We just got back from a long weekend at the seaside in Filey, North Yorkshire - it was just soooo nice there. Beautiful sunny, warm & simply gorgeous weather on Saturday & Sunday - it made up for today, when it rained, so we just came on home rather than lingering on in the rain.
We both *loved* Filey!!! I mean we've been to Whitby a number of times & I love going there, and Scarborough is also very nice too. Both of those are very touristy, however. Filey is sort of like their much smaller, low key cousin - it was just as relaxing as could be. I want to do a week self-catering there, maybe next year. It's not as much of a 'destination' as Whitby and Scarborough, but those are within easy driving distance of Filey, and it just made up for not being as much of a destination by its chilled out vibe.
The beach is lovely (although you have to mind the tide tables, because a lot of it disappears at high tide!). There's one fabulous (and expensive) restaurant, one great chippy, and one great bakery, plus a variety of small shops. Not a lot of choice in restaurants (it's a small place!) & really we just tried to hit the highlights, but that's why I'd do self-catering for a longer period of time. Also a great environment for families, I'd say - saw lots of families there. It's very quiet at night - no stag dos, etc. Just fabulous!
They had a string of white lights (think Christmas lights) along the beach promenade at night from one lamppost to another. And then a string of coloured lights from lamppost to lamppost up in the park, higher up. Made me think a little bit of Blackpool Illuminations, although I've never been to that.
We also went to
Flamborough Head while we were there. Something new we learned while there: during the American Revolutionary War, an American ship (USS Bonhomme Richard) captained by John Paul Jones had a battle with British ships. (The Americans won.
) I didn't realise that any battles of the American Revolutionary War were fought
over here!
And when we got back to Filey, we drank in a CAMRA pub called the Bonhomme (after the US ship) - they had both big American & Union Jack flags hanging side by side in there. (We also did the pub quiz & came in dead last!
)
Anyway, good times! We were only there a couple of entire days (3 nights), and even DH said - wow! This has been so relaxing - it feels like we've been on holiday a lot longer than just a weekend. (in the best kind of way) It doesn't get much better than that.
(We also were the moving recipient, in our car, of the biggest dump-load of seagull sh*te that I think I have ever seen. It was all over half the windscreen, both windows down the drivers side, the roof, and a bit on the back window too.
I didn't know birds had that much poop in them - how is that even possible?! At first I thought someone had thrown a milkshake at us or something. But as it turned out, it
was lucky - as they say. We were having trouble finding a parking space near our B&B, and then after we went to the carwash - by the time we got back, a space had magically opened up for us.)
