A few weekends ago Nathan surprised me with a weekend away to the North Yorkshire Moors for my birthday. I know we go all the time, but nothing beats waking up in the moors… and maybe being able to stay out late at our favourite Moors pub makes it worth it too ;).
We normally stay in wooden cabins near Pickering, but this time we stayed at an amazing air bnb converted barn at Bickely Gate, which is located outside Dalby forest on the Scarborough side. This place was AMAZING, it was literally the barn of my dreams, it was filled with vintage and retro collectibles, and we could play with it all! There was no TV watching on a night, we were hooked on the retro games! It was also fun spotting what matched my collection at home. The host was so friendly, he reminded us of a cross between the guys from American Pickers and Dick from escape to the chateau (clearly you will only know who I mean if you have the same wild tv habits as me)
Local treats left by the host!
We stopped off at Whitby to visit my favourite Vintage shop – Treasure Hunt, and to also get donuts and walk on the pier. We don’t tend to visit Whitby in the summer as the crowds get a bit much but we love Whitby in the winter, it is so charming and quiet. The smoky smell from all the chimneys fills the quiet cobbled streets, and theres nothing better then a warm donut in freezing cold temperatures!
We also took a thrifting trip to Scarborough where we found the most amazing vintage and collectable store ran by the sweetest old woman. As soon as we went in and I showed an interest in all the paper ephemera, she had me in the back (she told me she NEVER lets anyone in the back, so I was really special 😉 ) so I could rummage through all the drawers filled with old valentines, love letters, luggage labels, oh my I’m just squealing at the thought of it all! It was literally one of my favourite moments of the weekend, and I walked away with a bag full of ephemera and a great memory.
One of our favourite things to do in the moors, as we visit so regularly, is to drive around taking random roads in the hopes of stumbling on somewhere new. Now this stunning place, is new and isn’t new to us, we’ve passed through the Grosmont train station on the incredible North Yorkshire Moors Railway several times, but we have never actually stopped there. So we were quite excited when we realised we’d arrived at Grosmont and could explore the beautiful blue and white rail station. Now, having a birthday in January often means many activities in the moors, tea rooms, stores etc that you would like to visit are often closed, however as the railway is not running until the spring it did mean we got to explore the station with nobody there! AND I fed a friendly robin from my hand! It just couldn’t get sweeter. This place really is magical, and I cannot wait to head back before the season starts to get more photos here, but next time I’ll be prepared in a colour co ordinating vintage outfit, rather than my trusty, outdoor, super warm jumper 😉
On our back from Grosmont we stopped at Goathland, which we always do, for those who don’t know, Goathland is the location where the tv show Heartbeat was filmed, and we LOVE Heartbeat, yes I can hear you saying, “didn’t that end years ago?” and yes you are right, but you can watch it on ITV 3 every day…now that is the perk of being self employed! Its a beautiful village and well worth the stop, not only can you see where everything was filmed, but there are great walks from Goathland too, not to mention they also have a train station, and if you are a Harry Potter fan you will be very excited to know it’s also known as a little station called Hogsmede!
I love North Yorkshire so much, and I must keep sharing my adventures there with you all, as it really is an incredible place. Have you ever visited this amazing land?
Much love
Natasha x
