We recently spent a few days in Yorkshire in our new motorhome and we had the best time. Yorkshire is an absolutely stunning part of the UK with vast landscape, rolling countryside and some of the very best views in England, when we were thinking of where to spend a few days away, Yorkshire was a no brainer.
We chose to stay at a campsite for the few days that we stayed in Yorkshire as we’re still currently getting used to motorhome / van life and just wanted to stay somewhere that we felt comfortable.
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Middlewood Farm Campsite
We stayed at Middlewood Farm Campsite in Robin Hood’s Bay which was a great base and close to everywhere we wanted to go. The campsite had a mixture of hardstanding pitches with electric hook up, caravans to hire, tent spaces and also glamping pods. With clean facilities – toilets, showers, washing up, chemical disposal, bins etc – and set in the most beautiful countryside with amazing views, we would definitely recommend this campsite. Also, only a 10-minute walk to the beach, along the Cinder walking track, so a great base to spend time in Robin Hood’s Bay.
Is Robin Hoods Bay worth visiting?
Robin Hood’s Bay is a small fishing village and a bay located in the North York Moors National Park, 6 miles south of Whitby and 15 miles north of Scarborough on the coast of North Yorkshire.
We both hadn’t ever been to Robin Hood’s Bay before, so we completely didn’t know what to expect but we were so surprised, it’s such a beautiful little place.
With a maze of quaint little streets filled with independent shops, cafes and restaurants and a stunning beach, we would absolutely recommend a trip here.
Robin Hood’s Bay is also a famous spot for fossil hunting. The ‘Dinosaur Coast’, the ‘Fossil Coast’ or the ‘Jurassic Coast’, is a stretch of coastline around 35 miles long, starting from Staithes in the north, to Flamborough in East Yorkshire. You’ll see lots of dinosaur/fossil related things around Robin Hood’s Bay.
We were glad that we could walk to Robin Hood’s Bay from our campsite because the harbour lanes are very narrow and steep and not at all good for us in our motorhome, so we definitely wouldn’t recommend driving around there if you don’t have to. There are some visitor car parks but they were quite small and didn’t look great for navigating a motorhome or campervan and I can imagine get very busy.
Why is Robin Hood’s Bay called Robin Hoods Bay?
Legend tells a story of Robin Hood encountering French pirates who came to pillage the fishermen’s boats and the northeast coast. The pirates surrendered and Robin Hood returned the loot to the poor people in the village that is now called Robin Hood’s Bay
Can you park a motorhome in Whitby?
Once we’d spent time in Robin Hood’s Bay, we headed to Whitby. We were considering walking, but once we looked into the walking route options, there was a coastal walk which would have taken around about 4 hours which we just didn’t have time for, we had left it too late in the day and it would have been getting dark by the time we arrived.
There was a shorter walk, but this would have taken us on roads where there were not any paths which we didn’t fancy doing with Lottie, so instead we just drove and parked right by the Harbour at the Marina Front Car Park. We paid £5.50 for 4 hours of parking. Their car park was fairly empty when we were there which was the middle of the day on a weekday, we can imagine that this car park would be much busier at peak times. There are plenty of car parks where you could park a motorhome.
Whitby Harbour is really lovely, especially as the sun was shining when we were there so the boats looked stunning in the sunshine.
Our first point of call whilst exploring Whitby was Whitby Abbey, stopping off for some fish and chips for lunch on the way!
To get to the Abbey, you have to climb 199 steps from the harbour. The ruins of Whitby Abbey are among the most celebrated sights of North Yorkshire. The monastery was abandoned following Danish raids in the 9th century, but the Benedictine monk Reinfrid established a new community on the site in 1078. There are parts of the Abbey that you can just walk to and see, and then there are parts which you need to pay to see, which we didn’t do. We believe it is around £10 per adult.
Why is Whitby famous for Dracula?
Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, found some of his inspiration for Dracula after staying in Whitby in 1890. Lots of people go in search of Dracula’s grave in Whitby, forgetting the important fact that Dracula is a fictional character! He cannot be found in Whitby!
The rest of our time in Whitby was spent exploring the town of Whitby which is made up of many streets filled with shops, cafes and restaurants. Whitby didn’t feel to us like the typical UK seaside town, it had a really nice feel to it which we loved.
There are also two lighthouses in Whitby, which can be found at the end of the East and West piers. We’d definitely recommend going to have a look at them if ever you are in Whitby.
North York Moor’s National Park
On our final day in Yorkshire, we decided to go for a walk in the North York Moor’s. We did the Goathland and Mallyan Spout walking trail which we found on the All Trails App. The walk was a moderate walk which was around around 4.5km and took us around 1.5 hours, finishing up in the famous village of Goathland, made famous as the set of TV drama Heartbeat. The walk included some beautiful scenery and a waterfall, we would definitely recommend this walking trail.
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I love everything about travel, from seeing new places, learning about new cultures and trying new foods! I believe that travel is one of the best forms of education you can get, I have learnt so much about myself and about the world from travelling all over. Travel is something I feel so passionately about, and I love the fact that we are now lucky enough to have this opportunity to do what we love as much as we can, it’s a dream come true.
Before we started travelling, I worked in local government in administration. I had been in this job for several years and had reached a complete brick wall where I was so fed up, but didn’t know what else to do. The only thing I knew that I wanted to do was to travel, and had wanted to do that for many years.
There were hundreds and hundreds of places on my wishlist that I wanted to go to, and I knew that going on a weeks holiday maybe twice a year if we were lucky wasn’t going to cut it.
After being in lockdown due to the Covid pandemic, and working from home staring at the same 4 walls every day, 2021 seemed like the perfect time for us to take the risk to finally do what we had dreamed of for so long.
It was a hard decision to completely change our lives, but so far it has been the best decision we have ever made!
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