UK's BEST Seaside Towns (Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire)

Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire

I have bittersweet memories of Saltburn. Yes, it’s a charming seaside town, designed by a Victorian philanthropist, on a sandy stretch of coast. Yes, it has a genuine 16th-century smugglers’ tavern, the Ship Inn, which still echoes with the ghosts of the past. And yes, it has a pretty pier, untroubled by tourist tat, where I surfed by moonlight one clear November night, in head-high waves that shimmered as they broke.

But my memories are clouded by the 17-day flat spell I sat through as I attempted to surf every beach in Britain. That’s 17 days staring out to sea from Saltburn’s brief-but-charming promenade; 17 days sitting in various delightful tea houses (until I was ejected for vagrancy). Living in a van, I used the Sitting Room, a cosy cafe by the station, as, well, my sitting room. It does a good line in mismatched 1970s furniture, delicious cakes and interesting cocktails.

Most of the time, Saltburn feels like a proper surf town, where you can fall out of bed, pad through the streets, grab a board at the surf shack and dive straight in to its beginner-friendly waves. Add this to its charm and friendliness, and the great fish and chips at the Seaview Restaurant, and Saltburn could almost claim to be the Biarritz of Britain. 

Stay If you can’t sleep in your van, Brockley Hall Hotel, a neo-gothic mansion overlooking Skelton Beck, is a short walk from the station and has doubles from £95 B&B.

Jonathan Bennett, author of Around the Coast in Eighty Waves

 https://www.theguardian.com