Unlike Marbella where having no carbohydrates before your holiday is to try and be beach ready, having none before Scarborough is because you’ll be having a lot of carbohydrates while there!
Scarborough is one of our favourite locations and we have been many times. A lot of people from around the area we live seem to choose Skegness if they want to see the sea, but we would rather travel an extra hour and be somewhere nice.
Every time we have been away this year it has rained at some point, so it was a general surprise that it didn’t happen here. We were actually lucky enough to have wonderful weather. As we walked along the Esplanade towards the Italian Gardens on the day of our anniversary, we could see the sea through the trees and lush green foliage and it was a beautiful Mediterranean blue. It did actually makes us feel we were on holiday in Europe.
I’ll talk more about the hidden Italian Gardens in another post. There’s so much to do and see in Scarborough, so we have to be selective on our short breaks every time we visit. This means that it makes for a different experience every time we go.
So here’s 4 things we managed to do this time round…
1. The Italian Gardens. As I said earlier I’ll go into more detail in another post, but this garden is something that has to be seen, especially on a beautifully sunny day. It isn’t easy to find though, so you have to earn your chance to see this lovely well maintained Mediterranean garden.
2. Walk along Marine Drive. We achieved this feat on our last day. The road was constructed between 1897 to 1908 and stretches an approx 2.5 miles. We didn’t walk the entire stretch. We started from the harbour and turned off once we reached the cafes and shops. The sea was calm and the weather was lovely, which meant a nice walk and beautiful scenery. But Marine Drive is just as fun a walk in bad weather when the sea is rough. As you’ll get to see huge waves crash into the well maintained sea defenses.
3. Peasholm Park. our B&B on Queen’s Parade was close to this unique park. There’s plenty to do, from going on pedalos with dragon heads or a traditional rowing boat in the lake, watching a band perform in the music stand in the water or just having a walk round the park with an ice cream. The impressive pagoda on the island in the centre of the lake can be got to via a bridge, yet whenever we’ve been it has been closed. (sad face)
4. Amusements. We never miss the opportunity to play in the amusements. On this visit quite a few of the machines had coins stuck in them or were not working for other reasons. It used to be more fun to play the 2p machines as well, as the prizes were worth winning, but not anymore. We did have good fun though playing air hockey and a basketball game.
4 things we didn’t manage to do…
1. Crazy Golf. There are several crazy golf courses dotted round the town. When we visited in 2014 we played on the course along the seafront near the Sea Life Sanctuary. If you keep your eyes peeled you’ll find more around the town.
2. The Sea Life Sanctuary. Again this was something we did in 2014, as a birthday treat for me. It’s good fun and educational. We loved the penguins and the seals, the latter were too chilled out to put on much of a show, but they’re fascinating creatures whatever they’re doing. Standard admission is £18, but the best thing to do is to book online and save a whopping £8.50. £9.50 sounds like a much more reasonable price.
3. A boat ride. There are quite a few boat rides to take from the town. This is something we should have done this time round as the good weather would have made it more enjoyable. There’s different types of boat rides too from a late night cruise to a ride on a pirate ship!
4. Scarborough Castle. We have only been to the castle on one occasion back in 2010. I loved the history and we both loved the views it gave of the coastline, town and out to sea. It costs £5.50 to get in for an adult, unless of course you are an English Heritage member, then it’s all free.
We always enjoy the food Scarborough has to offer. we had chips for lunch on one of the days and was able to sit outside in the sunshine as we ate them. Later that same day we had a donut and takeaway tea, which felt more like a cold day thing to do, but nothing puts us off from tea! Same goes for enjoying a hot chocolate at the 1950’s vintage style ice cream parlour, Harbour Bar. If you want a hot chocolate made how it’s supposed to be then this is the place to come. We also enjoyed two great evening meals at the lively Wetherspoons pub, The Lord Rosebery and Ask Italian down at the front, which has great views of the harbour.
Because there’s so much varied things to do in Scarborough it means every time we visit it’s a completely different experience to the time before. So if you want to go to the seaside then Scarborough is the place to visit.
Where The Wildings Are 