It was established in 2020 by Tamsin O'Brien and Chris Bentley, and has a bricks and mortar newsroom and shop front in Cambridge Crescent, Harrogate.

On 22 March 2024, in a move to interface more directly with its readership, The Ferret relocated to a newsroom and shop front at 5 Cambridge Crescent.

[6][14] This places the face of the business in the centre of the town, in a Grade II listed building, built between 1867 and 1873 by George Dawson to a design by John Henry Hirst.

[15] The news outlet serves Harrogate, Ripon, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, Pateley Bridge and Masham, all in North Yorkshire.

[16] In 2020, Peter Lilley complained to IMPRESS that there had been an inaccuracy in one of the Stray Ferret's columns on the subject of the funding of Harrogate International Festivals (HIF), However, the complaint was dismissed on the ground that the column was an opinion piece, and not a journalistic piece, therefore accuracy was not an issue in that case.

[17] On 28 June 2024, in an online article, The Ferret reported on allegations that Tom Gordon, the Liberal Democrat candidate then standing for Harrogate and Knaresborough in the 2024 UK general election, had "placed bets on the outcomes of by-elections in 2021 and 2022, using canvassing data not available to the public – and that he won money on more than one occasion as a result".

The Ferret had previously asked Gordon to deny the allegations, but at the time of the report had received no reply.