Somewhere between a village and a city sits the British market town: a compact grid of Georgian frontages, a square that still fills with stalls on a Tuesday, and a railway station that everyone forgets is there. These are the easiest places in the country to visit without a car, because the town was built for people arriving on foot. Base yourself in one and you can spend a long weekend eating well, walking properly and never once hunting for a parking space.

Choose the town before the hotel

Not every market town rewards a car-free stay. Before you book anything, check three things, and check them in this order.

• A station within walking distance of the centre. A ten-minute walk is ideal; anything over twenty minutes with luggage stops being charming.
• A weekday bus service to at least two places you actually want to see. Saturday-only routes are a trap. Look for a service that runs Monday to Saturday, and check whether the last bus home leaves before your dinner reservation.
• A market day that falls during your stay. Market day is often the difference between a nice little town and a genuinely memorable one.

Small stations on branch lines are often better than big ones. You arrive somewhere quiet, walk downhill into the town, and you're at your accommodation before the train has finished pulling away.

Sleep within ten minutes of the station

The instinct is to book the prettiest street, which is usually the furthest from the railway. Resist it on your first night. Aim for the ring between the station and the main square: quieter than the market place, closer than the riverside cottages, and no taxi required at either end of the day.

What to look for in a cosy stay:

• A proper entrance you can reach on foot after dark, ideally with a lit pavement the whole way.
• Somewhere to leave a bag if you arrive before check-in. A friendly yes here buys you an extra afternoon.
• Breakfast that starts early on market day. Stalls are best before eleven, and you want to be out among them, not finishing a second pot of coffee.
• Thick walls or a back room. Coaching inns are lovely, but ask for a room away from the road and, if it's a Friday or Saturday, away from the bar.

Pubs with rooms usually beat chain hotels for character, and they'll often tell you which bus to catch better than any app will.

Arrive prepared, but lightly

Car-free travel rewards a small bag. One cabin-sized case and a daypack is plenty for three nights, and you'll be grateful for it on the walk from the station and on the narrow pavements outside the market hall.

Two practical habits make the whole trip easier. First, buy your train ticket in advance if you can — advance fares on regional lines are often startlingly cheap. Second, photograph the bus timetable on the first morning. Rural services change with the season, and the printed board at the stop is usually more current than anything online. Sunday services are sparse or nonexistent, so plan a slow local day for Sunday and save the longer trip for a weekday.

Day trips on the local bus

This is where the market town earns its keep. Almost every one of them sits at the hub of a web of country routes that exist for exactly this purpose: getting people from the town out to the villages and back.

• Pick one destination per day. Two villages and a castle is how you spend six hours on a bus stop bench.
• Ride to the end of the line. The terminus is usually a village with a church, a pub and a footpath, which is all you need.
• Ask for a return ticket. Many operators cap single fares, and a day ticket is often cheaper than two singles.
• Note the last bus, then subtract thirty minutes. Buses run early and drivers rarely wait.

Good destinations from a market town base tend to be a ruined abbey, a reservoir or a hill with a view, and a village pub that does a serious lunch. Any of the three makes a satisfying day.

What to do with the rest of the day on foot

Market towns are best explored in loops rather than straight lines. Walk from the square down the oldest street, follow the river or the old canal out to the edge of town, then come back through the residential lanes — that's where the good stuff is.

• Bookshops and ironmongers. Independents survive here in a way they don't in cities. Go in and ask what's local.
• The parish church. Usually unlocked, usually the oldest building in town, and always a good place to sit down.
• Footpaths from the edge of town. Most market towns have waymarked routes running straight off the last street. Ten minutes and you're in fields.
• One proper pause. A bench by the river, a pot of tea in a back room, half an hour with a paperback. This is the quiet corner you came for.

Cosy evenings, and getting home

Eat early if you have a bus the next morning. Most market town kitchens close the doors around nine, and the walk back to your room through empty streets is one of the great small pleasures of the whole trip.

Before you turn in, do two things: check tomorrow's timetable, and ask your host about the weather. A rainy morning is the cue for the museum, the covered market and the second-hand shop; a clear one means boots on and out to the footpath. Either way, you won't need a car to find it.