Staithes

Staithes sits in a cleft between Cowbar Nab and Penny Nab, two high cliffs, with the beck running out through a stone harbour and the houses packed so tightly that the lanes between them are alleys. James Cook was apprenticed to a grocer here as a teenager in the 1740s before moving to Whitby and going to sea; the shop was later lost to the sea and rebuilt higher up. From the 1880s the village drew a group of artists, the Staithes Group, who painted the fishing life in a manner influenced by French plein-air work; Laura Knight was among them. Cobles, the traditional flat-bottomed North Sea fishing boats with high bows, still work from the harbour in small numbers. The cliffs behind hold alum quarries worked from the seventeenth century.

What you actually see

• The cleft harbour - a village packed between two high cliffs.
• The Cook connection - the shop where he was apprenticed before going to sea.
• The Staithes Group - the artists' colony of the 1880s and 1890s.
• The cobles - traditional high-bowed boats still working the harbour.

When to go

April to October; the annual arts festival in September opens houses as galleries. Storms in winter drive spectacular seas into the harbour, which is a genuine draw for photographers.

Honest expectations

Cars must be left at the clifftop and the walk down is steep, with a hard climb back and no shuttle. The village floods in storm surges and has been evacuated. It is small, with a handful of pubs and cafes and little else.

Nearby

Runswick Bay is south along the coast; Whitby lies further on.