Why I like Whitby

I exercise my mind with this now and again...

What is it that appeals to me so much? I think it starts with the fact that it is very remote and small, but that it's pretty self contained with regard to shops, a clinic, entertainment of all sorts and history in abundance. Also if you're coming from London, and by public transport it takes ages. The first bit's ok, as you go from Kings Cross to York, but then you need to get the Coastliner bus/coach service which takes two hours. A very long and winding road indeed, although it's really picturesque, and the holiday feeling truly starts as soon as you see the moors...the difficulty is probably a good thing in that it addds to the feeling of being somewhere really special that is a challenge to get to! Having said that, there are now three families I know from my immediate neighbourood that go, and one of them we met by chance the first time we went to Whitby when they walked into the tiny restaurant we were in; they were hoping to get a table too, and they saw us! How unlikely was that to happen?

I like the way that there is always something to do, whatever the weather...possibly the very best thing, even if cold and rainy is towalk along the clifftop and look out at the sea...if it's raining a lot, you can go into the pavilion complex and have a coffee and stare out to sea in comfort. There are so many places that you can just go to have a drink, a snack or a complete blowout. All tastes seem to be catered for, and if you are in self-catering accommodation,which is how we like it, then there are so many places to get fresh good quality ingredients, almost on your doorstep! This summer we'll definitely get fresh fish from the Whitby Catch; even their website makes me drool, in fact if they deliver to London, I may order some to get a Whitby fix before then.
I like the fact that Whitby has several eras of magnificent history that can be easily explored when you're there. I really like to visit the Abbey; the views are tremendous, everything is so quiet up there, and if you hire one of the commentary things from the desk when you go in, you can get a real sense of what life would have been like at various points in the Abbey's history, you can walk up past the Abbey and kind of round the back of its boundary where there is a farmhouse....more views and exposure to raw elements,
I like the history to do with shipping and fishing- I love looking at the old photographs of Whitby- many places are almost unchanged.

the Captain Cook museum is another place to while away a couple of hours-good when it's raining, or too hot! The narrow streets and unusual old buildings around the museum spark off the imagination you can look out of some windows of the Captain Cook museum and know that you are looking at the same views that he would have had.
I like the way that people are friendly and say hello, and enjoy talking about where they live. I like the way that there always seems to be something going on- admittedly, I don't know if there's something for every week of the year, but it seems to be a busy place, particularly for music festivals!

I like the way that you can walk around Whitby and there is always something you haven't noticed before, a street, a shop or the style of a building. I like looking at some of the really magnificent buildings on the West side of Whitby and imagining living in them-many are being renovated; how I'd love to see inside!
I like plotting how me and my husband might support ourselves if we came to live in Whitby...could we make the break from London? Who knows.