Whitby with the family

I know I have only been back from Italy for a week but on Friday I came to North Yorkshire for a family reunion – possibly Christmas. The weather is glorious which feels odd. I remember coming here as a child (my grandparents lived here) and it was always windy, always cold and often wet. I used to say that seaside wasn’t seaside unless a force 10 gale was scouring the insides of your sinuses.

At the moment the weather is warm with only occasional chilly winds. Bizarre. Here are a few highlights.

Whitby beach with horses and distant view of the cliff above Robin Hoods Bay.
The harbour from the cliff top.
Victorian seaside shelter
We went on a ride to Pickering on the North York Moors Railway. All the volunteers appeared to be elderly gentlemen with very smart uniforms.
Pickering station.
View from the train. The hawthorns are doing well. We couldn’t have a steam engine because of the fire risk on the moor.
Art Deco light in Hadley’s Fish and Chips. (https://www.hadleysfishandchips.co.uk)
Large cod and all the trimmings.
View of Whitby from the town bridge.
Dolly having a lovely time on the beach.

Rievaulx – now known as Ryedale.

There was a Cistercian monastery here from the 12C to the dissolution. In the 18C, the family that owned the land at the time built a carriage ride from their house up to the top of the hill overlooking the ruins of the Abbey. The top of the hill was flattened and landscaped with added temples in the popular English Landscape style. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/rievaulx-terrace

Ruins of the Abbey. Cistercian abbeys were in the countryside as the monks were very successful sheep farmers.
The woods at Rievaulx Terrace with wild garlic.
View of the Abbey.
The Tuscan Temple.
The interior of the Tuscan Temple with 13C tiles from the Abbey.
View down to the packhorse bridge from the terrace.
The Ionic Temple. This was used as a dining room by the family and has splendid painted decorations inside. Unfortunately it wasn’t open when we visited.
Helmsley. The nearest town to all the above. On a sunny Sunday, heaving with motorbikes. Self described ‘capital of cake’.

One thought on “Whitby with the family”

  1. Do you remember those woolly pompoms we used to make by winding wool through cardboard ‘doughnuts’? Dolly reminded me of a pile of black-and-white pompoms…she was having a wonderful time. I have to ask…why the ‘capital of cake’? So glad the weather was good for you. We’ve been having hordes of walkers on St. Cuthbert’s Way through the village in the good weather.

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