Site Review
Site Name: Scarborough West Ayton CMHC
Type of Site: Club Site
Facilities: These are dated, however this site is closing earlier than usual this year, at the end of September, as the facilities are getting refurbished.
Wardens: They seem very friendly and welcoming. The week before we actually came, one of the wardens phoned me up to check which way we would be travelling to the site as there were roadworks on one particular road and we would have been diverted a long way if we had come that way. We thought this was very thoughtful of them and haven’t had any other sites do this in the past.
Children’s Area: The play areas are brilliant. They have a little one which is the perfect size for Archie. The bigger play area they have is amazing, however too big for Archie at the moment, it will be brilliant in a few years time. By the bigger play area is a massive field that the kids can run around on and a games room/area which has a ping pong table and pools tables.
Dog Area: The dog walk is huge, the biggest I’ve seen on any site, and the dogs are free to go off the lead when in the field.
Noise: Even though it is quite a big site, there doesn’t seem to be too much noise, we could hear a road in the distance, when sat outside, but it isn’t noisy. There was a bit of noise on the first night, being a Saturday there were a few weekenders on drinking, and there seemed to be some loud music coming from the village. This didn’t go on too late though and I think we only heard it clearly because we were in the Poptop. Through the week it was really quiet and you didn’t hear anything really.
What we did!
Scarborough North Beach
On the first day we decided to go to the beach. We managed to park on the front, even in the van which was good, as it was right next to the beach. You do have to pay, but we found you had to pay for most parking until the start of October. Archie and Leila absolutely loved the beach and on the North Beach dogs can go on all of it apart from the section just in front of the beach huts.
Staithes and Whitby
I would definitely recommend going to these two places. Staithes is a beautiful little village right on the harbour. You have to park in the car park at the top of the hill as there is limited spaces in the actual village (plus we would have struggled to get the van through the tight roads). We didn’t stay here very long as we wanted to get to Whitby for lunch, however there was a good few places to look at and a few little walks. I would say you could easily stay there for a morning or an afternoon. Archie really enjoyed it as we saw the place where one of the TV programs he watches was filmed.
Whitby is a beautiful place, you could easily spend a full day there, but we only had a couple of hours, so we got Fish and Chips (of course) for lunch and then had a little walk along the tops. There is plenty to do there and we will definitely plan better next time and spend most of the day there. I forgot that everything takes twice as long with a small child.
Sealife Centre, Scarborough
Quite a good sealife centre, I would recommend going here. It costs £19 per adult to get in and under 3’s were free which was good. We spent a good couple of hours in the centre looking at all the fish and animals and then went for some lunch in the cafe which was very reasonably priced. While you are looking round the centre, there is a little quiz you can do and if you get all the answers right you get a wooden medal at the end. We thought this was really good as it makes you read all the information provided and also would keep kids entertained.
Bondville Model Village and Flambrough Head
I must say Bondville is a great model village, again there was a little quiz to do on the way round which really made you look at the models. It was great for Archie as he loved looking at the small houses and people. You could even take your dog round on a lead. The price was £4 per adult, kids were free, however the day we went was buy one get one free, so we ended up paying £4 entry fee. We spent around 2 hours here, looking at all the intricate work and filling in the quiz. We spoke to the gardener there who explained over the winter months what they have to do to keep the village looking top notch. If you are over near Bridlington, I would get this place on your list of places to visit as it’s amazing how much works goes into it.
After here we went to Flambrough Head to park up to have some dinner, some amazing views. Once we had had some dinner, we went for a walk along the cliff tops, again amazing views and a must see place if you are in the area.
Eden Camp Museum
If you are into your history and interested in the World Wars, I would go to the museum! It is the largest war museum I’ve ever been to and with it actually being in the huts that were once a war camp is even better. There is a lot of information here and you could easily spend all day there. Not great for younger kids, (Archie fell asleep) but for older kids and adults there is a lot to see. There is a play area as well for older kids. We spent 4 hours there and managed to see every building, including a pit stop for lunch.
Helmsley and Byland Abbey
On our way home we decided to stop at Helmsley to have a look round the town and we actually stopped here fore lunch in one of the pubs.
Another quick pit stop on the way home was Byland Abbey. We only stopped to take pictures as we were running out of time, but I would have got out and done a little walk round as it’s a beautiful ruin.
Travels In Betty 