Whitby is the top place on the coast

11:00am Saturday 3rd May 2008

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WE Brits have a love/hate affair with our seaside resorts, cramming the beaches during the odd summer day and leaving when the sun goes in.

But as those brave enough will testify, there is nothing like a brisk, bracing walk along a British cliff-side.

My sisters and I visited our grandparents in Bridlington as children. Chilling walks along the sea front, fish and chips eaten on the harbour wall, fair rides and ice cream in the depths of winter are a much-missed part of our childhood.

So when Whitby was voted the UK'S best day out in the Enjoy England awards.

It only took an hour-and-a-quarter to reach Whitby from York on Tuesday, although travelling mid-week probably made for a quicker drive. It also meant we parked easily, near the tourist information centre, which was handy for researching our day.

When we arrived, the sun was shining, the air was spiked with salt and vinegar and the ruins of Whitby Abbey were swathed in blue sky.

The town is split in two by the River Esk and the cobbled streets, alleyways, artist shops, cafés, inns and famous 199 steps can be found on the East Cliff, while most of the hotels and guest houses, a paddling pool, boating lake, crazy golf and a wide expanse of golden beach are on the West Cliff.

We decided to take a tour to get our bearings, favouring a boat over a yellow open-top bus, a tram or a train.

Among the various touts by the harbour, we found Barry Snedden, skipper of the town's former lifeboat, which ferries tourists around 30-minute tours of the bay.

Barry was a lifeboat man himself until diabetes forced him to stop. Now he makes a living from tourism.

The lifeboat was built in 1938, decommissioned in 1974 and saved 201 lives, he says, welcoming us onboard.

"Whitby has moved forward with the times but without becoming too commercial," he says, steering out of the harbour.

"It still has the traditional chip shops and historic sights, but there is much more to do now. You can always build sandcastles with the kids and go fishing, but there are lots of museums and good things to do if you want to try something different."

It was beautiful and sunny but with a cold, bracing wind - just how a trip on the North Sea should be. Through hair whipped around our faces, we saw Whitby Abbey sparkling in the sunlight, lighthouses, the whale bone arch, long stretches of golden sands and lines of bright red, blue, green and yellow beach houses.

Back on dry land, the smell of fish and chips was too much to bear and we followed our noses along the pier, lined with ice cream kiosks and stalls selling cockles and muscles, burgers, hot dogs and doughnuts. We resisted the temptation to take advantage of the shorter queues outside the award-winning Magpie, and walked further along to the Harbour Fish Bar, where prices were cheaper.

Fish and chips taste far better eaten outside, sat on the harbour wall, alongside squawking, greedy seagulls. It's also a great opportunity to people-watch, and spot the Goths in their dramatic outfits.

Three-year-olds and twenty-something's alike love a go in the arcades, and Pleasureland was worthy of 20 minutes of our time.

If traditional children's rides and grab machines aren't your thing, you could choose ten-pin bowling or adventure golf instead.

My sisters, Heather and Elspeth, set their sights on having their palms read in fortune teller Lee Ester Alita Lee's white painted hut, while my niece, Sophie, and I bought a bucket and spade.

No trip to the seaside is complete without playing on the beach and although the best sand is found at West Cliff, by the beach huts, little legs appreciated a smaller beach at the other side of the harbour.

It was closer and handy for the shops along Sandgate and Market Place.

On our way back, we stopped at the Miniature Museum, which is on the ground floor of a shop in Sandgate. Sophie loved the beautiful, intricate sets of Victorian street scenes, a Christmas market, a greenhouse and a hippy's bedsit, and so did we.

Unfortunately, we didn't attempt to climb the 199 steps to the parish church of St Mary, because Sophie was too tired, and we also missed out on Dracula Experience, the Museum of Victorian Whitby and the Captain Cook Memorial Museum, which were all close by.

Instead, we bought vanilla, cookies and cream and raspberry cheesecake ice creams from the Beacon Farm ice cream stall on the pier, and wandered back to the car.

We had had a great day, and were impressed by how reasonably priced attractions in Whitby seemed to be; Sophie's admission fees were waived more than once. There is also a lot to do indoors, should the weather turn nasty.

So, did Enjoy England get it right? Well, go and see for yourselves - we will definitely be back.

Whitby attractions...

Life in Miniature, Sandgate, 01947 601478. £2/£1

Whitby Museum, Pannett Park, 01947 602908 or www.whitbymuseum.org.uk

Captain Cook Memorial Museum, Grape Lane, 01947 601900 or www.cookmusuemwhitby.co.uk Tickets £4/3

Whitby Abbey, 01947 603568, www.english-heritage.org.uk £5/2.50

Dracula Experience, Marine Parade, 01947 601923

Whitby Lifeboat Museum, Pier Road, 01947 602001, free admission

Esk Valley Railway, 0870 602 3322, www.eskvalleyrailway.co.uk or NYMR on 01751 472508, www.nymr.co.uk

The Whitby Wizard, 01947 810470, www.whitbywizard.com, tickets £2.50/2 Doodlepots, 5b Skinner Street, 01947 825824 The Grand Turk Tall Ship, Endeavour Wharf, Langborne Road, 01947 825268. £5/£2.50

Jumping Jimmies, West Cliff - play area with small go-karts and trampolines, 01947 820003

Other ideas...

Shop for jet. Jet has been used since the Bronze Age to make beads and other jewellery and the mineral was favoured as mourning jewellery by Queen Victoria. Most of the shops can be found around Sandgate

Visit the beach. Choose from Whitby beach, Runswick Bay, Kettleness, Sandsend Ness, Sandsend beach, Upgang Beach, Saltwick Bay beach Fishing www.whitby-sea-fishing.co.uk for information on chartering a boat

Hunt for fossils: www.whitbyfossils.co.uk has advice

Dive: www.eskside1.freeserve.co.uk for details