Scarborough, United Kingdom

Scarborough, is on the east coast of Yorkshire and was regular childhood holiday destination. It was exciting to visit again recently for a family night away, but this time as a grown up.

The town has avoided the decline that has affected some resorts whose heyday as tourist destinations has long gone, by modernising tourist facilities and diversifying the local economy to avoid over reliance on tourism. In 2009 it won a European Commission award as most enterprising town.

Elegant late Georgian and early Victorian buildings characterise the South Bay. It has coastal paths which give the sense of being somewhere remote, even though you are on the edge of a popular seaside town with a population of 50,000.

The main sea front is close to the South Bay. Its gift shops, amusements and fish and chip shops are characteristic of many British seaside resorts. As it was late October there were no sunbathers, but there was plenty of activity on the beach. Lots of dog walkers as the no dog rule is unenforced, some donkeys, many people strolling and even a sand sculptor.

The main town centre is much like any other with the usual chain stores and restaurants, along with some independently owned shops and eateries. Away from the main town centre the ‘Old Town’ is quaint in places, with plenty of narrow streets, some with cobblestones and lots of nooks and crannies to explore. Depending on where you wander, you will see some places which look a bit run down, but this isn’t on a significant scale. The main point of interest is the ruined castle and its commanding views.

The North Bay has a range of guest houses and is the newest part of the town. Most of the buildings date from the turn of the last century to the 1950s. It is a little away from the main town and while close to the sea, most of the seafront facilities are closer to the South Bay. Peasholm Park is a traditional park with a pleasant lake and oriental themes. There is also a nearby leisure centre with indoor pool.

The character of the town centre changes at night and becomes rowdy in places. The police presence is high and while noticeable the vibrant nightlife didn’t feel threatening.

Scarborough caters for different budgets and tastes. We were lucky to be staying at the Crown Spa in the South Bay. It has an impressive facade, lovely views and is on a very smart street. It has been transformed from a tired and badly run place to a comfortable well managed retreat. The style is fairly conservative and traditional, but it has a relaxing air about it. We liked our large room and the bathroom was okay, but could have been a bit more special for the price we paid. The facilities in general were a key reason for choosing the hotel and in particular the pool and health club facilities. We were well catered for at breakfast and the overall experience was a good one.

Wherever you stay in Scarborough , it has enough to keep most people happy for at least a few days. I think we’ll return.

Macdonald Hotels - not that bad after all

I've been to the Macdonald Hotel in Machester for a meeting today. Previous experience of this company was very negative. They used to run the St Paul's Hotel in Sheffield. In terms of the chaotic service it felt like the chain equivalent to Fawlty Towers. I had a three terrible experiences in a row there. The last time was so bad and the manager so embarrased, the drinks we had ordered and waited for so long were on the house. This particular hotel is now run by the Mercure chain and has improved considerably. It is now a great palce end an evening out in Sheffield (see last post). Given the Sheffield experience I had a sense of dread about today in some respects, but consoled myself that this was just for a work related meeting, not a weekend away.

The meeting room was okay, but the various pillars got in the way of seeing the PowerPoint presentations. Tea and coffee was good and served in quite nice china. The lunch was tasty and the service efficient. The hotel felt of a good standard and does its job, but is a bit uninspiring. The location is ideal for work related meetings, it overlooks Picadilly Staion, so is a short walk from there. It is about ten minutes walk to the Bridgewater Hall and a good fifteen minutes from the Arndale Centre. For a leisure venue I prefer the Midland Hotel and the Raddison Edwardian. The location, next to the Bridgewater Hall is a better place to be if you are in Manchester for a few days and they are more stylish. They are also more expensive.

The Macdonald Hotel in Manchester wouldn't be my first choice of places to stay, but all in all I have a better view of Macdonald Hotels this evening than I had this morning.

Sheffield for a city break - why not?

I was out in my home city of Sheffield last night, but it felt a little like being away somewhere.

As my job isn't based in Sheffield, nights out in the middle of the week in the city centre are infrequent. A midweek night out is most likely to be a neighbourhood restaurant such as the Everest for a reliably good curry, Kitos for a satisfying Italian, or the Noodle Inn for something nourishing and oriental. All too occasionally it may be a meal at my favourite Italian restaurant, Marco at Milano, this is bit more expensive than the other places I have mentioned, but always very good.

Getting back to the point of the post, last night I met up with a friend in the city centre. The main purpose of meeting was to see the Pittmen Painters at the Lycium.

There was a lovely 'holiday' feel about the whole evening. Our pre-theatre meal, which was going to be a main course, ended up being three courses and even included dessert wine. The performance we saw is currently in Sheffield as part of a nationwide tour and due to go back to the National Theatre, so was of a standard you'd expect in London. The house was packed with an enthusiastic and appreciative appreciative audience. The evening ended happily with few glasses in the Champagne Bar at the St Paul's Hotel, where the atmosphere was vibrant.

It struck me the Sheffield would be a good place for city break. It has a good range of places to eat, city centre attractions and gorgeous countryside on the doorstep. It may be soon to lose a hotel (The Grosvener House), but that's because there are now so many better options.

I must do a future post on Sheffield for visitors.

Jervaulx Abbey - a haven for wild flowers or is it just overgrown?

Jervaulx Abbey, is in Yorkshire and was founded in the twelfth century and plundered during the dissolution of the monasteries in the sixteenth century.

It is described by the Jervaulx Abbey website as having “ crumbling walls........ heavily clad in diverse vegetation” http://www.jervaulxabbey.com/home.php . Others would describe it as a ruin which is very overgrown with weeds. The truth is somewhere in between the two.

Although the abbey is ruined, it is possible to get a feel for how splendid it must once have been. On a warm summer evening and with the right sort of light and the sun setting in the right direction, this would be an atmospheric setting to get some great photographs. On a very cold and windy day (the day I was there with two friends), it feels less romantic.

Unless you have a special interest in ruined abbeys, it isn’t worth going out of your way for, but is worth a look if you are passing by.

The Bowes Museum

The Bowes Museum is in the town of Barnard Castle in County Durham. It is the legacy of John Bowes and his wife Josephine Benoite. They wanted to bring art to the masses and this purpose built Museum is thanks to them, so it is said that the building was not completed until after their death. A friend described the style of the building as French Municipal, which sums it up really; it wouldn’t look out of place in a town square in France, so is a little incongruous in a typical English market town.

The artefacts cover European furniture, ceramics and paintings from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. It includes paintings by Caneletto ,Goya and many others and Recoco furniture.

The highlight of Bowes is the Silver Swan. It is a 240 year old clockwork swan covered in silver leaf, which moves as smoothly as if it was alive and eats a fish. You can see it in action at 2:00pm every afternoon and also by clicking on this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/england/realmedia/insideout/northeast/090114_io_north_east_swan?size=16x9&bgc=C0C0C0&nbram=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1

There are also temporary exhibitions. It is good to see that the museum promotes local artists from the present day as well as having fine art from the past. It isn’t all serious fine art and at the moment there is an exhibition called ‘Toys Tales’ which is all about children’s television characters.

The Museum has a rather odd and unenforced photography policy. To take a photograph, you pay extra, but can’t use a flash, they don’t do anything to people who ignore the rule though, so what is the point?

The swan is the fun part of the visit for anyone and there is much else to see that will please you even if you just have a passing interest in fine art.

The Old Lodge, Staindrop, near Barnard Castle

The Old Lodge is a great venue for a holiday in the countryside with friends or family. It is a few miles from the village of Staindrop and reached by a single track road. Being well away from street lights means it is possible get excellent views of the stars on a clear night. The property has four bedrooms on three floors. Most of the rooms are extremely large and well proportioned. The only ‘small’ room is on the top floor and only seems small in comparison to other rooms in the house. In fact it is probably as big as a double room in an average family home.

We found the layout ideal. Everyone can be together while meals are being cooked, but there is enough room for people to find a quite space. On the ground floor there is a large living room with kitchen, eating and sitting areas. It has a huge open grate fire and logs are supplied. The downstairs bedroom and en-suite are a good size. On the first floor there is a huge bedroom and family bathroom with roll-top bath. On the top floor another huge bedroom, a smaller bedroom and shower room. Outside there are outbuildings, a games room, a pleasant sitting area and a stream running through the garden. The Old Lodge is built up on a mound, so the grounds are not very even, which could present problems for people who are unsteady on their feet.

The furnishings and equipment add a homely feel. The crockery, pans, sheets and floor coverings are all high quality. As mentioned in a previous post, there are also nice touches like an ipod docking station and printer.

An added bonus is that the property is over 600 years old, so has lots of character, such as thick walls, leaded windows and some stone floors. It is part of the Raby Castle Estate and has previously served as a look-out tower and hunting lodge. It was restored in 1991 by the 11th Lord Barnard. Rentals can be arranged through various agencies, we used Cottages4You.

A lovely Sunday

We had a late and leisurly breakfast buffet done by me with lots of assistance. The only criticism was that there was no maple syrup for the pancakes.

Afterwards some of us went for a moderate walk into Staindrop follwed by a pint, others stayed at the Old Lodge relaxed.

It hasn't rained on us and was nice and sunny this morning. The good thing about going away at this time of year is that there are no high expectations of good weather. That it has been warm for the time of year and sunny has been a bonus.

Those of us who went for the walk enjoyed a drink in the The Wheatsheaf. Not many people in there, but it seems to be a hub of community activity judging by the trophys and notices about local groups. On the way back the women walked briskly and were home well before the blokes.

We have had a lazy afternoon and evening enjoying a rib of beef and all the trimmings. The chefs for this task excel at roast beef and did us proud. A good end to an enjoyable weekend.

A weekend in the countryside

The Old Lodge

The Bowes Museum

High Force

During the summer a friend had the excellent idea of a group of us hiring somewhere in the countryside for a few days and now here we (seven of us) are. We are staying at The Old Lodge in Staindrop, which is near Barnard Castle in County Durham. The Old Lodge dates from the 14th Century and feels like a rather grand home, not a holiday let. Careful attention has been paid to every detail. Not only do we have wireless Internet access, but nice little touches like a wireless printer and Bose docking station for our ipods. I will do a separate post, soon about our wonderful base for the weekend.

We arrived on Friday and toasted the beginning of our long weekend with some fizz. We ate an excellent fish pie and washed it down with white wine, followed by more wine and conversation. We teased the person who has organised the weekend for suggesting we bring two bottles of wine each and we will continue to do so. It is fair to say that we went over our suggested four glass ration on Friday, but we didn't stay up that late or drink that much, even so I felt decidedly 'fragile' this morning. The breakfast buffet task, which was allocated to me was completed, but took great effort.

Today we split into two groups, the hikers and strollers/ gallery goers. I opted to stroll. We did a short walk to High Force, which is a waterfall on land owned by the Raby Castle estate. We had to pay to park and walk on the trail and were surprised that they didn't extract money for us to have a pee as well. Times must be hard for the aristocracy. We were amused by the many signs on the trail with detailed instructions about what we could and could not do. Basically they were saying if you kill or injure yourself, its your fault.

Later we went to the Bowes Museum (more detail about this in a later post). It is a palatial setting with many fine art works. We loved the clockwork silver swan which moved around so smoothly it looked as though it was computer generated.

We then went into Barnard Castle, an archetypal English market town. We had a lovely traditional lunch at a cafe.

After eating we decided to call into a gallery I had spotted on our way to the Cafe called Mouncey Fine Art. We were delighted with the impressive range range of ceramics and paintings. I purchased a humorous dog by Marie Prett and was tempted to buy a piece by Christine Cummings (another dog). We came back to the Lodge and met up with the hikers. We shared stories of our day and decided on a name for my ceramic dog. He will be called Barnard.

We have had an enjoyable evening in. Delicious Jambalaya, great choice of music, stimulating conversation and good fun.

What future for Blackpool?

Blackpool is a bit like marmite, you either love it or hate it. In my early childhood we went to various coastal resorts in England. I have happy memories of Scarborough and Margate. One year we went to Blackpool. I insisted because I saw it as the iconic seaside resort. I remember the rain, not been allowed on some of the rides at the theme park (too dangerous and they would make me sick) and the Tower.

Times change and in my later childhood we went to Greece or Spain. In recent years Blackpool has become a place to go for a short break, a day out or a conference. I was last there for an afternoon and went on 'The Big One', a roller coaster ride. I was terrified, but determined to finally go on one of those rides that were out of bounds to me as a child. It was good fun. My brother takes his daugthers for short breaks sometimes and they love it.

In some respects Blackpool is great, but in too many respects it isn't. I have felt a great sense of nostalgia when visiting as an adult. There lies the problem because it just hasn't changed with the times. Recently Pontins announced they were closing, because of plummeting numbers.

In recent years the conference trade has provided some revenue, but now even that seems to be going. In any given year the Tories, Labour, the Lib Dems or the TUC provided some trade. Not this year. The conference season has begun with the TUC in Liverpool, the Lib Dems are off to Bournemouth, Labour to Brighton and the Tories are in Manchester.

Northern towns are now the destination of choice for big conferences in the north rather than Blackpool.

The Super Casino idea seemed to offer possible saviour, but that doesn't seem to be on the agenda any more.

The only trade left seems to be stag parties, birthday parties and short breaks.

I have never stayed in really good accomodation in Blackpool and some has been appaling, so it isn't hard to see why it is in decline. It is a shame though, that this once great playground can't keep the best of what it once had and that it hasn't devoloped to meet the needs and aspirations of modern travellers.