Destiny Rose

Destiny Rose is a 19th-century Tudor-style terraced house in central Whitby, renovated well enough that the period features survived intact. The sitting room has a large bay window flooding the space with light, a feature fireplace with a gas fire, and chandelier lighting overhead. The leather sofas and armchairs are deep enough to sink into, and on a cold evening with the fire going, nobody is in any hurry to move.

Through to the dining room, there's seating for six around antique furniture, with a shelf stacked with books, games, and DVDs. The dining chairs are surprisingly comfortable, so a board game night here can stretch for hours without anyone wanting to get up. The kitchen is the real surprise. A contemporary country-style fit-out sits under a wooden beamed ceiling with exposed wooden flooring, properly equipped right down to a two-seater breakfast bar where someone always ends up with a coffee and their phone in the morning.

Four bedrooms sleep seven across three floors. The first floor has two super-king doubles (one can be split into a twin if you need it) and a single room, sharing a large family bathroom with bath and shower over. The beds are genuinely excellent. The kind you sink into and don't want to leave. Up another flight through a velux-lit staircase, an eaves bedroom with two singles has its own en-suite cloakroom and plenty of storage. A self-contained little world for younger guests. A ground-floor shower room with an electric power shower covers early risers and sandy beach returns.

Out back, a courtyard garden has patio furniture for eating outside and a five-person hot tub. Off-road parking for two cars sits behind the property. The entrance is at the end of the terrace, and you follow the driveway around. The reverse takes a couple of goes the first time, but once you know the angle, it's straightforward. A utility room with a washing machine and tumble dryer opens straight into the courtyard, which keeps sandy-beach laundry simple.

Forget the car. The pub is under half a mile, the nearest shop about the same, and the beach just over half a mile down the hill. Head towards the harbour, and you're into the tangle of narrow streets and independent shops that make Whitby unlike anywhere else on the Yorkshire coast. Cross the swing bridge, take the 199 steps up to the Abbey ruins, and you get long cliff views in both directions. Pannett Park is even closer on foot, with its community garden, a free-entry children's area, and the Whitby Museum tucked inside if you want an afternoon out of the rain.

For eating out, the streets off Flowergate are worth knowing. Rusty Shears does enormous Yorkshire wraps, Sherlock's has proper coffee and excellent carrot cake, and Chapel on the Hill on Brunswick Street is the kind of place you go on the first morning and plan to go back on the last. All three are dog-friendly, which matters here. Two well-behaved dogs are welcome at the property. Highchair, travel cot, and stair gates available if you need them. Tea, coffee, milk, sugar, and biscuits are waiting when you arrive. For the best photo of the trip, walk to the end of the nearest pier at dusk and look back at the priory with the evening light behind it.