MIDDLE England; a place of half-timbered cottages and mellow brick houses. As mid-morning sun casts soft shadows on Easingwold’s unspoiled Georgian streets, this town is about as middle as England gets.

York Press:

But there are more attractions than splendid architecture. The Independent has called it an “essential foodie pit stop”. A tea rooms Mecca, too; for there seems to be one around every corner.

But none of this comestible prowess is new. Records show that markets have been held in town since 1221 and the market place is as good as anywhere to begin a tour.

Once there was a row of 'shambles' where butchers sold their wares. It was replaced in 1864 by the public hall whose clock tower now dominates the skyline. Less easily spotted is a circle of stones in the market place, formerly the site of a bull baiting ring.

York Press:

It wasn't the only barbaric sport in town. The cobbled market square used to be home to the stocks and whipping post, not too mention a ducking stool, for the reformation of scolds.

They may all be long gone, but Easingwold has retained much of its more salubrious past. Indeed there are more than 50 Grade II listed buildings here, including five mileposts; even the red telephone box in Back Lane.

One house bears the inscription GOD . WITH VS. 1664, the rallying cry of the Parliament forces at the Battle of Marston Moor.

York Press:

But even by then Easingwold boasted a long history. It's an amalgamation of two smaller villages, Uppleby and Lessimers. The former Danish, the latter Saxon and meaning a settlement on the lease-mires, or frequently waterlogged land.

The town is mentioned in the Domesday Book as "Eisicewalt" in the Bulford hundred and the derivation Easingwold probably comes from the word Ease meaning rich irriguous land prone to water logging, and Wold or Weald meaning wood.

Which is something of an understatement because the vast royal Forest of Galtres once surrounded the area and King John had a hunting lodge there.

Other well known visitors include Lieutenant-General Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout Movement, who in 1908 came to Easingwold as commander of the Northumbrian division of the newly formed Territorial Force.

Easingwold's Scout Group was founded two years later with Harry Bannister as scoutmaster. Mr Bannister assured the towns folk that his charges would be trained how to save a life "in case of fire, sewer gas, ice breaking, runaway horses, drowning, etc."

Which must have been handy.

York Press:

Baden Powell visiting Easingwold in 1908.

 The group is now the longest serving youth movement in the area.

Easingwold's other claim to fame used to be its tiny railway. In 1891 a privately owned branch line was opened to link with the main line at Alne after many failed attempts to have the London-Edinburgh route pass through or closer to town.

At two and a half miles long, Easingwold residents prided themselves on having England's shortest standard gauge and the line ran a passenger service until 1948, with a freight service continuing until its final closure in 1957.

York Press:

The original steam engine was known locally as "T'awd coffee pot. Perhaps today, bearing in mind Easingwold's reputation as an essential foodie pit stop, T'awd cappuccino machine might be more appropriate.