Our Week In Whitby

We spent a week in Whitby with Craig’s family last week for our holiday. We have all been to Whitby before and it is a place I enjoy going to. We booked into a cottage which turned out to be a 3 bedroom Victorian terrace house which was not what I was expecting as when I think of a cottage I think of one of the little fishermen cottages that are tucked away up little passages which we have stayed in before. We had the terrace as Craig’s brother was with us and because of the stroke he had nearly 2 years ago he would not have been able to manage the stairs. The house the others were in had a downstairs bedroom and bathroom which was a lot more suitable for him.

Whitby is a good place to explore with lots of things to do whether you are interested in history, with the Abbey, and interest in Vampires and Dracula, Walking (lots of walking and hills) or just good old seaside fun there is something to appeal to every one of every age.

Whitby Abbey

Craig, Emma, Matthew and my nieces Tara and Libby

We were quite lucky with the weather as although it was breezy it stayed dry most of the time which for me is fine as I am not a fan of heat. I am also not really a fan of sand and sea but I don’t mind it over here. My least favourite holidays have been beach based holidays abroad. I would much rather be seeing the sights and doing things instead of lying on the beach doing nothing.

It was my niece’s birthday whilst we were there and it was her choice of what everyone should do that day. She decided to start off doing some painting of pottery at Doodlepots. All the kids painted something and I decided to join in as well rather than just sit there for a couple of hours so I painted a jug to go with the sugar bowl and milk jug I had done last time.

After that was a boat trip which I avoided as I get sea sick on a pedalo so I waited with the scooter we had hired for Jason (Craig’s brother). Luckily it was only 20 minutes long

We then tried to go into a diner for dinner but unfortunately is was rather busy and they weren’t able to accommodate such a large group in one go (there was 11 of us). We had to take a picture because of the name and Emma does want to own a cafe or diner one day.

Although there is plenty to do in Whitby we decided to spread our wings and see some other places. Craig’s Mum is a fan of Heartbeat so we went to Goathland which is where Heartbeat was filmed. Whilst her and her husband explored Craig, Emma and I followed the trail to Mallyan Spout and Beck Hole

The In-Laws in Goathland

Hedwig's alive and Emma managed to hold him

Mallyan Spout

We also chose the best day to go to Scarborough and Matthew went in the sea, something he hasn’t been able to do to much before as the weather has either been too cold or we haven’t been near a beach since he has a toddler.

Scarborough Harbour with the castle on top of the hill

On the last day we did the Curse of the Whitby Vampire trail which is like a treasure hunt where you walk around solving clues. These can be downloaded from www.treasuretrails.co.uk.  There are several available for Whitby but we chose this one because the kids like vampires.  The trail is a good way of exploring  and  is ideal if you have never been somewhere  before as they take in a few of the main attractions. Some of the clues are quite easy to solve, some a bit harder, especially those where you have to find information of plaques as a few have become faded and difficult to read.  At the end you can go online, enter your answer and unique code. If you are correct you can download a certificate and get the chance to be entered into a monthly draw to win £100.

You end up at the church at the top of the 199 steps for the final two clues. One of the things Jason had wanted to do was to go up the 199 steps by himself. Obviously everyone was a bit concerned about this but he was determined and to his credit he achieved it. Everyone was so proud and hopefully it will give Jason a boost as he has had rather a bumpy journey emotionally as well as physically since the stroke. He has no movement in his left arm and although he can walk he is unable to walk long distances and on uneven ground.

We had a really good time in Whitby and we hope to be able to visit again in a couple of years time. It is a great place for families and there is certainly plenty to do for everyone.