A Week in Whitby
As I told you in an earlier blog post, I recently attended the first ever Whitby Lit Fest, where I was lucky enough to attend talks by Lee Child, Yvette Fielding, Paul Magrs, and Robert Rinder (who was chairing a panel about the Mitford sisters).
Because we live a ninety-minute drive from Whitby, there was no way I could travel from home every day to attend the events. To be honest, even if I could have persuaded The Husband to bring me, getting parked in Whitby is hard enough at the best of times, so I didn’t rate our chances with a literary festival taking place.
Related Reading: My Visit to the First Whitby Lit Fest
I suggested that we book a week’s holiday in Whitby instead, and The Husband didn’t take much persuading. He loves Whitby, too, and readily agreed. I found a lovely apartment online and booked it for the week commencing one day before my first event at the festival.
I’ve loved this pretty, atmospheric little town on the North Yorkshire coast since I was fourteen, when my parents finally decided that we should venture further from home than Primrose Valley, and hired a bungalow in Stainsacre, just down the road from Whitby. What a holiday that was! I had my fifteenth birthday while we were away, the sun shone, and I completely fell in love - with Whitby, with Robin Hood’s Bay, with everything about them both.
Me on my fifteenth birthday in Whitby!
Mum and Dad at Whitby Abbey
Never in a million years could I have imagined, back then, that both places would feature so much in the future books I would write and publish. But when I was looking for a location to set my Kearton Bay series, it was Robin Hood’s Bay that I recalled, and it was Robin Hood’s Bay that transformed into Kearton Bay on the page. And Whitby… Whitby has featured in so many of my series. It’s mentioned particularly in Kearton Bay and The Witches of Castle Clair, but it serves as the real-life ‘anchor’ to give a geographical identity to Bramblewick and Moorland Heroes. It’s safe to say that I adore the town, and have visited so many times with my family since that first day back when I was a teenager. I couldn’t wait to get back!
As we travelled over the moors and saw the abbey in the distance, it was just like being that teenage girl again. My first glimpse of Whitby always fills me with joy and excitement. The satnav guided us to our apartment, which was off the main road into Whitby on a riverside estate, and we managed to find the car parking spot we’d been allocated easily enough - trying to find the way into the apartment block took a bit longer! We must have gone round and round the building two or three times before we finally worked it out. Well, it was dark, and we were tired…
Anyway, we finally managed to get the keys from the key safe and let ourselves in, and it was a pleasant surprise to find ourselves in a lovely, spotlessly clean, well-equipped apartment. We were delighted (because you never really know, do you?) and almost as soon as we’d unpacked we headed out again to Sainsbury’s for some shopping. Not only was it dark but it was bloody cold, too, so we did our shopping quickly, came home and cooked tea, then we snuggled down for the evening.
The Husband took this photo and I think it’s brilliant.
A view of Whitby Abbey from near our apartment
In the morning, The Husband was up and about early and found a walkway by the river, just across the road from our apartment. There were some amazing views from there. Needless to say, he spent a lot of his time while I was at the lit fest events taking in the sights and snapping lots of photos.
When the lit fest was over, it was time to really focus on our holiday together. The weather was cold and a bit wet at times - well, in November in northern England, what can you expect? Even so, it was brilliant to see Whitby in a new light. Although we visit every year, sometimes several times a year, we’ve never seen it in autumn before. We usually travel there between April and September, so it was a new experience for us. Not only that, but we’d never seen it at night before. I loved it!
The harbour at night.
Whitby is very different in the dark!
One night we had a walk around the harbour and thought how pretty it looked with the lights strung around the edge. It was so much quieter, too! Usually when we visit Whitby the pavements are packed, the town is heaving with people, there are cars everywhere and it’s so much noisier and busier. At night in November it’s peaceful and relaxing. There are fewer vehicles on the roads, the pavements are clearer. It was a really interesting and enjoyable experience. It made us quite hungry, though! We’d passed a fish and chip restaurant as we walked and that made us think we’d quite like fish and chips for tea. I mean, you can’t go to Whitby and not have fish and chips, can you?
The first time I visited The Dracula Experience I was terrified!
The Magpie Cafe. Never seen it without a long queue outside before!
We ended up getting them from a small place on Church Street, East Cliff, called Mr Chips, which apparently has another, larger shop on West Cliff. They were really yummy and I highly recommend them. Besides, I loved the name, and it reminded me that I must read Goodbye, Mr Chips very soon. That’s just the way my mind works, I’m afraid!
The next day, we decided to have a day out on the moors. A few years ago we’d found - quite by accident - a lovely little abbey in a tiny village. I really wanted to visit again but we had no idea what it was called. On the map we found a place called Rosedale Abbey and wondered if that could be the spot. So we typed it into the satnav and off we went.
Just one of the pretty houses we saw on our journey
It were right foggy on’t moors!
Well, we had a lovely drive! The North Yorkshire Moors in autumn is a sight to behold. I was in tears at how beautiful the colours were. All the trees in their golden, orange, and russet finery! It was stunning. As we got higher up, though, the mist rolled in until we could barely see a thing in front of us. We pulled over just by a celtic cross (which I’ve been told isn’t anywhere near as old as you’d imagine!) and got out of the car to experience the moors for ourselves. The mist shrouded so much from our vision, but it was still an exciting moment. The wind was howling and it all felt very Cathy and Heathcliff up there. I really wished I’d brought my Kate Bush CD with me, but alas…
What’s a pretty thatched cottage like you doing in a place like this? You don’t see many thatched roofs on’t moors.
Well, we got back in the car and drove down a hill into Rosedale Abbey. Which, it turned out, was a village. Or a hamlet. I’m not sure which. Either way, we couldn’t see an actual abbey, although I’m sure there is one somewhere. Chatting to my friend, Eliza J Scott, later, she’s pretty sure - by the description I gave her - that the abbey I spotted on an earlier trip was actually Byland Abbey, so we were nowhere near! But never mind, because I LOVED Rosedale Abbey. It was completely and utterly deserted. We didn’t spot a single soul there, and my imagination went into overdrive. I could see a couple of scenes set there in my head (with very different outcomes) and I honestly can’t decide which one to go with, but I do know that, at some point, the moment we drove down into the village and the mist rolled away and we saw that empty village green and deserted pavements will make it into a book. It’s just which one…
Loved this beautiful tree on the green.
What a cute name for a tearoom!
Not a flipping soul. Where are they all?
Eventually my husband nudged me and I came back to the present. Having realised this wasn’t the place we’d expected, and given that it had started to rain again and we were freezing, we decided to carry on to Helmsley, which is a gorgeous market town that was very much the inspiration for my imaginatively named Helmston in the Kearton Bay, Bramblewick, and Moorland Heroes books. I love Helmsley. It’s sooo pretty, and there’s a cracking book shop there, too, so off we went as The Husband had just realised it was twenty-four hours since he’d had fish and chips and he was in danger of going into withdrawal.
This is such a brilliant shop!
Love this cute little book shop, which is surprisingly well-stocked!
The Husband duly wandered off to find fish and chips, while I oh-so-casually meandered down the lane to The Helmsley Bookshop. This may look quite small from the outside but it’s bigger than you’d imagine, and it’s packed with fabulous books, including signed copies. I spotted one that had been signed by Richard Armitage. Richard Armitage!
Why didn’t I buy it? You tell me. I think I must have been in a daze or something - overwhelmed by being surrounded by so many lovely books. What else can explain passing up the chance to buy a book signed by Richard Armitage?? I did buy one signed by Alexandra Benedict, though, and it had lovely tartan sprayed edges which made it impossible to resist, even though I haven’t ever read a book by Alexandra Benedict before. Fingers crossed it’s good, because it took the place of Richard Armitage. Richard Armitage, people!
It’s not by Richard Armitage, but it looks very pretty.
Anyway, after our lovely stroll around Helmsley we headed back to the apartment and another snuggly night in. The owners had left us a jigsaw puzzle to do. We hadn’t done jigsaw puzzles in years (well, that’s not strictly true - I have done them on my app or on a computer but it’s not the same) so we quickly got absorbed in that. I say ‘we’. It was supposed to be The Husband doing it, but I kept wandering over and putting pieces in, and generally annoying him. But I hadn’t done a ‘proper’ jigsaw in years, as I said, and I really couldn’t help myself.
Needless to say, when I got home, I bought myself two jigsaws and put another four on my Christmas list for The Husband. I never do things by halves…
Church Street on a wet and windy night
Another view of the harbour
Just one of the bookshops in Whitby
On our final evening we braved the rainy streets of Whitby once more. I absolutely love Church Street with its cobbled road and little yards and independent shops. It was a whole new experience seeing it in the dark, with no one around. We were actually able to walk on the pavement without getting jostled or nudged or knocked into the road. Sadly, most of the shops weren’t open, but many of them were lit up so we could enjoy the window displays, and it was just nice to be there. I’m really looking forward to returning.
Farewell then, dear Whitby. We’ll be back next year and I can’t wait to be with you again. Until the next time…
I hope you’ve enjoyed this look around one of my favourite places. If you haven’t visited Whitby (or Helmsley or Rosedale Abbey or, indeed, the North York Moors) then I would urge you to do so if you possibly can. It really is stunning at any time of year!
Have a lovely week.
