Yorkshire Coast Self Catering cottage, The Byre, Whitby, sleeps 6

Lovely staycation near Whitby
Due to the ongoing covid situation we decided to have a staycation in the UK. We're from the North East of England and didn't want too far to travel so luckily found this beauty of a barn conversion ( it was a former cow byre). I say luckily as everything I was looking at was getting booked straight away, so as soon as I saw this was available I decided to book it as we were stuck with our dates due to work commitments. Our group included myself and my hubby, our two grown up sons, one of their girlfriends, their dog and my dad and the room layouts sounded perfect for us. We arrived just before 3pm which was the requested arrival time and I'll never forget seeing the property and its surroundings for the first time, it is truly breathtaking. The barn conversion is joined to the main farmhouse which is where the owners live but due to covid they had already advised that they will be there to offer assistance but would not intrude and that was definitely the case. Other than the owners there are no other buildings close by and the scenery is of farmers fields, woodland, also a nearby castle and then the coast. My favourite time of the day was to sit in the hot tub and watch the dfds ferry hugging the coast on its way to Amsterdam. Sorry I digress, back to our arrival. Before I would let the others empty the cars and bring their belongings in, I had to take some photos to share with you all and I've got to say the Byre is even more stunning than the photos show. My eldest son is a bit like me and can be quite critical but even he agreed that I had done well this time and it is one of the nicest cottages that I had booked. The byre consists of a large open plan living area, (with huge glass windows/doors overlooking the view that I mentioned but along with a lovely patio including hot tub and a large almlst enclosed garden area) a dining area and good sized kitchen. Theres a few steps up to a utility room, a downstairs toilet and then the master bedroom with lovely en-suite. Upstairs there was a small sitting area, the main bathroom, a twin room and a lovely dual aspect double bedroom. Outside there's parking for 5 cars. All of the rooms are of a really good size (apart from maybe the twin room) and the whole cottage is beautifully decorated and furnished. Location wise we thought it was perfect, there were walks direct from the property and loads of lovely places to visit within a 20 minute drive. Due to covid, I had mainly brought all of our food with us and I've got to admit that I struggled to get it all in the underbench fridge. This is one of the reasons I didn't give this property 5 stars as theres a huge utility room and I feel that they have the space to fit a large American style fridge freezer in there. Luckily I'd brought along a cooler bag and box and kept freezing ice packs so we did manage but it would have been so much easier if we had a large fridge. Another negative for me, is that although all of the bedding is a really high quality, the pillows were just too high and the guilt too warm. I know some people may think I'm being over picky here but I honestly struggled to sleep for the whole week we were there. I managed to swap my pillows for a cushion from the living room so that helped my back but we struggled with the quilt. I think the cottage must be so well insulated that it stays extremely warm even without any heating on. For me it didn't spoil our holiday at all but I think these are things that the owner could maybe bear in mind to enhance future guests stay. The other hiccough we had was with the hot tub. This is now a new style one and on first appearance looked lovely. Before we had even got in for the first time, my sons mentioned that the water left a residue. As we have a hot tub of our own I should have asked the owner if she would check the water but everyone was desperate to get in so I just left it. As the days went on, the water got worse and worse so in the end I mentioned it to the owner and she happily came to sort it out. Unfortunately this meant draining the hot tub and as she only has cold water full we weren't able to use it for a day but again this didn't really spoil anything for us but with hindsight I wished I'd said something sooner. A few other things that would maybe help future customers is if the owner could provide plastic plates and cups for eating and drinking outdoors, we had taken some but not enough really. All in all we had a fabulous stay, I will definitely be booking again and wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone else. Oh by the way, I almost forgot that we also got a beautiful welcome hamper on arrival, which was very welcomed. Xx
ilovecruisesme
2020-09-24