Winter arrives in time for Santa Special in Goathland

Postcards sold to tourists in Goathland show colourful scenes of its striking moorland surroundings and the deep red-painted metalwork of the village's scrupulously maintained train station where, famously, scenes for the Harry Potter films were shot.
By The Newsroom
Published 1st Dec 2017, 15:13 BST
Updated 6th Dec 2017, 12:58 BST
The snow creates a picture postcard view of Goathland near Whitby. Picture: Ceri OakesThe snow creates a picture postcard view of Goathland near Whitby. Picture: Ceri Oakes
The snow creates a picture postcard view of Goathland near Whitby. Picture: Ceri Oakes

But this popular and usually busy little village in the North York Moors bore a much paler complexion earlier this week as a blanket of snow covered everything in sight.

Nearby Scarborough may have borne the brunt of the seasonal weather front on Thursday but some inland parts of the region did not escape disruptive heavy flurries either.

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Goathland Primary School was one of more than two dozen North Yorkshire schools shut by the adverse conditions as families found themselves in lockdown for the onset of winter ‘proper’.

For a small rural community such as this, just how does it function when the snow comes?

Connie Wiggins, Goathland Parish Council’s clerk , was snowbound and unable to get to Scarborough Hospital where she works as a medical secretary.

Speaking to Country Week on the day the snow came, she said: “When it snows here we all just muck in I suppose.

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“There are elderly people in the village and I had carers ringing me today - I have had to go and see two ladies and have made one of them breakfast, lunch and dinner.

“Living where we are, everyone is prepared enough for weather like this. You get the bread out of the freezer and we get people out in 4x4s and the farmers clearing the roads.”

Owing to the village’s famous credentials - forget Harry Potter, Goathland was where many of the exterior scenes of the fictional village of Aidensfield were filmed for the long-running former ITV drama Heartbeat - even through the winter, the village never really shuts down like other smaller, less famous neighbours do, but the snow does bring occasional lulls.

“We had a couple of coach trips pull up yesterday but we’ve certainly had no visitors today,” says Connie.

But that will not last, she explains.

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“We have got the Santa Special going on on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. All the children in the village get to go on the first train of the season, on Saturday (today).”
A magical experience, the Santa train departs from Pickering Station further along the line and travels along to Goathland. On-board, young passengers get the chance to meet Father Christmas in his grotto.

This year, the special trains run on both days of each of the first three weekends of December, as well midweek on December 19-20.

For more details and to book tickets, visit www.nymr.co.uk

Related topics:WinterNorth YorkshireScarborough