heres another of my favorite haunts Whitby, been their alot of times, the beach is fantastic you can walk all the way to sandsend! and their are loads of little places drivable from Whitby robins hoods bay also.
the 199 steps to the abbey,
robin Jarvis also has wrote a few fictional story's about this place, a bit like harry potter but i found them more interesting.
happy times.
also Bram Stoker had the inspiration so its told for Dracula, he stayed at the crescent, which our now flats which over look the abbey the royal hotel is on the courner of the cresent,
"But, strangest of all, the very instant the shore was touched, an immense dog sprang up on deck from below ... and running forward, jumped from the bow on to the sand. Making straight for the steep cliff, where the churchyard hangs over the laneway to the East Pier ... it disappeared in the darkness."
from Dracula by Bram Stoker, 1897
Looking across the harbor toward East Cliff, you can see the view that inspired the fertile imagination of author Bram Stoker, who stayed in the Royal Hotel on the western side of Whitby while writing his famous novel.
The above extract is from a critical point in the book's story-line, where the Russian schooner Demeter raced across the harbor before the blast of a massive storm, with its dead captain lashed to the helm, and crashed into the pier just under Whitby's East Cliff, whereupon the immense dog leapt onto English soil.
The dog was known to be one of the many forms into which a vampire could transform itself. Count Dracula had arrived in England.
Whitby is an ancient seaport and fishing village on the north-east coast of England and has been a haven for holiday-makers since Victorian times and has played a significant role in English history. Its harbor, once the sixth largest port in Britain, lies where the River Esk reaches the North Sea.
also its famous for captain cook, and the famous smoked Whitby kippers which are still done in the old smoke house, and their delicious!
ive been ont eh ghost walk their which was very intresting bought the book done that!
and also st georges island in cornwall is great, its just off looe a seaside town, such a pretty sea side town.
Ellen whitby was one of the places id of loved to of took you too next time!! and the neatherlands looks beautiful i didnt know it had so much to offer untilly ou posted those pictures.
while their i bought another book which was addictive, it's called tales from our cornish island evelyn e atkins.
Looe Island, off the Cornish coast, enchants all who visit, with its beauty and tranquillity. But the island's history is full of mystery and intrigue.
A Brief History of Looe Island
Prehistory
The first traceable human activity on the island belongs to the period of the prehistory of Cornwall. An upright boulder of local stone was erected on North Mead, overlooking what is now Hannafore. This standing stone may have had ritual functions; may have been aligned with a point of astronomical significance, or may have been a waymark or a seamark. The recent discovery on the island of a fragment of an amphora, an earthenware storage vessel from the Eastern Mediterranean, suggests that it was visited by travellers, perhaps Phoenician tin traders.
There is a legend that Joseph of Arimathea visited England, bringing the child Christ with him, and founded English Christianity at Glastonbury. A local version of the legend claims that he left the child on the island to play on the beach, while he put into Looe to trade for local tin. Whether or not the story is true, the fragment of amphora is evidence of some degree of contact between the island and the vicinity of the Holy Land at around the time of Christ.
Mediaeval History
St. Michael the Archangel is traditionally regarded as the patron saint of many high places, such as St. Michael's Mount in western Cornwall, and the chapel of St. Michael on Rame Head - which is visible from the island to the east. There was a chapel dedicated to him on the island, which belonged to Glastonbury Abbey. It was a place of pilgrimage, but because the crossing from the mainland was dangerous, a number of pilgrims died in the attempt to reach it. A second chapel, also dedicated to St. Michael, was therefore founded on the mainland opposite the island. Both chapels were in existence by 1144; the older one, on the island, may have been considerably more ancient. The mainland chapel has been excavated, but the island chapel remains undisturbed. One picture of it exists, showing a small building with a pitched roof and two narrow windows, perched on the summit of the island, where a few remains are still visible.
We know that by around 1200 two Benedictine monks, Prior Helia (or Elias) and Brother John, were living on the island. Their job was to receive pilgrims, to maintain the church, and above all to pray and lead the contemplative life. It has been suggested that they were also expected to keep a light burning in the chapel as a guide to shipping at a time when there were no official lighthouses.
In the late thirteenth century the island chapel passed out of the hands of Glastonbury Abbey and became a chantry, where prayers were now said for the soul of its new owner. In effect, the church had been privatised. The list of island chaplains, which begins with Helia ends in the sixteenth century. By that time the chapel had no jewels or vestments, and was rarely used for worship, although a local man accused of landing on the island for the purpose of piracy in the 1530s explained that he was there on a pilgrimage. It must have fallen into complete disuse around 1550.
The suspected pirate's pilgrimage was to a chapel of St. George, who must have shared the dedication of the island chapel with St. Michael. Most early maps identify the island as St. Michael's Island or Looe Island, although the current name, St. George's Island, is recorded by the reign of Elizabeth I.
Smuggling and Afterwards
After the chapel had fallen into disuse, the island must have become a rather secluded place. The high cliffs on the western side have a number of narrow sea-caves in them, and are out of sight of the mainland. This feature, together with the island's seclusion, must have made it a particularly suitable place for the landing of smuggled goods.
There are still metal stanchions in place on one of the dangerous western cliff-edges. These are thought to have part of an apparatus for hauling goods up from below.
Smuggling tends not to leave written records, but in the island's case there are exceptions. In 1834 for instance, it was one of the illicit ports of call for the ship “Daniel and William”, which brought brandy and other spirits from France. The island was at that time occupied by Amram Hooper and his daughter 'Tilda, who received the spirits from the ship's crew, and kept the men shut up in their house, now called Smuggler's Cottage, while they stowed the goods in places known only to themselves.
A nineteenth-century historian claimed to have learned the whereabouts of two of these hideaways, but their locations are no longer certain.
By 1853, the occupant of the island, William Vague, described himself as a farmer. Daffodils were farmed on the island, benefiting from its mild winter temperatures, until a few years ago, when the Atkins sisters decided to concentrate their efforts on the conservation of the natural life of the island. They left the island to the care of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
For a detailed history of Looe Island, order your copy of Island Life: A History of Looe Island, by David Clensy. The book is available from amazon.co.uk and all good bookstores from June 2006. Find out more about Island Life: A History of Looe Island
and of course london is also one of my favorites, every time i go their i have to walk all the way from the embankment to the shakespere theatre on the south side at night, if i get the chance.
also madia vale is really pretty.
also new york is my favorite place also esp greenwich village, i had a cousion give me a walking tour in 05 which was fantastic, about how her uncle ended up in new york who was orginaly from ireland.