I Love Whitby!
Whitby, England
May 2000
Getting There
In 1989 I was studying for a semester in London. On the weekends I liked to get away from the city and spend time seeing the rest of England. It was on one of these jaunts that I first heard about Whitby.
I was staying in a B&B in Durham when, over breakfast, I asked a young English couple if they had a favorite place to visit in England. They immediately replied that Whitby was a must-see. At that point I had never even heard of Whitby, but I was impressed when the B&B owner piped up to say that he agreed – Whitby was his favorite place in all of England, and I should see it. They went on to tell me that Whitby is a coastal town located in the northeastern part of the country on the North Sea. Mostly a summer place for English vacationers, they said it was beautiful, fun, and full of history. They also told me, memorably, that Whitby is where the Dracula legend began.
Well, I never got to Whitby during that trip or another visit to England a few years later – but the recommendation stuck with me and Whitby remained a place I wanted to see. So, when my wife and I decided to take a 3-week trip to England in May 2000, we were determined to get to Whitby.
Whitby is located about 50 miles northeast of York. We decided to visit Whitby after seeing York and Hadrian’s Wall. We (thankfully) turned our rental car in at Middlesbrough and took the (almost empty, not yet up to full summer schedule) Esk Valley Line to Whitby. Lonely Planet says that Esk Valley Line “is one of the most attractive in the country” and it’s true. The train meanders through mountains, by the coast, and stops at tiny, picturesque villages. It was a wonderful and relaxing journey.
Accommodations
I don’t know why, but all the (good-sounding) B&Bs listed in Lonely Planet and Let’s Go were full. So, before leaving Middlesbrough, we called the TIC in Whitby and asked for a suggestion on where to stay – they said they only had one B&B listed as having rooms available. “Why would this place have space, while every other B&B in town seems to be full?” we wondered. A bit leery, we took a taxi to Rosemont Guesthouse, where Irene greeted us.
We had nothing to worry about. The Rosemont Guesthouse is the best B&B in England.
I’m not kidding. I’ve stayed in many B&Bs all over the UK, and this is the best one. Irene and her husband Neve had just beautifully remodeled the 100-year-old, 3-story house. They had only been listed as a B&B with the city a few months before, and so were last on the booking list and had not been listed in any travel guides. It was our good luck – we had the whole place to ourselves. What’s more, Irene showed us the one room she had in our price-range, but also showed us a bigger, more expensive room. When we told Irene that the cheap room on the third floor would do us just fine, she insisted we take the bigger room at the cheaper rate!
What more could you want in a B&B? Exceptionally friendly owners? Well, we got that too. Irene and Neve were very friendly and took good care of us during our two-night say. Neve cooked and Irene chatted, giving us the history of the building and pointing out all the changes they had made.
The City
It rained the whole time we were in Whitby. Well, not the whole time – we had rain followed by sun, followed by rain, followed by sun. We didn’t care; we had a great time hanging out, seeing the sites, and walking along the coast.
The next morning we walked into town and saw the city for the first time. Whitby is a small city (15,000 people) and retains much of its historical maritime and medieval charm. It has small, winding roads that run by pubs, restaurants, and shops. This somehow all blends together with the tourists trap arcades, fortunetellers, and fish and chip joints down by the waterfront and beach. Lucky for us the summer season had not started when were in town, so the Blackpool/English tourist Whitby was suppressed beneath the impressive gothic Whitby Abbey.
Whitby is cut in half by the River Esk with most of the hotels, B&Bs, and restaurants on the north side, and Whitby Abbey, St. Mary’s Church, and the long rambling Cleveland Way path leading to Robin Hood’s Bay to the south.