Abbey View

The view hits you from the first-floor bedrooms. Whitby Abbey, floodlit after dark, framed in the window like it was put there on purpose. It's the kind of thing that makes you reach for your phone before you've even had coffee. Downstairs, the hot tub sits under a wooden shelter in the back garden, warm and ready whatever the Yorkshire coast throws at you. Pouring rain, sideways wind, none of it matters once you're under the cover.

Inside, the whole ground floor is open-plan and surprisingly bright for a town property. The kitchen runs along one wall with a central island big enough for everyone to lean on with a glass of wine while someone else cooks. Patio doors open from the dining area straight into the garden, and on a warm evening, the line between indoors and out more or less disappears. The living area has a deep L-shaped sofa and a wall-mounted TV, and there's a skylight above ringed with blue LED lights that turns the room into something a bit more fun after dark.

Three bedrooms are split across two floors, which keeps things flexible. The ground floor has a double with its own wet room, handy if anyone in the group has early plans or wants to avoid the stairs. Upstairs, a king-size double and a twin share a shower room with a walk-in shower. Both beds are genuinely comfortable. The king-size room gets that Abbey view, and at night the ruins are lit up against the sky.

The rear garden is compact but private, with a table and chairs for eating outside. Beyond the hot tub shelter, there's enough space to sit with a book in the afternoon sun. Off-road parking takes two cars side by side, which in Whitby is worth its weight in gold. One entrance is slightly tighter than the other, so put the bigger car in the wider gap and you'll have no trouble.

Leave the car where it is and walk. The harbour is ten minutes downhill on foot, past terraced streets and down into the cobbled alleys and backstreets of the old town. Fish and chips from the Magpie or the Quayside, crab sandwiches from one of the harbour stalls, and a wander through the independent shops before you even think about climbing the 199 steps to the Abbey. The Captain Cook Memorial Museum is tucked down Grape Lane if you want a slower afternoon, and the sandy beach stretches out below the West Cliff. Head the other way, and you're into the North York Moors within fifteen minutes by car, with Robin Hood's Bay half an hour down the coast road.

Back at the house, the heating is good, and the place feels warm even in January. Monday and Friday check-ins keep the turnaround tight, so expect everything freshly cleaned and ready. The shop is a ten-minute walk, and the nearest pub is even closer. No pets, no smoking, and the neighbours ask for quiet after ten, which is fair enough when you've got a hot tub and an Abbey view waiting upstairs.