The Stephen Joseph Theatre We are so incredibly lucky to have one of the North’s best (and North Yorkshire’s only) programming theatres right here in Scarborough. Not only do they create some phenomenal new work, they host great touring companies and offer a huge range of youth and community projects throughout the year. They also have a cinema screening new releases, independent films as part of Scarbrough film festival and dementia friendly showings of classics. And that’s before we even mention the brilliant Eat Me Café based in their bar area. There is so much theatre history to be proud of and, with the Stephen Joseph Theatre’s 70th birthday taking place this year, it felt like the right time to celebrate it. Stephen Joseph (1921-1967) studied as a very young man at the Central School for Speech and Drama before the outbreak of the Second World War interrupted everyone’s lives. After serving in the Royal Navy during the war, he attended the University of Cambridge where he was part of the famous Footlights group. In the early part of his career, he formed a new theatre company in 1955 with an express desire to have a theatre space designed for work presented in the round. Although there had been various productions performed in that way in the past (one of which inspired a “bee…buzzing in the back of [my] mind”), it was rare and most theatre spaces were made up of a traditional proscenium stage which made it very difficult to play around with the audiences’ experience. Not able to find an appropriate space in London, a chance encounter brought Joseph to Scarborough and the Central Library’s concert room. The library is still in the same building on Vernon Road now and, indeed, the concert room on the upper floor is still host to drama and music performances on a regular basis as well as being a community space. There are blue plaques on the wall outside commemorating his role in its history. For 21 years, a wide programme of plays was performed in this relatively tiny space with many successes for new and upcoming directors, writers and actors including a certain Alan Ayckbourn. Following Joseph’s sad death in 1967, Ayckbourn took on the role of director of productions and later, in 1972, he was made permanent artistic director. Having outgrown its humble beginnings at the library, the company moved to what was supposed to be a temporary home in the Scarborough Boys High School on Westwood whilst larger premises were sought. This temporary stay, however, stretched on for nearly 20 years! It wasn’t until the late 1980’s when Scarborough’s Odean cinema closed its doors that the chance finally came to take on a bigger venue which was ripe for conversion to the world’s first purpose built theatre in the round! There was a lengthy period of negotiation with the owners of the lease and a huge amount of effort went into both raising funds and planning the works on the building. Ayckbourn was again heavily involved in all of these projects and made sure that all the relevant departments who would be working within the theatre on its eventual completion were considered in its design. This meant that this really was a collaboration between some of the best in the industry to create the most suitable possible space. One of the major design elements was the giant stage lift which is still in use today and serves the main round. The whole stage floor drops down two levels to allow for one set to be slid off into a storage room whilst another is loaded on from the second store/rehearsal room before being lifted back into the auditorium ready for use. This means two shows can run in rep at the same time – one play in the afternoon and a completely different one with a completely different set in the evening. Also installed was an innovative mesh grid hanging above the stage for use by the lighting team. Having been up there, it’s not for the faint-hearted as you can see straight through to the floor far below and feel the wire net moving and bouncing beneath your feet! It does mean the technical team can access the equipment at any time without the need for scaffold towers as is common in most other theatres. The new theatre (including the smaller, end-on McCarthy stage and rehearsal rooms, box office and offices for the permanent staff) opened in 1996 and it’s first performance took place on 23rd April, Shakespeare’s birthday. Never shy of taking on a challenge, the SJT have taken on some very ambitious projects over the years. In 1998, they hosted the 10x10 season – 10 plays by 10 authors performed by a cast of 10 actors were produced all around the building at all times of the day and night. Similarly, 1999’s event theatre from Ayckbourn saw House and Garden run two plays at the same time in both the round and the McCarthy with one cast running between the two stages! Another big success was Damsels in Distress which had three plays performed by one cast of 7 actors all using the same set. Since then, it has only gone from strength to strength, winning awards and remaining firmly at the heart of both Scarborough and the wider theatre community’s lives. During Covid, the SJT received wide praise for putting on a range of work wherever possible and using some ingenious methods to allow the arts to continue to flourish at a very difficult time. It is now undergoing a large-scale refurbishment to ensure that it continues to be fit for purpose for, we hope, at least another 70 years! New heating and cooing systems, a new roof, fresh Neon lights and an improved interior in the McCarthy are all well under way in 2025. That work is not putting any stop to their creative output, however. There are already a large number of shows selling out for the 2025 season and it’s likely that even more will be added. We would thoroughly recommend a visit to see something on either of the stages whilst you’re visiting Scarborough but it’s also a great venue for a coffee, beer or something to eat as well as playing host to an artist-run shop selling gifts and art/craft work from a range of local makers. A warm welcome is always given at this gem of a regional theatre!

Despite the regular trains into Scarborough from York and Hull and the fixed £2 bus tickets on many of the services into our town this year, many of our guests opt to drive themselves to Kenways Bed and Breakfast. This can allow greater freedom to explore the area on your own terms and is never a problem for us as the parking in the area is usually no trouble. Many of Scarborough’s residential and town centre areas are covered by a parking permit scheme know as disc zones. Disc clocks, which we provide for free, work in any of these zones for a limited time. The lamp posts in streets where the restrictions apply have notices on them stating that it is a disc zone and how long you can stay. You simply turn the disc clock dial so that the arrow is pointing to the time at which you have parked and pop it on your dashboard. You then have the stated amount of time from then until you need to return to the car. Outside our B&B, for example, a permit of some kind is needed between 9am and 5pm Monday to Saturday and between 12 noon and 5pm on a Sunday. The disc zone time is 3 hours. If you arrived at 10am and set your disc clock to that time, you can leave the car there until 1pm. If you arrived at 2:30pm and set that time, you would be covered up until 5:30pm which takes you past the restriction time for that day and would actually mean you could park until the new day started at 9am. These disc clocks work in any disc zone, not just around Scarborough but also in Filey, Whitby and even outside the North Yorkshire Council area – we’ve used ours on holiday in Northumberland before. If you are leaving your car outside Kenways Guest House for a longer duration (which many do – there are so many pubs in the area, you don’t always want to drive!), we will provide you with a scratch card (or cards) to display on your dashboard to cover you for the full duration of your stay. These are specific to our local parking area which is detailed on the lamp post notices as 3A. The 3A zone covers not just our street but most of the adjacent streets around out block. Usually, it’s not a problem to find a space on Victoria Park Avenue, especially as the cars towards to bottom of our road tend to come and go regularly as people pop into the convenience store, North Bay fisheries or the cafes. If, however, you can’t get parked as close as that, we will usually point you to either Victoria Park or Woodall Avenue which run parallel to us. The spaces outside the cinema at the top of our road and running alongside the North Riding Brew Pub on Queens Parade are 3A, as is Tennyson Avenue and the bottom part of Trafalgar Road at the other end of Victoria Park Avenue near the One Stop shop. The only “road” you need to avoid is the back alley running directly behind our property which is clearly marked as residents only. If you wish to drive into the centre of Scarborough, you have various options. There are pay and display car parks available and sign posted all around the town centre including the multi-storey at the Brunswick shopping centre, a large car park on North Street behind the Opera House Casino and one opposite the railway station on Valley Bridge Road. The prices are not unreasonable – it’s not like parking in Cornwall! The entire sea road running around the headland from North Bay to South Bay has pay and display bays all along it, as does the stretch of road leading into the Spa complex. The main area along Foreshaw Road (along the front in Scarborough’s South Bay) is actually a stretch of disc zone so you can park there for free for a limited time – if you can find a spot! There are also smaller car parks at the Spa roundabout, on the West Pier and just off Quay Street, behind the Golden Ball pub. The great news for those of you who prefer to travel out of the summer season is that most of the parking bays around the front are completely free to use between November and March and all council parking areas are usually free after 6pm all year round. Finally, if you are travelling further afield, we can thoroughly recommend the Park and Ride services in Whitby. Trying to park near to the town centre or harbour in the summer months can be a bit of a nightmare but the regular bus service running from either the abbey or the north side of town drops you right in the centre of everything and is well sign posted as you come into the town. Filey has a large car park at West Avenue, behind Glen Gardens with its play area, boating lake and mini golf. There is a further car park near the station/Tesco. Disc clock parking is possible along the promenade and in the residential streets near the town centre but is, of course, on a first come, first served basis. Both towns are very well served by regular and reasonably priced buses leaving from Scarborough throughout the day. If you have any questions or concerns about the best way to travel to Kenways Guest House or how to get around once you are here, please do not hesitate to get in touch - 01723 365757.

We’re writing this off the back of a wonderfully busy few weeks in a very sunny Scarborough! Things always seem better when the sun is shining but there really has been so much going on on the Yorkshire Coast that we have truly been spoilt! Most notably for us at Kenways Guest House, the Open Air Theatre started their season with an amazing set of 6 shows from the touring West End production of Mamma Mia. It was fabulous to see the OAT being used for its original purpose again, hosting musical theatre extravaganzas! We’ve not seen a musical there in our five years at Kenways but we really hope the organisers will do something similar in future years as it was a smash hit! We thoroughly enjoyed it but so did the many, many guests we had travelling to the area to see the show and supporting our local economy. Following on from that, Blondie played a packed gig there last night to kick off their more usual format of legends of pop and rock. There are so many great guests lined up this year again with something for every taste. We really do recommend booking up with us as soon as your favourite act is announced as we don’t have a lot of room left for the next few months when these events are on - Rag n Bone Man – 24/6 Sting 25/6 Paul Heaton 1/7 Hollywood Vampires 5/7 The Cult 6/7 Tom Grennan 7/7 Pulp 9/7 Dermot Kennedy 14/7 N-Dubz 20/7 Pete Tong 19/8 Olly Murs 23/8 This weekend (24 th June), Scarborough will once again host a large scale series of events for Armed Forces Day. After hosting the national event in 2022, there will once again be parades, air displays, marching bands, sea displays and numerous stalls selling all sorts of memorabilia, collecting for charity and offering entertainment for all the family. We are so lucky our town gets behind this event every year and puts on a great show. The Spa has a huge selection of shows this year ranging right through tribute acts to comedy stars (including Jimmy Carr) to circus performers and lots for the kids to enjoy (In The Night Garden Live will ring with many parents!). The much celebrated Spa Orchestra will be playing several times a week from 23/7 in the beautiful ocean view sun court (weather permitting). Ocean Colour Scene, Cast and Shawaddywaddy are just some of the bigger names playing there throughout the year in what is a great, more intimate venue for music fans. They have loads going on outside of the busy summer season, too, with both a jazz festival and a Northern Soul weekend, plus Oktoberfest and panto! The Naval Battle at Peasholm Park is a fixture in Scarborough and if you haven’t seen it yet, you really must. It’s the most British, seaside things ever! There will be a special performance as part of the Armed Forces Day celebrations pm 24/6 before the begin their usual shows on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 3/7. There will be brass bands playing on the lake bandstand most Sundays throughout the summer, too. Books By The Beach literary festival (regularly described as the friendliest festival in the North!) took place at the beginning of June and offered a huge range of talks and meet-and-greets with a wide range of authors and personalities from all genres. Scarborough will continue its festival vibe through the summer with Sea Fest and Coastival taking place again. Animated Objects Theatre Company have been amazing hundreds of people over the past few months with various puppetry displays all along the coast, highlighting a number of world issues along the way and undoubtedly have more displays and art installations planned for the future. The Old Parcel Office (behind the railway station) has also had a series of fabulous art exhibitions running all through the winter and spring with a great range of open studios lined up going forward. North Yorks Art School on the Esplanade are running a wide range of courses and one-off workshops in a whole range of artistic mediums from pottery to watercolours, leather work to jewellery making plus regular weekly drop-in classes for those of you who fancy having a go yourself. The Art Gallery and Rotunda museum always have holiday activities on for our younger visitors as well as being fantastic places for a mooch around at any time of the year. They still offer entry for just £3 (children are free) and that gets you a full years pass to both venues – amazing value for money (and a great idea if the sun isn’t shining during your visit). Scarborough Castle, the SeaLife centre and North Bay Railway are all still going strong (as they have been for decades or, in the case of the Castle, centuries!) South Bay has all attractions open from Luna Park’s rides to the amusements, donkey rides to trampoline bungees, the Scarborough Eye to mini golf plus all the usual venues selling some of the best ice cream, fish and chips and fudge in the country if not the world! It’s not just about the summer months though and there will be a wide range of events through autumn and into winter. The Tipi Venue will run their Oktoberfest again on the OAT site and we are very much looking forward to another year of the Scarborough Sparkle Christmas Market there, too. Last year, the pop-up ice rink in the town centre proved a big success and we hope that will be emulated again for 2023. The Stephen Joseph Theatre provides absolutely world class, award winning theatre all year round with such a broad range of productions and an excellent restaurant on site, perfect for pre-theatre dining. We will be doing another blog soon about our favourite local eateries but Eat Me Café will definitely be in the list. The YMCA theatre, just a 10 minute walk from us, and the Market Tavern both have a great line up of musical performances, talks and their summer show, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. We have had a large number of walkers staying with us over the spring months, mostly walking all or part of the Cleveland Way which runs from Helmsley to Filey. The coastal path down to Bridlington via Flamborough Head and the RSPB reserve at Bempton Cliffs has had substantial work done to it, as has the old Cinder Track running from Scarborough up to Whitby. There are so many walks and cycle routes in the area starting from Kenways bed & breakfast front door that there really is no excuse not to be active! We can store some bikes in our shed or you can hire everything you need from Bayhire who are a great local, independent business. We mustn’t forget the watersports on our doorstep – Dexters Surf on North Bay have really expanded their offering in recent years and have a great range of surf lessons, paddleboard and kayak hire as well as water safety courses for youngsters and a fab shop. Whatever you’re into, we are so proud that Scarborough has something for you. We’re in a great position at Kenways to access all of the town’s venues and are always happy to give advice, directions or be enthusiastic about your plans!

Reviews. They are without doubt the most powerful marketing tool small businesses have and should generate free publicity and online interactions leading to more business and more happy customers finding us. We love receiving them and we are extremely grateful to all our guests who have taken the time to leave us feedback. However… Some reviews are a lot more useful to the business you’re trying to support than others and some can be downright misleading. Take our recent award from TripAdvisor, probably the best-known review site in the UK. We were thrilled to receive an email telling us that for the third year in a row we had won a Traveller’s Choice Award based on our excellent reviews on their site that “places us in the Top 10% of hotels in the world”. Then we had a look at our listing on TripAdvisor – as we usually ask guests to leave us reviews via Google, we actually only received 5 TripAdvisor reviews in the last 12 months! They were lovely, 5* reviews and thank you to those who left them but does that really mean we are in the top 10% of hotels in the world?! Statistics can prove almost anything, I suppose, but that seems a little misleading, especially since we have seen so, so many of our friends and peers in the hospitality game posting the same award on their websites and social media pages. We suddenly didn’t feel quite so special! Did you know that TripAdvisor act as a booking agent – for a fee, of course. It is in their interest to engage small businesses and encourage their interaction with these types of award as they can then sell their other services on the basis that we are all “partners” working together in the tourism sector. We don’t have to pay for their “free” advertising BUT if we wanted to be at the top of their listing or wanted to be promoted more widely, we could “just” pay extra or sign up to a 15-20% commission for every booking made via their website. Hmmm. That kind of implies that those of us not paying for this service are probably not getting their full support and aren’t being shown to prospective guests in same way that a business who pays more does – regardless of whether they actually have reviews as good as ours. Did you also know that we as the business don’t own the reviews posted on third party sites such as TripAdvisor or Booking.com? If they decide they only want to show certain of our reviews to the public for any reason, they can remove whichever they see fit. If they go out of business, our reviews would disappear. If we were to receive a false or unfair review, they make it very difficult to have it removed, even if it could effectively amount to libel. We often have to pay to link their site and our reviews to our own website to be able to display them. We have no control over our reviews. So how can you help? Google Reviews are ours, all ours! They provide genuinely free, secure feedback for the business in question and every review helps to improve the company’s ranking on the search engine meaning it genuinely does act as powerful advertising. Social media, if used regularly by the business, is also a great way to spread the word about a place or a service that you have enjoyed. Not only can you leave reviews or recommendations, you can also follow the business’ pages and like and share their posts for free in a matter of seconds. We’re not saying that you should stop using any of the third-party review sites out there. They can definitely give you a feel for a venue or a product and can be great research tools. And we’re definitely not saying that you shouldn’t leave reviews, for us or anyone else! Just please keep in mind that you can’t always trust everything you read and that some of these big, international companies don’t actually have the best interests of small, independents at heart. Here's a link to our Google review page – just in case…! https://g.page/r/CWuLy2IlDFN4EAg/review

Hairy Bob’s Cave – a Scarborough mystery We posted some photos to our social media pages a few days ago of Hairy Bob’s Cave and asked who had visited it whilst in Scarborough, who had heard any of the myths about the cave and whether anyone knew anything concrete about it (no pun intended!). We thought we’d better follow that up with some information. Hairy Bob’s Cave is located about half way around Royal Albert Drive, just behind the skate park (now named after the cave) and in the hillside beneath the castle headland. It’s a huge boulder which has been hollowed out to provide enough room to sit or lie down and has what appears to be a door and two windows carved into the front, looking out over North Bay. They are various rumours about its origins. Some claim it was carved by ancient man and was some sort of habitation in times long past – this is very unlikely. Whilst the castle headland has been occupied for thousands of years and habitation on the top of the cliff dates back to the Bronze Age, our wonderful local Museum Trust have found absolutely no evidence of this cave being present. The carving of the door and windows is basic but indicates something more that neolithic tools were used. Another myth is that it was created and occupied by a hermit in the early part of the 20 th Century. Again, this seems like it is probably just a romantic story. Not only would it be incredibly small and uncomfortable (even by hermit standards!), there is, again, no documented evidence to support this. Some go further with this account and have stated that the cave was chiselled out by a local school boy (whether or not he was called Bob is unclear!) or, bizarrely, by one of the vergers of St Mary’s Parish Church!? Could it be an entirely natural rock formation? Maybe. There are so many unusual cliffs and rocks along the coastline of the UK (see the Drinking Dinosaur at Flamborough Head) that we can’t entirely rule it out but the size and shape of the openings are so precise that is does seem to be manmade. There has not been flowing water on the cliff face in recent history and it’s unlikely that years of rainfall would hollow out the boulder so completely. The most popular tales bring the mysterious ‘Hairy Bob’ into the mix. It is certain that there was indeed a family Bobb in Scarborough during this time and, that one of the family was known as Hairy Bob. Local accounts describe Hairy Bob as a dishevelled door-to-door salesman of ‘Yellowstone’ – sandstone harvested from the castle cliffs for use in the cleaning of doorsteps. Perhaps Hairy Bob built the cave as a shelter from the elements during his sandstone gathering shifts, though popular legend has it that Hairy Bob was a somewhat hen-pecked, mild-mannered fellow for whom the cave provided a den of solace away from the sharp tongue of his spouse. The most likely tale suggests the cave is simply a makeshift bivouac against the often stormy North Sea waves, chiselled out by a shrewd worker employed in the construction of Royal Albert Drive which runs along the seafront. During storms and heavy weather, the crashing waves would no doubt have halted work on the road and the cave would have offered welcome refuge against the wind, waves and rain for the worker during such downtime. The road was formally completed in 1890. One thing is known – the cave was definitely there in or around 1919 and appears not to have been much changed since then. The below shows what is thought to be the earliest photo of the cave, just behind a military tank which was presented to Scarborough Town in 1919 after the end of WWI. Whether there is anything buried beneath the cave has never been discovered – could it be the secret entrance to much more below the surface?  Whatever the true origins (and it seems that if we don’t know now, we never will), it’s a quirky little addition to a stroll around the headland and a spark for the imagination of thousands of Scarborough visitors and locals alike. https://www.thescarboroughnews.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/heritage/earliest-known-image-of-scarboroughs-mysterious-hairy-bobs-cave-discovered-2848853

With a week to go until we reopen for 2022 it is time to sit and consider all that we’ve achieved here at Kenways Guest House through these quiet winter months. It was around November that the pair of us sat down at The Piebald Inn in Hunmanby for an incredible serving of game pie for me and Christmas pie for Suzie with the grand intentions of plotting our business plan for the next twelve months. As is often the case with these meetings we ended up with a quick discussion about business matters and then set about compiling a long list of the maintenance jobs that required completing before we could open again. Many of these being so petty that no one would ever notice we’ve done them (although, you might have noticed if we hadn’t and that’s what matters to us). When we decided to move to Scarborough and take on this new path for our lives, we vowed to always keep an eye on the detail and ensure that the service we were providing was the best value we could possibly make it. I like to believe that after three and a half years we are still maintaining this philosophy – you’ll have to come and visit to check! Some of the bigger jobs from that list are a bit more obvious. Our breakfast room has had a complete overhaul. A major (but boring) job in here was replacing the fire escape with a new, fit for purpose steel door. Once we finally got the old one out this was a rather straightforward task, and we are much happier with the security and peace of mind this new door provides. We then, unsurprisingly discovered that the walls needed replastering - as is often the case when removing wallpaper in these old buildings. I have been wanting to have a go at plastering for a long time now and with the help of a very handy friend I got the opportunity to give it a go this year. I can’t take credit for the skimming though! I’m very much an undercoat kind of guy. We then repainted and papered with a fantastic pattern that Suzie found in the wonderful Brushstrokes decorating shop on Falsgrave Road. Some delightfully colourful placemats and cushions later and our new look dining room is ready to go for our 2022 guests. I then moved into our family room and the ensuite with the bath. We have already decorated this room once but after three years felt it was in need of another renovation. The trusty SDS drill came out, tiles were removed, the ceiling was stripped, walls were sanded and new, sleek panels were fitted. I am incredibly happy with the finished result and hope that it will last for a couple of years longer than last time. Room 6 (top floor double) came next with more tiles removed, a new shower tray fitted, new panels fitted and a jolly good clean. Having now renovated five of these shower enclosures this one actually seemed fairly straightforward and certainly gives a more modern, elegant finish to the ensuite. Perhaps the most pleasing of our winter renovations was the hall, stairs and landing. We have had a lovely new carpet fitted by the wonderful BEST Carpets of Scarborough and the tired brown wallpaper has been replaced with a more modern looking grey. Our first guests remarked instantly on the difference it makes to those all-important first impressions which obviously brought a big smile to our faces. A job well done! All of the tools are now back in their boxes tidied away in the shed and we are ready to begin welcoming guests for 2022. The sun is out in Scarborough as I type this and things are looking promising for a fabulous summer of holidaying on the North Yorkshire coast. We hope that you can make it to see us and try and spot some of the improvements we’ve made to Kenways this winter. Give us a call on 01723 365757 to book yourself in.

Holidays. They are so important to us for relaxation, respite from the real world and a change of scenery and this year we are all craving at least one of those things more than ever. But with so much uncertainty in the news about whether holidays abroad will be allowed or safe, lots of us are re-thinking how that trip might look this year. Certainly, if we take the chance on booking a flight to sunnier climes in these coming summer months, we risk cancellation at the last minute, lost deposits and quarantine on arrival or return to the UK depending on the ever-changing rules and guidelines. When we get there, different countries have widely differing views on how the pandemic is managed – will you be able to have the holiday you imagine? Will you be safe if the guidance is substantially different to what we have become used to? What health care cover do you have if you were taken ill and just how expensive will that insurance be this year?! Lots of us have already made the decision that these risks are just not worth it in the immediate future and are looking instead to travel within the UK. Many already do so every year and are quick to point out that this country has a huge variety of fabulous holiday destinations for every taste and budget. We agree and believe that many of those who choose to take their break on home shores for the first time in 2021 will be blown away by just how lucky we are to have so much on our doorstep. Obviously, we are biased towards Scarborough and the North East coast in particular but we have enjoyed trips all over the British Isles in the past and can thoroughly recommend The Lakes and The Peak District for wonderful scenery and outdoors experiences, Cornwall for its quaint coastline and cities like York, London and Edinburgh for packed city breaks. If you do travel to Scarborough this summer, what can you expect? Firstly, the area is packed with outdoor activities. It has been shown that the risk of infection is much reduced outdoors and social distancing is often much easier so this has to be appealing before we even consider the health benefits of being in the fresh sea air and moving our poor bodies that have been cooped up inside for so much of the last 12 months. Whether it’s walking, cycling, surfing, paddle boarding or high-wire obstacle courses that float your boat, there is plenty to chose from with expert guidance on hand. These activities can be done solo, as part of a family group or with carefully managed, socially distanced small groups of friends and all the local businesses are working with the official guidance to ensure that safety comes first but fun remains at the core of their offerings. And let’s face it, just sitting on the beach with an ice cream is pretty good, too! If eating, drinking and the famous amusement arcades are more your cup of tea, last summer showed that Scarborough businesses have reacted quickly and transformed themselves to be safe environments to enjoy whilst being inside, particularly if it rains (which occasionally happens in the UK…). Limiting numbers of customers and adhering to simple but effective cleaning policies means that our restaurants, theatres and the world class SeaLife centre, amongst others, are all confident that you can continue to make the most of their buildings. All businesses will have created full risk assessments and will be happy to discuss what they are doing to keep you safe and comfortable before you book anything so feel free to ask questions if there is anything you are unsure about. For more information about the full range of activities available within a short distance of Kenways, have a look at some of our other blogs or many of our social media posts – we do love to sing the praises of the local area and support other small, local businesses. Turning to ourselves at Kenways and many of the other local small guest houses, we have also thought carefully about how we can keep our family and yours safe whilst still giving the warm welcome that you expect. Please be assured that we have digested the lengthy guidance received from the government at various stages of the pandemic and have all taken steps to mitigate any risk to those coming through our doors. Risk assessments are in place and work alongside our 5* food hygiene rating and excellent fire and H&S records. Full details of our Covid-safe changes can be found on our website and we send a link to them in our booking confirmation emails. We’re also happy to discuss any individual worries or questions our guests might have as we all get used to getting back to “normal” again. Some changes include a staggered breakfast time to keep no more than four spaced-out tables occupied in our breakfast room. We try to be as flexible as we can with these times and already serve breakfast over a generous one-and-a-half hour time slot so no one has been too put out so far. We also ask people to remain seated at their table and let us bring everything to them – make the most of being on holiday and being waited on! We have stopped out daily room checks so that, once you open the door to your bedroom, no one else will be coming in and out. However, don’t panic. We have a simple system of ordering anything you might need on a form at breakfast so you won’t run out of tea bags or toilet paper! If there is anything urgent, you’re given both a contact mobile number for us and can always ring the internal doorbell as we’re usually in the house at busy times. You won’t feel neglected in the slightest. Extra cleaning between each room being occupied is conducted using only approved anti-bacterial and anti-viral products. All the rooms are thoroughly aired between stays and anything that may have been touched but cannot be disinfected such as hospitality tray items are replaced for every new guest. The touch points in our communal entrance hall and stairways are wiped several times per day and keys are disinfected before being placed in room doors for new arrivals. If anyone is still uncertain about how protected they will be with us, we can arrange for a room-only stay and self-check-in and -out so you can further limit your contact with others. The most important thing – even if we are wearing a face mask and standing two metres away from you, we will still be smiling! We still want to hear all about your lovely days out! We still have plenty of tips for things to do!  We still want you to have the best experience of Kenways, of Scarborough and of holidaying in the UK!

So many of our guests have been coming to Scarborough for years and know the town and its attractions well. However, some lucky people are experiencing it for the first time and we thought we’d highlight some of the major venues that we think are worth a visit whilst you are staying with us, particularly as they re-open in 2021. If it is a traditional seaside atmosphere you are looking for, South Bay is the place to head. The open-top bus runs along the coast road from North Bay regularly throughout the summer season or it is a 20-25 minute stroll around the headland where you will often be lucky enough to spot our harbour porpoises, seals and bottlenose dolphins as you pass. You can also cut through the town centre for a more direct route which can take in the beautiful St Nicholas Gardens. Once there, Olympia is our favourite of the arcades with three floors of penny-pushers and games as well as a 10-pin bowling alley, mini go kart track and a bar. At the bottom of the Gardens on the site of the old Futurist theatre, we have our big wheel and a new (summer 2020) pirate crazy golf (although this is a little more pricey than some of the other mini-golf courses on North Bay). Wandering along the South Bay provides a huge choice of ice cream, doughnut and sea food outlets nearly all of which are taking advantage of being able to open as takeaways whilst we remain in lockdown but are planning to re-open is accordance with the new guidelines in spring 2021. Just past the picturesque harbour, where you can head out to sea for a short cruise on a pirate ship or longer fishing expeditions, is Luna Park fun fair offering rides for all ages. Sitting astride the headland between North and South Bays is Scarborough castle, an English Heritage site offering both history galore and fabulous views of both bays and beyond. The site will be open from 29 th March 2021, although the shop is closed and the café takeaway only until later in the season and tickets, which include an audio tour, range from £5-9 (free to English Heritage members and the under 5’s). If history and heritage are your thing (or you want to be inside), the Rotunda museum is a fabulous environment for old and young alike. An extensive refurb took place in 2020 and the team are looking forward to re-opening in summer 2021 after a successful if short opening last year in a very Covid-secure way. At just £3 for an adult annual pass which also includes access to the beautiful Art Gallery located nearby on The Crescent, it really is a bargain. The Art Gallery regularly hosts temporary exhibitions as well as housing a wide-ranging permanent collection. A favourite gallery of ours is the one dedicated to images of Scarborough. There is also the Maritime Heritage Museum on Eastborough which is run by a very knowledgeable and dedicated team of volunteers. Usually open Wednesday-Sunday 10-4, we hope they will be able to resume this summer. Being on the coast, water-sports are widely available for those who want to be a little more active. Dexters Surf Shop on North Bay has very recently been taken over by new owners who are keen to encourage people of all ages to have a go at surfing, body boarding, kayaking and paddle boarding. The complete kit can be hired from them and they also offer lessons and group sessions. If the North Sea doesn’t appeal, North Yorkshire Water Park at Wykeham Lake, roughly 10 minutes outside Scarborough by car, offer kayak and canoe hire, paddleboard sessions and have an inflatable water obstacle course which is a lot of fun. They are also in the process of installing a new wake boarding course which it is hoped will be open in 2021. Fishing is also available and there is a lovely track skirting around the lake for walkers or cyclists if not everyone in your group wants to get wet. Alpamare waterpark overlooks North Bay and is a 10-15 minute walk from Kenways. They provide two outdoor (heated) pools, an indoor wave-pool and splash zone for the smaller children as well as four excellent water flumes. An onsite bar and café are reasonable and there is also an attached spa with beautiful new facilities and treatments available at an extra cost. It isn’t a cheap day out with tickets starting at £20 per person for four hours access but it is a fun, safe and clean environment that works whatever the weather as the outdoor pools really are hot! At the time of writing, we’re waiting for them to confirm an opening date for 2021 but we’ve no doubt they will want to get going as soon as they are able to. We are spoilt for choice when it comes to culture and entertainment. The Stephen Joseph Theatre was one of the first to get shows back onto its stages in 2020 and showcased how to provide top-class theatre safely. They are due to re-open both their live performances and cinema screen in May 2021 and are busy putting together a full programme for the year. The Spa is also coming back to life throughout the spring by re-opening their restaurant, scheduling the return of the incredibly popular Spa Orchestra who will be performing in the Sun Court from July 2021 and re-starting their programme of acts from later this year. For big name musical entertainment, The Open Air Theatre which is just a few minutes walk from Kenways has a huge range of performers lined up from early July. If you fancy something a little more low key or just want an evening filled, the Hollywood Plaza cinema at the top of our road is a fabulous little art deco gem showing all the big new releases and a selection of concert screenings. Staying within just a few minutes walk of our front door, we are so lucky to have Peasholm Park at the end of the road. A lovely place for a walk or to feed the ducks and squirrels, the café and ice cream cabin are due to re-open in April 2021. The famous dragon pedalos with also be back and we are waiting for confirmation that the thrice weekly Naval Battles will return throughout July and August this year – if you haven’t seen these, you really can’t get anything more British! Usually, our summers ring to the sound of brass bands performing from the band stand in the middle of the lake every Sunday afternoon but we wait to see if social distancing allows for these to go ahead in 2021 – if they do, some of the best entertainment is to get there early and watch the bands and all their instruments being ferried across to the band stand by boat! At the lower side of the Park at the entrance to the Open Air Theatre, you’ll find North Bay Railway. Recently under new ownership but having been established for many, many years the selection of miniature trains (steam and diesel) run back and forth between the Park and the SeaLife Centre. Also located at NBR is one of the countries oldest water chutes, a SkyTrail highwire obstacle course and water Zorbing plus the Boatman’s Tavern which bills itself as “probably” the smallest pub in Yorkshire! We’ve mentioned the SeaLife centre which can be reached by train or is a 15-20 minute walk along the beach, following the multi-coloured beach huts (also for hire by the day). If aquatic life is your thing, you can’t miss this. The staff are so knowledgeable and demonstrate a real care for their animals. There are regular talks throughout the day and, in non-pandemic times, the chance to get hands on with some of the attractions. The Centre also acts as a seal hospital for local seals needing some support or medical treatment before being released back into the wild which make the entrance price worth its weight in good will. Some of our other blogs deal with attractions outside Scarborough town itself but all of the above are easily reached on foot from Kenways. We will put out some more information soon about our favourite places to eat during your stay.

We’ve all done it. You get excited and book up a holiday somewhere new with grand intentions of exploring the whole area and then just end up in the local pub, café and restaurant for three days in a row. There’s nothing wrong with this, sometimes it’s exactly what is required to recharge your batteries and get that break from the routine you deserve but every now and then it’s wonderful to really delve into a new part of the country and get your teeth into everything it has to offer. This is where we can help. As a family with a young girl and an energetic dog we love to get out of the guest house and discover the hidden gems around Scarborough. Here’s a selection of some of our highlights to inspire you for your next visit to the coast. A short five-minute westerly drive past the hospital will bring you to Raincliffe Woods. This ancient woodland is set on a steep hillside and makes for a fabulous adventure walk followed by coffee and cake at the Everley Country House Cafe. The gradient of the woods makes them ideal for young kids and dogs as they love to dive up and down, behind rocks and trees and get muddy whilst benefitting from the fresh air. If mobility is an issue then the Forge Valley boarded pathway just round the corner would be a suitable substitution, it’s a winding path along the base of the valley and makes for a very pleasant walk indeed. Once you have finished your coffee your journey can be continued by popping out of the woods and into East and West Ayton. These neighbouring villages are home to a hidden castle for you to discover, a superb village cricket pitch and one of the best fish & chips restaurants in the region - Walkers. This is a proper old school fish restaurant and if you love your seafood but are not a fan of sitting by the harbour this place is a must try. It does get very busy early evening so booking is highly recommended. Heading northwards from Scarborough and hugging the coastal road through Cloughton will take you past a true hidden gem. On the right you will spot a sign for the Hayburn Wyke Country Inn which in itself is a great place to sit by the fire and enjoy a pint or tuck into one of their super carvery Sunday lunches but is also next door to a car park (big field!) where you can ditch your car and head out exploring on foot. Follow the signs downhill and through the woods and after a bridge or two, watch out for trolls, the cliff opens up to reveal a wonderful stony cove with a waterfall appearing out of the trees. The huge rocks make for an ideal base to set up a picnic and the tranquillity of this place can’t be spoilt, even if you take your whole family and let them run around searching for sea life hidden amongst the rock pools. The walk back up the hill is hard work but the views when the trees open up make it worthwhile and the knowledge of that fabulous pub next to the car park keep you going. Continuing north along this road will next bring you to Ravenscar. This crazy little town was once sold off for development and was all set to become a huge seaside resort. That is until they investors realised the beach is almost inaccessible and the plans were fantastical and unachievable! Nowadays there isn’t much there but the remains of the alum mine and the foundations of the town plan make for an interesting story for historians and those with a sense of imagination. If you get the time of year right, there is a beautiful view down the cliffside to the rocks below where the seal colonies can be spotted relaxing in the sun. The next stop on this coastal road to the north is a little spot called Boggle Hole. Well known amongst ecologists (and A-level biology students) the beach here is full of interesting seaweed samples and limpets. The ‘Hole’ itself is a small cave at the base of the cliff and not too interesting to be honest but the view of Robin Hood’s Bay, the sweeping sands and the marvellous rock pools more than make up for the disappointment!