Scarborough, Whitby and the Seagulls

Mandy Oldknow on 21 July 2017
It’s no secret that I’m not into self-catering, I’m not a fan of cooking at home, so why would I do it on my holidays. This summer though we have been on not one cottage break, but two.

The first one was a prize via a Cunard Cruise Line competition. It said win a luxury family break, so the last thing I was expecting was a cottage, well would you?

I was asked when and where in the UK I wanted to stay and what was really important. I told them we quite fancied somewhere around Scarborough and that WIFI was a must and then I waited.

They came back with a luxury cottage 5 miles from Scarborough and the pictures on the website looked lovely, I was apprehensive about this kind of break, but really looking forward to the weekend away.

On Friday, we packed up the car and set off for this new adventure, the car was full to overflowing, I had covered every eventuality.

Breaday Gill is one of two converted out buildings that are part of a working farm and within minutes of walking in I knew Connor and I were going to feel right at home. All the mod cons in the kitchen were wasted on me, but the open plan living was something that we really took to. I can honestly say in my head I was knocking down walls of our house in my head while chilling on the sofa.

Having been to Scarborough last year for Rotary Conference I was keen to show Connor the sea front, but the first morning we decided to get in the car and see where we ended up, again this is out of my comfort zone as I am a planner. We set off and after only a few minutes I saw a sign saying Whitby 15 miles and that was it, I knew where we were heading.

Whitby means one thing to most people ‘Fish & Chips’ but having the chicken nugget kid who doesn’t eat outside with me, meant putting out an SOS to my fellow TC who pointed us in the direction of the best place to eat, she told us Trenchers. She was not wrong, the food was great and we both got what we wanted, so happy days.

Now, for a bit of advice for you - don’t go on a boat trip in Whitby if it feels windy.

We had a wander around and saw boat trips for £3.00 each, I said come on Connor let's go. I didn’t look where it went, we just paid our dues and jumped aboard. The boat turned around and set off out of the harbour and into the open water. Now I am a good sailor (or so I thought) but I hadn’t realised we were going to be going along the coastline which meant for most of the 20 minute trip, the waves were hitting us from the side. Now, I’m not sure it’s always as rough as that because later when we passed by the boats again, it said cancelled due to weather conditions.

Whitby is a lovely place and I’m so glad we went.

Sunday, we had more solid plans, as part of our prize we had tickets for Scarborough SeaLife Centre. We have been to a few of these, but this one was a pleasant surprise. It had a seal rescue and penguins. We timed it just right and managed to see all the talks and even fed the rays and sharks. Connor also managed to fit in a donut stop.

We ventured on to Scarborough seafront and were pleased to find that the RNLI were having an open day where you could hear all about their new lifeboat and the great work they do. We got a real insight into what they do and I still can’t believe that it’s all voluntary. The training and the high tech equipment they use now means you have to really want to do it.

My main tip for walking along Scarborough sea front has to be ‘WATCH OUT FOR SEAGULLS’ they are enormous and not afraid to swoop down and steal your food, well not ours as like I’ve already said Connor doesn’t do eating outside. We got our ice creams and ate them on the seafront from the safety of the car.

Scarborough still has an old fashioned seaside town feel about it with donkeys and deck chair rentals on the beach, but it also has some modern touches of the chain food outlets, but these are in the main town rather than the seafront which is nice.

We were hoping to call and visit Filey on our way home on the Monday, but the rain that we had missed finally caught up with us, so we decided to drive straight home. Not to worry though, it just means we will have to go back another time.

If you like to know more about the places we visited or find out about places to stay please give me a call or drop me an email.