Capital Idea

The chubbychops in question was a portly feline sunning himself in the entrance to the railway station.

Locating the council HQ in the town upset York somewhat when North Yorkshire came into being in 1974.

Two factors swung the decision Northallerton's way. It is roughly at the centre of the huge county which stretches from Skipton to Richmond to Whitby to Selby.

And the old North Riding Council had been based there so the buildings were already in place.

The council building is the first thing you see when emerging from the station.

The town centre is reached via South Parade, an elegantly-wide street lined with beautiful copper beeches. Northallerton's High Street is also impressively broad.

Until the nineteenth century the town was a staging post between Thirsk and Darlington on the main coaching road from London to Edinburgh. Up the street in the spacious north end of the town is All Saints church, a fine 12th century foundation, but only open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10.30am to 3.30pm.

Nearby is Northallerton's oldest house, Porch House, built in 1584, and which claims Charles I stayed as a visitor in 1640 and as a prisoner eight years later.

Opposite the church is a green with a huge tree under which you can sit and reflect on what else the town has to offer. I asked the helpful ladies in the Tourist Information Centre. "Well, there's the new James Herriot Centre of course," they said, "in Thirsk."

As for Northallerton itself, they mentioned a sale at Barkers, and suggested a visit to Lewis & Cooper. Barkers on the High Street is a long-established department store of a sort that used to exist in many towns until the advent of out-of-town shopping. Lewis & Cooper is a revelation.

An ordinary shopfront gives no hint of the cornucopia of goodies within. Upstairs there's a china department, just the place to pick up that Royal Worcester egg coddler - and a tearoom is planned to open in late July or early August.

But the food hall is the main attraction. It is as full of treats as the most treat-filled place you might come across on a trip to London.

Hampers are posted around the world, there are tins of everything imaginable (from a few pennies to £20.65 for a regular-sized tin of water-packed king crab), American foodstuffs like Vermont honey mustard and choc-choc chip muffin mix, and Lewis & Cooper's own packets, such as sultanas - in at least four varieties - curried peanuts, dried cranberries and crystallised mint leaves.

If you aren't tempted into spending all your money on picnic fodder, try afternoon tea at the Golden Lion Hotel, so spotlessly clean it looks as if the paint has hardly dried.

Home-made cream cakes, scones, jam and lashings of tea are available for a surprisingly small amount of money. Or if you're a devotee of Betty's in York, you could play spot the difference at the smaller Northallerton version on the other side of the High Street.

Opposite the Town Hall is the Fleece Inn, a hostelry which claims Charles Dickens stayed a night. Northallerton is at its most bustling on market days - Wednesdays and Saturdays - when the High Street is filled with stalls. Fact File Northallerton is 27 miles north of York, via A19 and A168.

A day return to Northallerton from York by train costs £6.50. The Golden Lion Hotel is on the High Street, telephone 01609 777411. Lewis & Cooper is at 92 High Street, telephone 01609 772880

Fact file

Northallerton is 27 miles north of York, via A19 and A168.

A day return to Northallerton from York by train costs £6.50.

The Golden Lion Hotel is on the High Street, telephone 01609 777411.

Lewis & Cooper is at 92 High Street, telephone 01609 772880

PICTURE: County Hall, Northallerton, the imposing administrative hub of North Yorkshire