless, you will still find him at Ruswarp.

"I've been coming here 40 years," he says. "Although I sell most of mine on contract, I still bring a few down here, and I'm always on the lookout to buy.

"The biggest change I've found is that there is a better class of cattle here now. It's unbelievable just how it has come on. I'm always looking for hardy, healthy, locally bred stock."

Ruswarp is certainly out of the way but it is proving to be the exception to the rule that location, location, is everything.