Patio of Whitby holiday home disappears in landslide

Brian Haines and Christine Haywood woke early in the morning to the sound of rumbling but assumed it was a lorry and went back to sleep.

But when they arose later on Monday morning they found part of the patio had been dragged away by a landslide.

The couple were forced to cut their winter break short by five days after arriving just a day-and-a-half before but are well aware that the sudden collapse could have been a lot worse.

Brian and Christine, from Matlock, in Derbys., arrived at the holiday home at Cliff Haven, Whitby, on Saturday, ready for a break.

Ms Haywood said: "When we went to bed everything was absolutely fine, everything was perfect. There were lovely views over the harbour and we couldn't have picked a better place to stay really.

"We woke up to a rumbling noise at about 3am but thought it must have just been a lorry driving past or something so we went back to sleep.

"Then we got up at about 7.30am and opened the curtains to see that the part of the patio had just disappeared down the cliff and some of the fence was hanging off as well.

"It was a big surprise. I couldn't believe it. We called the owner to tell her what had happened and she was so shocked, just as we were. It was just a natural disaster.

"When we look at the pictures now and think about what happened I just think if more of the patio had gone it would have taken the house with it. It's frightening.

"We were probably only about a foot away from where it all went away and we were very lucky that no more of it fell."

Heavy snow and rain had hit the holiday home's balcony and left it weakened, prompting the collapse which resulted in rubble, mud and large pieces of masonry tumbling 30ft down the cliff.

Ms Haywood said: "We went out to stay out of the way while it was investigated and when we came back there was a note on the door saying: 'Danger ' do not enter'.

"We went and took our stuff and the police advice was that it just wasn't safe to stay. We were supposed to be staying for a week so it was quite disappointing to have our holiday cut short but, we've been to Whitby before, and when you think of what happened it could have been so much worse."