Crabtree Cottage

You drive down a private farm track for about a mile, past horses and sheep, and Crabtree Cottage appears at the end of it. The track is bumpy and best taken slowly, but the trade-off is total quiet. No traffic, no neighbours, no noise at all. It sits on a working farm inside the North York Moors National Park, and that isolation is the whole point. Even four miles from Scarborough, you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere.

Inside, it's a single-storey barn conversion with exposed beams overhead and an open-plan layout that puts everything within arm's reach. A full-size oven, hob, dishwasher, washing machine, and fridge-freezer fill the kitchen. Stock up once and you won't need the car again all week. The breakfast bar between the kitchen and sitting area pulls the room together. Across the room, a sofa faces the electric fire and TV, and on a cold night with the fire on, the sofa wins every time. Everything inside has been properly kitted out, from the utensils in the kitchen drawers to the bedding on the double.

Your bedroom has a double bed, proper storage for bags and coats, and a Jack-and-Jill en-suite. The bed is the kind you sleep heavily in, and the silence outside helps. No traffic, no streetlights, just dark moors and quiet.

Out in the small stone-walled yard, the hot tub sits surrounded by outdoor furniture. On a clear evening, the sky above the moors is properly dark, and you can actually see the stars without trying. The yard is compact but private, walled in on all sides, and it feels like your own little courtyard. Bring a bottle, leave the phone inside.

Your dog is welcome, and the yard is enclosed, so they can be out while you soak. Sheep and horses graze right outside the front door, so keep them on a lead when you head beyond the gate, but there are footpaths straight from the cottage into open countryside. A morning walk across the fields is a proper routine out here.

Scalby, the nearest village, is about 3 miles away with a pub, a tea room, and a weekly farmers' market at St Lawrence's Church Rooms. Scarborough is a 10-minute drive, with the castle on the headland, Peasholm Park, the SEA LIFE Centre, and a long sandy beach. Robin Hood's Bay and Whitby are easy trips up the coast, and the North Yorkshire Water Park at Wykeham Lakes is worth an afternoon if you fancy paddleboarding or zip lines.

Parking is off-road, right by the cottage, and WiFi, fuel, and power are all covered. The rest is just you, the moors, and nowhere you need to be.