Our first post lockdown budget adventure and what a wondrous adventure it was. The sun gods provided an excellent service, although still a little chilly at night.
D Day
We are positioned slap bang in the middle of the country in the East Midlands so most places are a few hours drive to get to. We always try to break up the journey a little, for two reasons:
1) It gives the kids and the dog a break to stretch the legs, have a wee and a snack.
2) It also makes it feel like the day isn’t wasted with just travelling.
With so many interesting stop offs along the way, I like to squeeze in as much as I can on my holidays as there are so many beautiful places to visit in this country.
On this occasion we booked tickets to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, approximately 20 minutes outside of Leeds and well placed just off the M1 for a quick visit. The park is set over 500 acres and is full of amazing sculptures, parkland and sheep…..lots of them.
It costs £6.00 per adult for the entry fee and that includes your parking fees, whilst children are free.
The park is a lovely, peaceful place with enough paths to keep you ambling around all day, if you so wish. For a budget day out take a picnic with you and embrace the arty ambience laid out in front of you.
We stayed here for a couple or hours so didn’t get to see all that was on offer but for £6.00 it was worth the entrance fee.
Our budget campsite for this adventure was Haugh Rigg Farm about a 30 minute drive from Whitby in North Yorkshire and 10 minutes away from Pickering.
Although a little over my normal budget at £23.00 a night (with ELC for family of four, dog and awning), it was worth every penny.
Haugh Rigg Farm is a pretty and serene, rural site accessed by a twisty farm track which leads to a small, simple, well kept campsite. The site has electric hook up facilities, a shower, toilet and a simple wash up area.
All facilities were sparkly clean throughout our stay, the owner was very helpful and took a common sense approach to the rules of the campsite, making it feel very welcoming and relaxing. A tyre swing provides simple fun entertainment for the kids... and big kids: I couldn’t resist!
I have to say, this has to be the only camping adventure where we haven’t sat around an open fire, socialised with friends and toasted marshmallows. Covid aside, unfortunately, although the sun was shining during the day, it was very cold at night dropping to -1 and frozen marshmallows just ain’t my thing.
Wandering to Whitby
The landscape on the north Yorkshire moors is phenomenal. I haven’t ventured to this side of the country much and it is definitely a place we will be visiting again.
The campsite is roughly 30 minutes from Whitby and the journey takes you across the most beautiful landscape. There are some sharp bends to negotiate and plenty of roller coaster ups and downs along the road.
We spent the whole day in Whitby so it is worth finding a car park on the outskirts of the town where it is cheaper to park. We parked in West Cliff car park which cost us £7.00 for the day. There is also a park and ride into Whitby, we didn’t use this because we had dogs with us however, I have since found out that your 4 legged friends are most welcome on the bus.
Now on this trip we had 3 teenagers with us and as we all know, this age can be pretty tricky to keep entertained especially without the usual electronics and screen time. I decided to think about how I could keep the kids interested and not let it turn into a day of ‘Can we go home yet?’.
Drumroll please…
Challenge one: Whitby has a copious amount of fossils lining its cliff walls and rock beds. Whilst taking a walk along the beach, I set the kids a challenge to find what they thought might be a fossil, with the winner being the one who found the closest thing or even the real mccoy. None of us are fossil experts so we weren’t really sure what was what and at one point the eldest of our teenage trio thought that he had in fact, found a whole fossilised cow!
Whitby beach done, with a few wet feet, 8 doggie paws paddled and a few obscure looking fossils, we decided to head towards the famous Abby, stopping via a cafe along the way.
At the time of our visit with lockdown restrictions slowly being eased we were at the stage of cafes and shops reopening and only outdoor refreshments allowed. Due to the sun gods being so kind it was tricky to find a place to drink for 8 (two households) and 2 dogs due to the large number of others who had also made a bid for freedom to Whitby.
Once we were refreshed it was time to take on challenge 2: The famous ‘199 Steps’. Now challenge 2 didn’t quite turn out as I’d planned due to my eagle eyed 13 year old son. The challenge was to count the steps and tell me the number that they had climbed to The Abbey. Unfortunately, my son spotted the sign which told you how many steps you were about to climb, accompanied with a lot of sweating and panting. So, if you should use this challenge, my top tip would be to sprint like Usain Bolt to the sign, making sure you position yourself in front of the sign first before you tell them what they have to do.
The 199 steps to St Mary’s church really aren’t as bad to climb as you would imagine and once you get to the top you are rewarded by two things, 1) The view and 2) The ice cream van! The view over Whitby harbour and beach are amazing, a perfect final resting place for those that are buried here. However, the church and graveyard do have an eerie feel about them. A lot of the grave stones are so weathered the names of those that rest there have completely worn away.
Enter challenge 3: Rumour has it that there are pirates buried in the graveyard here. They are simple graves marked with a skull and crossbones. However, unfortunately this isn't all together true and in fact the graves are said to be those of stone masons. What the kids don't know won't hurt them!
The The Abbey, made famous by Bram Stoker, is behind St Mary’s church and is owned by English Heritage so if you are a member, this stunning ruin is free to enter.
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/whitby-abbey
Waterworks
Now, I may have mentioned this before, my daughter is terrified of boats so what do we do? We go on a boat trip of course!
The bright yellow boats you’ll see in and out of Whitby harbour are the Whitby Coastal Cruisers company. We paid £4.50 each for a 20 minute trip out to sea.
The harbour, beach and Abbey on the hill look spectacular from this vantage point and look out for the rock formations along the coastline of a diving whale and a crocodile.
Number 2 child was tearful most of the trip and did ask us to tell the captain to turn around because she didn’t like it but the two dogs took it all in their stride and enjoyed the salty sea blowing through their fur.
Once back on dry land and with number two child calmed we headed for refreshments again. We decided to risk eating fish and chips out in the open air with the idea that any ‘loitering with intent’ seagulls would be scared off by our dogs which seemed to work. However later on in the day, the temptation of my son's cookies and cream ice cream was just too much, prompting a sneaky seagull driveby. With one fell swoop the ice cream was gone. The seagulls are pretty keen to be fed so if you have small children please make sure they are attached to a heavier weight just in case!
It had to be done…….the waterfall!
I’m pretty sure I have mentioned before that I love sunsets and waterfalls and if there is an opportunity to squeeze one in it has to be done. The Falling Foss waterfall is situated about a 10 minute drive from Robin Hoods Bay which is south of Whitby.
This little waterfall, (which if I’m honest, was a bit ‘Meh’), is surrounded by pleasant woodland walks meandering up and down the dale. We started our walk at The Falling Foss Tea Garden and knew that this would be our reward at the end. We completed a circular walk of 2.5 miles which followed the stream uphill, passing many rope swing opportunities again for small and big kids.
Once back at the tea rooms refreshments were ordered and for me it had to be a cream tea but with a latte. I have to say that this was one of the best cream teas I have ever had. It was a 10 out of 10 on my yum-o-metre; delicious homemade jam and scones with clotted cream and very reasonably priced too. I could have eaten them all day given the opportunity. The little tea garden is delightful; nestled amongst the trees with the sound of the waterfall to relax you. If not for the food, this place is also a must to visit just to see their posh toilets!
As I’m all about the budget, this would have been a nice place to have a picnic too, with free parking or a donation into an honesty box up the road if the car park is full.
Rovering to Robin Hoods Bay.
Once leaving Falling Foss we went over to the little village known as the Cornwall of the north: Robin Hoods Bay.
Robin Hoods Bay is a small coastal town filled with little cobbled alleyways and interesting houses and shops. It’s a charming little village where you can really imagine the sailors singing sea shanties in the street in times gone by. Although we didn’t spend much time here due to time restrictions, it is a place I would like to explore further on another occasion.
We spent our evenings whilst in Whitby playing card games in Vinnie (the van) and shivering in pub gardens due to the Covid situation and current easing restrictions. However, there do appear to be some lovely pubs in the area and once our country is fully opened and we are able to eat indoors, hopefully, we will be able to help the hospitality sector to start the recovery process.
I look forward to visiting this area again someday to explore everything ,without restriction, that this beautiful corner of England has to offer.
‘Don’t let yesterday take up to much of your today’ - Will Rodgers
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