Why popularity of Yorkshire staycations should outlast Covid crisis - Paul Andrews

However, sooner or later, we are going to be lured back into holidays in the sun, and our local visitor economy needs to prepare to encourage visitors to stay so that “staycations” don’t become forgotten or consigned to history.

There is nowhere better than England on a hot summer’s day but what else is there to make a staycation worthwhile?

Rural Yorkshire’s magnificent countryside is peppered with many heritage sites, including stately homes like Castle Howard, churches, cathedrals, castles and ruined monasteries.

There are pretty little villages, market towns like Malton and Helmsley, spa towns such as Harrogate and Scarborough, national attractions like Flamingoland and Eden Camp, and the beautifully conserved historic city of York. There are opportunities for heritage trails and excursions.

Our countryside is perfect for outdoor pursuits. The North York Moors and the Yorkshire Dales are good walking country. One of the best ways of appreciating the open country is on horseback.

The Yorkshire Dales has the added attraction of the best, biggest and longest cave systems in the British Isles. The casual visitor can enter show caves, such as Ingleborough Cave at Clapham, White Scar Cave at Ingleton and Stump Cross Caverns at Grassington.

If you walk up the track behind Ingleborough Cave, you come to Gaping Gill, the top of the 360ft natural shaft into Britain’s largest cavern. This is as big as York Minster. The Bradford Pothole Club around Whitsun May Bank Holiday,  and the Craven Pothole Club around August Bank Holiday, each set up a winch above the shaft to provide a ride to the bottom and back out again for any visitor who pays a fee.

Market towns like Malton and Helmsley are thriving centres with a variety of charming independent shops. Malton’s attractive Georgian centre provides a different kind of shopping experience. Malton has been promoted as “Yorkshire’s Food Capital”. There are specialist monthly food markets, and an annual food lovers festival at the end of May.

There are the seaside resorts of Scarborough and Filey, and, in East Yorkshire, Bridlington. Scarborough, with its castle and sandy beaches, has always been an important resort and fishing centre. It’s the home of Scarborough Yacht Club, which races most weekends. The harbour has been repaired and upgraded. Attractions include speed boats, a “steamer”, fishing excursions, the Spa, parks, an outdoor theatre and a narrow- gauge railway.

Bridlington Bay, with its miles of unspoilt sandy beaches, is ideal for all water sports. Bridlington too is a sailing and fishing centre. Unfortunately, some years ago a development proposal, which would have transformed the town and given it a new 500-berth marina, failed to get consent, and so, its full potential remains unrealised.

For walkers, there are four youth hostels at Malham, Whitby, Richmond and York. Visitors arrive for many reasons. There are the regulars who come for a day or a weekend. They may be walkers, or people who enjoy outdoor adventure activities 
such as horse-riding, potholing or sailing. All of these are welcome, particularly young people. The more often we see them, the better it is for our local economy.

There are the visitors who will book holiday lets in the countryside. Their interests range from country houses and historic buildings to walking or just getting away and enjoying the peace of the countryside. And there are the families who book hotels or caravans on the coast and want to spend a day or a week with their children on the beach.

Clearly councils have a responsibility to promote tourism. Tourism needs to be an important element in all their policies. Care should be taken to conserve the unspoilt countryside and coast, as this is what visitors expect to see in rural Yorkshire. This does not mean preserving villages and towns in aspic, as there has to be room for growth, but new development should be in a vernacular style which fits, and not innovative experiments in glass, wood and concrete.

These might go down well in the suburbs of large conurbations but are out of character with Yorkshire’s rural and coastal traditions. This could be Yorkshire’s best answer to the draw of the sun- drenched continental coast with its hideous ribbons of concrete hotels.

Paul Andrews serves on Ryedale Council as an Independent councillor for Malton.

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