Long before the Information Centre found its current home in the Market Hall in the spring of 2020, its volunteers were already hard at work, having been given space by the Public Library to get things off the ground.

It was there, in November 2018, that the Centre published the first of what has since become an ambitious and much-loved series of publications, each one mostly devised by Centre volunteers.

After receiving a Parking Disc (produced by North Yorkshire Council), a copy of the Town Map, and perhaps directions to the nearest public toilets, the next thing most visitors ask for is a good walk. That simple, consistent demand led to the creation of Richmond Walks - a collection of four circular walks, each starting and finishing at the Market Hall. Volunteers devised the routes, wrote the instructions and arranged fresh photography for every trek, with local graphic designer Yvonne Finn helping to bring it all together, with an easy to read and understand layout and originally drawn maps of each walk. Richmond Walks has now been through four revised reprints, with around 10,000 copies sold to date. Buoyed by its popularity, RIC went on to produce a second volume of walks with the fun title Pootling. Even more ambitious than the first guide, Pootling contains eight circular walks - four beginning in Richmond, and four in Swaledale and on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Other publications soon followed, including guides to more local walks and Little but Wondrous Guide to Richmond, written by Graham Berry, former Head of History at Richmond School. A series of individual short walks has also been produced, aimed at visitors after little more than an hour's gentle wander. A few years ago, local author Joe Willis was commissioned to write Swaledale: An Insider's Guide, a beautifully illustrated book that has proved hugely popular, not least because so many visitors to Richmond go on to explore the Dale itself.

None of this would be possible without the generous support of local businesses, whose advertising in each publication underwrites the full cost of design and printing. That means the Centre benefits from the full value of every publication it sells — income that makes RIC Publications not just successful, but essential to the Centre's viability and sustainability. And it's not just the Centre that benefits: the town does too, since this trading surplus allows the Centre to produce other free leaflets for locals and visitors alike.