Another great find

We seem to be blessed with good places to eat within easy travelling distance of Whitby. Today we ate at The White Swan in Pickering, our only regret is that it has taken us three years to discover it. Julie had a veal T-bone and I chose venison haunch followed by a Trio of puddings - Sticky toffee pudding, glazed lemon tart & sauce of raspberries & classic crème brulee and an espresso. If you want something lighter there is also a great selection of light meals and sandwiches. It was our first visit there today - it certainly won't be our last.

Whitby Goth Weekend April 09

Well it's the first Goth Weekend of 2009 and once again we have a good crowd in and the weather is holding up, we can't ask for more. Many people (like my mum) feel intimidated by the Goths, but we find them to be a very friendly and sociable group.

There were plenty of people queueing to go on the bungee jump which has become a regular feature at WGW, we don't have the bottle for it - neither of us fancy having our brains rattling around our heads.

There are a few more photos from around town on our web album if you'd like to look. WGW album

Other images on You Tube

Bread & muffins - and a lot more besides

Many times when we have driven down to Scarborough we have seen a blackboard sign for a small bakery near Burniston, but every time we have been there the Eco Bakery has been closed, and nowadays we are interested in the "eco" aspect more than ever. Today, after 3 years of regularly passing, we found Boundary Cottage Bakery open for the first time. They only open on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 2:00 p.m. We were greeted by Jo who had just boiled the kettle, so very kindly offered us a coffee while we sampled her delicious muffins and bread. This is a true cottage industry business as samples of Trevor's (Jo's husband) rustic furniture were also on display as were some socks made from Angorra wool. Outside the small shop, which is a converted garage, there were various jars of produce and local organic vegetables. The next time we go to Scarborough we will have to make it a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday so we can have some more muffins and a pleasant chat.

40s' weekend

This weekend was the annual 40s' weekend with events throughout such as various militeria exhibits, displays of vehicles, flea market, dog show etc....

The weather was good and everyone appeared to be having fun. If you like this sort of thing, then think about Whitby as an alternative to staying in Pickering for their fantastic war weekend in October - it is unlikely that you would be able to get accommodation in Pickering then and you can always get the atmospheric steam train through via Grosmont and Goathland, which are both involved.

"Wot no Fog"

When we looked out of the window this morning WE COULD SEE THE ABBEY! The last three days have been misty and murky and the Abbey, which we can normally see from all of our rear rooms, was invisible. What made this worse is when we called Selby at 7:00pm last night, our daughter was sitting in the garden having a drink! This is a normal view of the Abbey.

Wall to wall people - Easter Sunday

Strange old day - one couple had to check out early due to a problem at home which meant we had a room to do, unusual on a bank holiday. As they didn't come down for breakfast they also missed their Easter eggs and hot cross buns which were appreciated by all. After lunch we decided to go down town, we can't understand why people go away for the day on a bank holiday Sunday, it was bedlam. Bumped into someone I worked with at Toyota who had only arrived in town at about 14:30 for a day trip!! Seems as though I had a lucky escape when I left 3 years ago as there are going to be lots of redundancies. We walked the West Pier and then the East Pier after we had battled our way along Church St. At the end of East Pier I had a "Whitby Christening" from one of the seagulls - whoever said that it is Lucky!! When we got back home the doorbell kept ringing as we now had a vacancy, but despite the notice in our entrance indicating a minimum stay of 2 nights everybody just wanted one! The photo is wall to wall people in Church Street, most of whom never stray off the beaten track and see the real Whitby.

Done it at last!

I wondered lonely as a cloud - NOT!!!

3 years after moving to Whitby and about 5 years after originally planning to go, we have finally done the Farndale Daffodil Walk. Since we moved here we either haven't had the time when the daffs have been about or we haven't had the weather when we've had the time, but today everyone checked out and nobody was checking in until midnight tonight so we decided to do the walk. Old Bill Wordsworth wouldn't find inspiration in his solitude at Farndale, there are around 40000 visitors when the flowers are out in spring. The walk is a very easy footpath alongside the river Dove, although it is a bit muddy in places. Click on an image to see photo gallery from our day in Farndale.

In Farndale there are a couple of ghoulish stories about queer happenings, one of which is about Sarkless Kitty whose spirit reputedly claimed many lives in Farndale until Whit Sunday 1809 when Sarkless Kitty Gartwaite's soul was laid to rest.

3 years down.

As of today we are in our fourth year at The Waverley and we are as busy as ever. We have refurbished every bedroom and the hall, stairs and landing plus our own living area. All that is left to tackle now are the lounge and dining room. Original plan was for five years and retire, but who knows?

Have started writing a lighthearted book about experiences of running a guest house but never have time to add to it, don't know if it will ever get published - or finished for that matter. Hectic times around the corner as we're fully booked over Easter.

What a beautiful day

A fairly quiet week, the lull before the storm?? At least we had opportunity to visit the gym a couple of times. Just had a walk down town in the glorious sunshine, hope this keeps up for Easter.

Today we designed and ordered a postcard which is a sepia collage of Whitby images, we love the old sepia prints of Frank Meadows Sutcliffe, not that I have a hope of emulating his prowess and that was well over 100 years ago! His large camera was made of mahogany with brass fittings and took 'whole plate' glass negatives (6.5"x8.5").


Eco Button saving since 11 March £2.05/Kg of CO2 5.98