Day trip from York to Thirsk and Rievaulx Abbey

Yes, that is a good route, and the one I took when I drove from to Thirsk from the Helmsley area. I think 2 hours is very generous. It was only about a 30-40 minute drive between York and Thirsk, and then maybe another 20+ minutes to the Helmsley area. The roads around there are very good. And yes, definitely make the stop at the Sutton Bank National Park Centre; the view is just gorgeous and there's some nice walking around there.

Helmsley is well worth a visit, and in fact, I would consider it for a good base in the Yorkshire area. It's a lovely and very walkable town, and has some fun shops, very nice cafes and restaurants, and the ruins of Helmsley Castle. Plus there are the walled gardens, which are really beautiful. There are lots of hikes available as well, including one to Rievaulx Abbey, if you choose to take a long hike. The Abbey is very close to Helmsley (closer by car, of course). :-)

Personally, I didn't find too much appealing in Thirsk (outside of the Herriot museum), and I found it a bit difficult to drive in, especially around the museum area.

In terms of other places, I would highly recommend visiting Hutton-le-Hole, which is a very quaint little village a little ways past Helmsley. The town is charming and has been around for a very long time. In fact, it was listed in the Domesday book of 1086 (under Hoton). The name Hutton-le-Hole means “place of the burial ground near the hollow.“ It's really a lovely village and worth a trip in itself, but it also houses the Ryedale Folk Museum, which is an open-air museum that offers visitors a glimpse of rural life over the past few centuries. I really enjoyed my visit here and highly recommend it!

More info: if you keep on traveling the A170 past Helmsley and Hutton-le-Hole (which is about 10 minutes off the main road), you will come to the village of Thornton-le-Dale, which is another lovely village and very near to St Hilda’s Church in Ellerburn. It is a tiny church that is almost 1200 years old and tucked away outside of a small town. To get there, you will drive down a long winding lane that leads to a small car park outside the church. Some parts of the church go back far as 850 AD, and more was added in 1050. The church is a wonder and has carved stone crosses that date back to the Vikings.

The church is in a beautiful setting, with green grass in a wooded valley. There is a small stream running along the path and some old stone cottages nearby. I had a really lovely walk there and the only sounds around were of birds chirping.

I happen to love old churchs; especially really historic ones, so I made beelines for all the wonderful places in this area (most info I got from wasleys), but you may not be as fanatically interested as I am. :-)

We visited Thirsk a few years ago and visited the Herriot Museum as well as the church down the block where they were married. Depending on your interests you might want to choose/avoid the market days. There didn't seem to be a lot else to see when we wandered around Thirsk a bit but as fans of "All Creatures Great and Small" we were glad we visited.

In 2017 we rented a car and visited Whitby and stayed 3 nights in York. Didn't visit the other places you mentioned.

We did visit Castle Howard, which was worth a few hours. Also, we loved both Whitby and York. York is perhaps our favorite city in the UK.

Also, we drove over the Yorkshire Moors from Pickering to Whitby. It was fantastic.

There is a walk leaflet you can get for a 3 mile walk round Thirsk, of many of the real life sites of his life- Grassington is a movie set with little or no relevance to his real life.
Sites visited include-
The clock tower, where he arrived on the bus from Glasgow;
Thirsk Museum (where Thomas Lord, founder of Lords Cricket ground was born);
the site of Rymers Mill (where Helen worked, she wasn't a farmers daughter);
Sunnyside Nursing Home- where the two children were born;
The Golden Fleece pub (aka The Drovers):
Blakey View (Helen's home);
Rowardennan - the Family home from 1953 to 1978;
The Primary School;
Juliet - where Mrs Pumphrey lived;
The Ritz Cinema- where they courted, you can still go to the movies there;
Pudding Pie Hill- a prehistoric burial site and the scant remains of the never finished Thirsk Canal

and more.

I took the train from York to Thirsk. Walked around Thirsk a bit - I wish I had found the map Stuart suggests! I caught a taxi back to the station from the town center - a few shops that I didn't have time to explore. I don't think you are missing much if you simply visit the James Herriott Museum. I visited the Thirsk Museum also (down the street from the Harriott Museum and free), I didn't find it as interesting as the Grassington Folk Museum and I typically enjoy those small museums quite a bit. The volunteers were very nice there.

I am not the fan of Helmsley that Mardee is, but that is probably my problem! Certainly it was pleasant enough, but I found it hard to spend my 1.5 hours while on a bus tour. I did walk to the castle and gardens. Not a shopper, looked in a couple shops. To each his own - I should indicate I am not generally drawn to small towns and found that the case here. I wouldn't discourage a visit if one enjoys smaller towns.

I am not the fan of Helmsley that Mardee is, but that is probably my problem!

Ha ha, ORD_traveler, not a problem at all! I was staying about 6-7 miles away in a cottage in the middle of nowhere, so for me it was a nice place to have a good meal and enjoy some town life. It really does have a number of good cafes and restaurants, and it's so close to Rievaulx Abbey that it seems a shame to miss it.

Jules, speaking of which, if you do visit Helmsley, they have 2 car parks in town. One is in the middle or the market square, which is open every day except for Market Day (Friday). Then there is the Cleveland Way long long-term car park near the entrance to Helmsley Castle.