The Travellers Rest Public House dates back to the mid-17th century, with the original part of the building (nearest the car park) to be dated from around 1640. The original building, now with car park, beer garden & courtyard are all that is left today, of what was a large estate, of over 90 acres.
The Travellers Rest was built in a period when the famous town of Harrogate was in its infancy. Long before the Georgian spa town of Harrogate was born, this coaching inn was an important and very welcome stop-over, on a long-forgotten trading route, from the farms of Skipton, through the vast Knaresborough Forest, to the market town of Knaresborough, three miles away.
From the many inns and stop houses in Knaresborough, traders would liaise with the financiers, who would, in turn, make the seventeen-mile journey to York, the financial capital of the north of England in the 1600's.
Very recently we discovered a well in our car park. The well (now safely covered by a manhole cover) falls around 60ft down, meeting the water table of Crimple Valley. Before pressurized water, this is believed to be the only water supply for the public house. The well was situated in the old stable block, now our car park.
Once part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and now the North Riding since the 1970s, The Travellers Rest has thankfully stood the test of time. As a coaching inn at the heart of Yorkshire, trading for nearly 400 years, to a traditional public house & restaurant as we find it today.
We sit proudly and comfortably in a beautiful rural spot, only a five minute drive from both Harrogate and Knaresborough town centres
