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Trip report: Derby, Whitby & the Scottish Borders (indy_dad's UK return)
I wasn’t sure whether or not to write a trip report as I don’t know how helpful my non-traditional itinerary would be for others beyond the small handful of folks that might be personally interested. Perhaps there are a few nuggets to be gleaned for some and at a minimum there will be some good photos! :D
Our background is a bit unique and may help set the stage. We are a family of 4 with 2 teens. We lived in Derby as ex-pats from 2011-2013 and this is our first trip back to the UK since. Our trips, days out, walks and general ex-pat experiences were documented on my (other) blog for anyone interested: http://ukfrey.blogspot.com/ Clicking on my name will also highlight quite a few previous trip reports. Due to that time, we have the advantage of experience. Experience of knowing what we like to do, places we’ve already been, driving in the UK, walking/hiking, shopping, etc. We had memberships to both the National Trust and English Heritage so we’ve seen a lot of castles, stately homes, etc. and therefore don’t have a burning desire to fill every day with them. With that, the goals of this trip were to: 1) Reconnect with friends in the Derby area 2) Visit places we haven’t seen 3) Enjoy the great countryside via walking 4) Take in a few new sites to round things out We had just over two weeks and ended up with the following broad itinerary: • 3 nights near Derby with friends • 7 nights in Whitby, Yorkshire with same friends • 1 night in Northumberland en route to Scotland (Seahouses) • 3 nights in Melrose, Scottish Borders Our transatlantic flights were in/out of Heathrow as we got a good deal for that. On the way back, we flew one-way from Edinburgh to Heathrow on a separate ticket as that was much more economical than the open-jaw option. More to come …. |
Hi Indy_dad,
I remember your old posts & am looking forward to hearing about this trip. We've been to some of the same areas with our teens & would love to go back and spend more time, especially in Northumberland. |
We're doing part of this in the fall, so looking forward to your report.
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hi dad, on for the ride
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Good to hear from you, indy_dad! Looking forward to the rest of your holiday report!
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Hi indy_dad...so nice to "see" you back. I have used Nuggets from your other trips with great success, so I'm on for this ride as well.
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Indy dad, so glad that you are back! I can't wait to hear about your adventures and to see how your kids have grown!
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<b>Detailed itinerary</b>
Being a somewhat visual person, I decided to map out the various options that I had come across in my research. This Google Map was the end result: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ll...cc&usp=sharing (hope that works) I’ve tried to change the symbols to black for the places we ended up not visiting. I like to do the research ahead of time to have options and then go with the flow (weather, group interests, etc.). There were a couple of must-dos but for the most part we could simply pick and choose what we wanted to do on the day. The final itinerary looked like this: June 29: Depart IND June 30: Arrive LHR. Drive to Derby (many delays). July 1: Derby – short walk, visit with former neighbors and friends July 2: Peak District Walk (Castleton area) July 3: Drive to Whitby via Ripon (Fountains Abbey) July 4: Whitby area exploring (on foot) July 5: Whitby to Robins Hood Bay walk July 6: Museum of Victorian Science / more Whitby exploring July 7: Yorkshire Moors Walk – Helmsley to Rievaulx Abbey and back July 8: Yorkshire Moors Walk – Roseberry Topping and Captain Cook Memorial July 9: Falling Foss Tea Garden, Goathland Station July 10: Whitby to Seahouses via Durham (Cathedral), Washington Old Hall. Seahouses stroll. July 11: Seahouses to Melrose via Bamburgh Castle and St. Abbs Head July 12: Scottish Borders – Eildon Hills walk, Borders self-tour** July 13: Melrose: Abbotsford House, Melrose town, Melrose Abbey July 14: long journey home (EDI-LHR-ATL-IND) **Scott’s View, William Wallace Statue, Dryburgh Abbey, Jedburgh Abbey, Mary Queen of Scots House (Jedburgh), Jedburgh Jail, Kelso town and abbey |
Welcome back! You helped me a lot in planning my first trip to the UK in 2012, even though you didn't like Portmeirion. ;-)
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Hi indy_dad. We used your two Scotland trip reports extensively during our trip last May. I'm happy to have the opportunity to thank you "in person".
Looking forward to this trip as well. |
Hi again Indydad--looking forward to your latest adventures. I remember using your trip reports in my planning too.
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Narrative and photos contained in two separate blog posts. Part 1 contains Derby and Whitby.
https://freytravel.wordpress.com/201...t-1-july-2017/ Part 2 contains the drive through Northumberland and into the Scottish Borders. https://freytravel.wordpress.com/201...t-2-july-2017/ Enjoy! |
<b>Activity Links</b>
In somewhat chronological order: <u>Fountains Abbey</u> https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/fou...l-water-garden Enjoyed this multi-hour visit. We caught the 2+ hour tour of the abbey and gardens. It provided a good overview and was extensive enough that we decided we didn’t need to enter the other abbeys on the list (just viewed from outside). <u>Museum of Victorian Science</u> http://www.museumofvictorianscience.co.uk/ What a quirky and unique place—right up our alley. A max of 4 participants only for this personal collection tour and demonstration. <u>Rievaulx Abbey</u> http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/v...ievaulx-abbey/ <u>Falling Foss Tea Garden</u> http://www.fallingfossteagarden.co.uk/ We parked here, viewed the falls, took a 2 mile stroll and then had tea and cakes. Very nice. <u>Goathland Station</u> http://www.goathlandstation.org.uk/ We briefly looked into taking the train from Whitby to Pickering but at 31 GBP return times 7 heads, we decided to simply go visit the station. There is a Harry Potter connection here but we aren’t big train folks so it was a bit underwhelming. Not a big time commitment though. <u>Durham Cathedral</u> https://www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/ It felt like we had seen all the famous cathedrals on our previous tour :D but this is one we missed. Impressive as expected. <u>Washington Old Hall</u> https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/washington-old-hall I saw “ancestral home of George Washington” and decided to add this to the mix since it was on the way. In hindsight, this one probably wasn’t worth it. The GW connection is pretty weak and the hall is somewhat ordinary. <u>Bamburgh Castle</u> http://www.bamburghcastle.com/ Sufficient for our castle fix – impressive. Great seaside location. <u>St Abbs Head</u> http://www.nts.org.uk/Property/St-Ab...ature-Reserve/ Absolutely loved it (thanks janisj). The weather cooperated and we got in a lovely walk and saw lots of sea birds. <u>Scott’s View</u> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott's_View Nice find. We were more appreciative having hiked the Eildon Hills that morning. <u>William Wallace Status</u> http://places.discovertheborders.co.uk/places/23.html Not worth a special stop but it was on the way. Requires a short (1/2 mile?) walk from the car park. Could use some tree trimming these days! <u>Dryburgh Abbey</u> https://www.historicenvironment.scot...ryburgh-abbey/ Drive/Walk by only. Hard to see this one without going in though. Can be skipped if not planning to go in. <u>Jedburgh Abbey</u> https://www.historicenvironment.scot...edburgh-abbey/ Good views from a couple of angles in the town. <u>Mary Queen of Scots House</u> http://www.jedburgh.org.uk/attractio...of-scots-house Excellent find (free too). Just the right level of detail to catch up on the history of Mary Queen of Scots. <u>Jedburgh Castle & Jail</u> http://www.liveborders.org.uk/museum...museum(1).aspx Lots of info here (too much for my taste) but also free. Quite a hike up the hill (since we did not chose to re-park) <u>Kelso Abbey</u> https://www.historicenvironment.scot...s/kelso-abbey/ Enjoyed the walk through the town and into the abbey (free). More ruined than the others. <u>Abbotsford House</u> http://www.scottsabbotsford.co.uk/ Good choice for our stately home. I wasn’t that familiar with Sir Walter Scott so the included audio guide was helpful. Lovely gardens and separate tea room / café. <u>Melrose Abbey</u> https://www.historicenvironment.scot...melrose-abbey/ Strolled by as part of our walk around town. |
As always, loved your report and pictures! Thanks for sharing.
Where is Nicole going to college? or is this too personal to give out on public website? Glad she got her courses all lined up. Interesting to see your runner in training. (I have several nephews who ran in high school and college. The youngest did the Boston Marathon several times. My brother at 70 still runs several miles each day as did my dad until he was in his eighties.) |
Hi irishface -- glad you enjoyed the latest installment. Nicole was advertising her college destination on the Victorian Science day (July 6). ;)
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<b>Walks</b>
There is an abundance of UK walking information which can in some ways be overwhelming. I didn’t want/need 100 walks just a couple of good ones. I favor good views. I like the walks that have a slight climb to get to a good vantage point of the surrounding area. Coastal walks area also nice and we wanted to try to fit a few in. 8 miles is our sweet spot so that’s the starting point in my search. OS maps are great for planning and are now available digitally. I relied on my Garmin eTrek 20 for tracking along though. My British friend had one of the OS maps on his phone and that was helpful in the Peak District when it was a little confusing where the proper footpath through the field was (I had messed it up previously). For the Peak District I was set as I was quite familiar with the area. We combined two shorter walks into a nice 8 miler around Castleton (Cave Dale and Mam Tor and surrounds). No external link for this one (or at least I didn’t look for one). I was familiar with the Whitby to Robin’s Hood Bay walk so simple searched for that: http://where2walk.co.uk/north_york_m...bay-to-whitby/ For the Yorkshire Moors, I took a shortcut. The website for the national park has a list of “6 classic walks” that I used for a starting point: http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/vis.../classic-walks And ultimately chose these: <u>Helmsley to Rievaulx Abbey</u> (7 miles) http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/vis...rievaulx-abbey <u>Roseberry Topping</u> (8 miles) http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/vis...cooks-monument <u>Falling Foss</u> (2 miles) http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/vis...d-falling-foss The Wainstones walk was next on my list but we ran out of time: http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/vis...ainstones-walk It was a difficult choice! Really enjoyed the Roseberry Topping one but all where worthwhile. Thanks to janisj’s wonderful suggestion, we also walked around St Abbs Head. It was glorious. http://www.nts.org.uk/Property/St-Ab...ature-Reserve/ And finally in Melrose, we were able to walk out of our cottage and straight up Eildon Hills: https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/bord...on-hills.shtml Granted, that’s more walking than most are going to do but it was really a focus for us. Perhaps one of these may so inspire others to try one. |
Went back to check Nicole's college choice and then googled it. It has an impressive reputation and looks as if it will provide a challenging intellectual development as well chances for personal growth. May her time be as happy as my four years of college were and may she make lifelong friends of the sort did.
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Great pictures, I was in St Abbs, Seahouses, Bamburgh, Whitby, and the North York moors the week before you
Did you drive down into St Abbs, now that is definitely interesting if a car is coming the other way. Its been years since I had been there, the last time I was on the Eyemouth lifeboat! I never tire of the spectacular beach views of Bamburgh castle from the South or the North, also from the Bamburgh golf course which has tees that look down onto the castle and across the estuary to Holy Island http://www.bamburghcastlegolfclub.co.uk/ |
Just starting to catch up -- WOW -- that property in Whitby looks aaaaaamazing!
Neat that Nicole could join her 'mates' for the prom. Was that planned or just a happy coincidence? |
@Geordie -- we did not make it into the village of St Abbs. Sounds like it would have been interesting. We had to hustle to Melrose (and Wi-Fi) for college registration!
@janisj -- I was wondering when you were going to chime in! I would like to say we planned the prom but it was really just a fortunate coincidence. We did plan to have that pre-4th weekend there to maximize the opportunities with Nicole's close friends and many were starting to jet off to their graduation holidays in the Med. Thanks again for the St Abbs Head recommendation -- that was a real winner for us. |
Really enjoying this report.
Thanks Indy Dad--We're visiting Whitby this fall because--Dracula! And planning to stay at Robin Hood's Bay. Will try to add St. Abbs reserve if possible while driving from Scotland. |
@dwdvagamundo
as you probably know, there is an upper and lower Robins Hood Bay and it is VERY steep in between. No cars in the lower village. Keep that in mind when booking your lodging. We were quite happy with Whitby (and that was hilly enough!) |
Wow your kids have really grown since the first trip reports you posted. Always fun to read about your family adventures. Thanks for posting.
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@john183 -- they have, haven't they? Thanks for the comment.
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<b>Lodging</b>
Derby: friends’ house – not available! <u>Whitby: 18 St Hilda Terrace</u> http://18sthildasterrace.co.uk/ A very large and posh 5-story house in Whitby. Was more than enough for our two families (of 7) and was a nice splurge. Lots of ups/downs in the house and around town as Whitby is very hilly. my review: https://tinyurl.com/18-St-Hilda <u>Seahouses: Wyndgrove House</u> http://www.wyndgrovehouse.co.uk/ Nice and fit for purpose. Very accommodating (e.g. we ate takeaway in the lounge, had a late breakfast). Family room was nice sized and easier fit our family of 4 w/ teens (at least for one night!). <u>Melrose: Eildon Holiday Cottages (Single Tree Cottage)</u> http://www.eildon.co.uk/ Not too many self-catering options to choose from. This was unique in that these cottages where geared for wheelchair accessibility (no steps, wide doors, lower counters, even hoists upon request). That said, they were more than adequate for us. Spacious, clean, just outside of town and great views. Really like that we could simply walk out the door and up the Eildon Hills. Review: https://tinyurl.com/Eildon |
One final post of links/reviews:
<b>Restaurant Links</b> We ate in quite a bit, particularly at the first two stops. With a large crowd, it’s simply easier to manage. In Whitby we went out the first night and then again with the adults only. After heading north, we did eat out every night though the last two were “dates” with only DW and me. <u>Trenchers (fish and chips) </u> http://www.trenchersrestaurant.co.uk/ I am just not a fish and chips guy so take this with a grain of salt. The main criterion was to fit 7 hungry people in a sit down chippie. The food was fine but nothing special (to me). <u>Star Inn The Harbour, Whitby</u> http://starinntheharbour.co.uk/ Tried to book TA #1 Dittos but they were full two weeks out. Our friends read a review for this new restaurant and we gave it a try. Great location and large restaurant that is certainly going through some growing pains. As we were enjoying our conversation, the longish inter-meal waits weren’t bothersome and the food was very good. review: https://tinyurl.com/star-inn-harbour <u>Elan Pizzeria, Seahouses</u> http://www.elanpizzeria.co.uk/ Great little pizzeria. They were booked up so we simply put in a takeaway order; really enjoyed it. <u>Gala Tandori, Galashiels</u> http://www.galatandoori.co.uk/home.html Looking for something quick and easy and thought we’d have a curry for old time’s sake. We also wanted to stock up our groceries in the bigger town of Galashiels so this fit the bill. We were the only ones in the restaurant as I think they do more takeaway and delivery (though I didn’t hear the phone ring much). Food was good if a touch saucey. <u>Seasons, Gattonside (Melrose) </u> http://seasonsborders.co.uk/ The two Gattonside (near Melrose) restaurants were absolute gems. Small, personally run restaurants using locally sourced food. Perhaps a bit fancy for a family but just what DW and I were looking for on these two date nights (kids got pizza and pasta at home!). Anyone who thinks British food is just meat pies and chippies needs to get out to restaurants like these. Seasons was very quiet and calm. Run by an older couple. Great food. review: https://tinyurl.com/yam87y3c <u>The Hoebridge, Gattonside (Melrose)</u> http://www.thehoebridge.com/ The Hoebridge was much livelier and seemed more popular. Must have more buzz. We enjoyed both. Chef if from the area but trained in New York and bought the place when it became available. His partner, the maître d’, was from Terre Haute, IN originally but also moved to NY. Small world. Excellent! review: https://tinyurl.com/ycm66hyv |
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