Malton is an attractive market town some 18 miles north east of York. An ancient place, the first established building in the town dates from the 1st century AD.
The town is located in the beautiful North Yorkshire countryside. It is the undisputed culinary champion of the region. With its superlative range of local food and drink producers, a monthly food market and an annual food festival, the town is a gastronome’s delight.
Malton’s rise to prominence as a great place for food and drink started in 2009 with the ‘We love Malton’ initiative, a concerted campaign to raise awareness of the town for the benefit of both locals and visitors. We have seen similar initiatives work in places like Altrincham (in South Manchester) where an old and somewhat run down market area is now a splendid combination of craft and produce vendors, a food hall, an independent cinema and several wonderful bars and restaurants.
Areas that are in decline can reinvent themselves into destinations to visit rather than to avoid as Altrincham has proved.
Malton is indeed a destination to visit. We visited the town on the day the monthly food market was taking place and we had a great time chatting to the stall holders and buying as much produce as we could carry home.
Market stalls
There are plenty of great food and drink shops in Malton.
Yo Bakehouse and the Purple Carrot
Talbot Yard Food Court near the market place is a group of six independent food and drink producers gathered together in the restored courtyard of an old coaching inn.
Of particular interest are the macarons of Master Patisser Florian Poiret. Rightly popular, a queue of eager customers had already formed outside his shop early in the morning of our visit.
Macarons
The hand made ice cream at Groovy Moo in the yard was especially well received!
Amazing ice cream
If you are visiting the area, Malton is fairly close to historic York and it can easily be visited on a day trip. Castle Howard is also nearby. Fans of Bridgerton will recognise the Castle’s facade as the fictional Clyvedon House in that series. Older fans will recognise Castle Howard as the fictional home of the Marchmain family in the 1981 adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. Notwithstanding the worldwide success of Bridgerton, Castle Howard will always be associated with the Waugh novel in the minds of many.
Castle Howard
But as the article is about a Yorkshire town we thought it more appropriate to leave you with a recipe for Yorkshire Puddings.
FOOD, FILMS 'N' TINGS 