Man with a Van Plumpton Rocks

Moving in Plumpton Rocks: what to know first

The handful of homes here all come off the A661 Harrogate Road, an unlit two-lane primary road at 60 mph, so loading happens on a drive or private road, never on the carriageway. East Lodge and West Lodge, the listed gatehouses of about 1760 at the garden entrance, share the postcode HG5 8NA; Plompton Hall, a Grade II* house by John Carr, sits up its own drive to the north, and High Grange Farm is to the east. Most of the side roads are private, including the old road that the A661 bypassed, so the owner's permission and directions matter.

The gardens are a paid visitor attraction, and their car park is for customers. For a move, the useful spot is a free unpaved lay-by on the A661 about 300 metres west of the lodges, with room for around six cars. Bus stops named Plumpton Rocks are on the main road by the entrance.

Plumpton Rocks: the local picture

The gardens were laid out in the 1750s under towering millstone grit rocks, and after 1784 they belonged to the Harewood estate. Edward Lascelles, 1st Earl of Harewood, commissioned J. M. W. Turner to paint the lake and rocks, and both pictures hang at Harewood House; Thomas Girtin painted them too. A gap between two rocks is known as Lovers' Leap. The 6th Earl sold the site in the 1950s, and it was a location for the 2016 film Swallows and Amazons.

The park is Grade II* listed. It reopened in 2016 after the lake, dam and woods were restored, closed in October 2019 while the dam was brought up to the standard of the Reservoirs Act, and reopened in September 2022. At the drive entrance stand East Lodge and West Lodge, a pair of one-storey gritstone lodges of about 1760, and a listed stile is set into the wall at Plompton Square. Stone for the Crimple Valley Viaduct was quarried at Brown Hill, and Brown Hill Wood is a few hundred metres from the lodges.

How the van gets to Plumpton Rocks

The A658 from Bradford runs through Pool and round the south of Harrogate to the A661, and the van follows Harrogate Road for about a kilometre and a half to the lodges. The A661 is a primary road here, so plan where the van will stand off the carriageway. Buses 7 and X70 stop at Plumpton Rocks.

The drive from Bradford is roughly 40 to 55 minutes. That is an estimate, not a timed run, and traffic changes it.

Man and van services near Plumpton Rocks

Each service below links to its Knaresborough page, which covers how the job works in and around Knaresborough.

Every service we offer near Plumpton Rocks

All 11 services run to Plumpton Rocks, each with its own page.

Common Plumpton Rocks routes

• Plumpton Rocks → Harrogatenorth-west on the A661, which becomes Wetherby Road into the town, about 4 miles
• Plumpton Rocks → Wetherbysouth-east on the A661 through Spofforth and down Spofforth Hill, about 5.5 miles
• Plumpton Rocks → Bradforda short way up the A661 to John Metcalf Way, then the A658 through Pool-in-Wharfedale

Frequently asked questions: man with a van in Plumpton Rocks

Where the local details on this page come from

Checked on 1 October 2026 against:

• Postcode lookup (postcodes.io, ONS data, checked 2026-09-30): HG5 8LZ is in Spofforth with Lower Wharfedale & Tockwith ward, Plompton parish, Wetherby and Easingwold constituency
• OS Open Names, July 2026, record osgb4000000074547685: Plumpton Rocks (hamlet)
• Plumpton Rocks (Wikipedia): man-made lake and pleasure gardens near Plompton, operated by the owner as an attraction, Grade II* listed park and garden; designed in the 1750s against millstone grit rocks; Harewood estate after 1784; Turner commissioned by Edward Lascelles, paintings at Harewood House; Thomas Girtin; Lovers' Leap; sold by the 6th Earl in the 1950s; reopened July 2016, closed October 2019 for Reservoirs Act work on the dam, reopened September 2022; Swallows and Amazons (2016)
• Listed buildings in Plompton (Wikipedia, from the National Heritage List for England): lodges and gate piers (c. 1760, gritstone, one storey), stile and wall at Plompton Square
• Crimple Valley Viaduct (Wikipedia): stone obtained from Brown Hill in Plompton
• OpenStreetMap map data around the OS point (checked 2026-09-30): Plumpton Rocks attraction, East Lodge and West Lodge (Grade II), Harrogate Road (A661, primary), Plumpton Rocks bus stops, bus routes 7 and X70, Brown Hill Wood, Crimple Beck
• HG postcode area (Wikipedia, from Royal Mail): HG5 post town Knaresborough
• Route estimate from OpenStreetMap road data (checked 2026-09-30): A658 via Pool and round Harrogate, A661 Harrogate Road (1,384 m)
• OpenStreetMap map data around Plumpton Rocks (re-read): Harrogate Road (A661, primary, two lanes, unlit, 60 mph), East Lodge and West Lodge (Grade II, HG5 8NA), Plompton Hall (residential), High Grange Farm, private service roads including the old pre-bypass road, customer car park with fee, free unpaved lay-by for 6 cars about 300 m west of the lodges, Plumpton Rocks bus stops on the A661, Plompton Bar toll bar site
• Plompton (Wikipedia): hamlet and civil parish south of Harrogate close to the A661, formerly also spelt Plumpton; Plompton Hall, Grade II*, designed by John Carr about 1760; Plumpton Rocks the man-made lake and pleasure gardens in its grounds
• Route estimate on OpenStreetMap road data, Plumpton Rocks to Harrogate: A661 Harrogate Road and Wetherby Road, 6.7 km
• Route estimate on OpenStreetMap road data, Plumpton Rocks to Wetherby: A661 through Spofforth, Spofforth Hill, 8.8 km
• Route estimate on OpenStreetMap road data, Plumpton Rocks to Bradford: A661, A658 John Metcalf Way and Harrogate Road through Pool