Wouldn't it be useful to be able to read uncensored unbiased reviews on Whitby ?

Genuine Whitby reviews on accommodation and attractions, like the idea ?

I've always thought that if you could login into an uncensored forum or website all about Whitby or any other holiday destination, where you could read unbiased and uncensored opinions about how good or bad the particular attractions were, this would be a great service for forthcoming tourists to that area.

When you are searching on the Internet the majority of Whitby holiday accommodation websites are run by a large holiday letting companies, or the actual services or attractions websites are written and managed by the owners with the angle to attract tourism, so they might be just a teensy-weensy bit biased!

Wouldn't it be refreshing and useful for people looking forward to visiting Whitby to be able to login to the established website and read the reviews of people who would actually visited and stayed at particular holiday accommodation, visited a certain eatery, or experienced a particular attraction in Whitby. You could then get their genuine reactions.

So with this idea in mind, I started a section on the Whitby guide, which gives everybody the opportunity to say exactly what they thought about their experience in Whitby, if they've got a few moments and the inclination.

At this early stage it is just a section of the forum which is encouraging Whitby tourists to pass their comments good or bad, it could be about holiday accommodation they stayed in, the cafeteria or restaurant they visited, shop or tourist attraction and so on. If it became popular and useful we could open this up with a category for each service, where people could vent their anger if their experience wasn't good, or sing the praises if the opposite was true.

Let's face it, it wouldn't just be useful for the tourists to read genuine appraisals, it would also make the particular businesses jump to attention if they started to read too many negative reviews, or alternatively if the reviews are good there's nothing like a slap on the back for that particular business.

This is the link is where you can leave your genuine review good or bad on your experience of Whitby and its accommodation and attractions.

Whitby Review Forum
Remember this could help Whitby improve and make a better place for tourists to visit.

Old Fishermans cottage near the harbour Whitby Holiday Cottage

Whitby’s Search Engine Optimisation specialist that only works in Whitby

I decided to start a Search Engine Optimisation company, but with a big difference, I am only interested in staying small and in promoting websites which are about Whitby in North Yorkshire, England. Usually SEO companies being Internet-based are happy to work with customers from any part of the world, but I decided not to go down that route for very definite reasons.
Firstly, having been in business all my life I realised that quite often people feel more confident if they know they can meet the person they’re dealing with in the flesh and can see eye to eye. There's always more confidence when you can read body language.
So even though usually Internet companies are quick to point out they can work globally, my clientele base will only be for little old Whitby town.
Secondly, being a one-man band Search Engine Optimisation Company means that I do not have copious amounts of free time which I can lavish on numerous customers. I have undertaken some successful Search Engine Optimisation campaigns for myself and other people. This has led me to the conclusion that it really helps if you like the subject you're dealing with and also have some personal knowledge which, if I focus on Whitby, will be a big fat yes to both of the above counts. I know Whitby town extremely well because I have an old cottage there, love the place, and also still find it a pleasure to work for any businesses which require my skills.
I also own a holiday cottage in the town, I do realise firsthand the importance of SEO and having your website well ranked on search engines. It literally makes the difference between success and failure if you try to market your accommodation independently on the Internet.
Most holiday accommodation is run through large holiday letting agencies, which tend to dominate the search engine rankings because obviously they have the budget to spend. This especially means for small independent holiday accommodation owners they can be pushed further back, where unfortunately not so many potential customers are surfing.
In my example I own a small old Fisherman’s cottage which can sleep only up to 6 people, but with my SEO skills I managed to keep my website on page one of Google for all the relevant key terms. This means my cottage is almost 100% booked out 52 weeks of the year, and entirely booked from my free organic listings on search engines like Google.
Okay that's great for me but I'm always slightly amazed when you find an independent owner of a hotel or guesthouse, which can sleep many more people than my cottage, that has a website that is not optimised and appears further back in the search engine ranking. Quite often these larger holiday accommodation premises are never full to capacity, so always have the potential to make more money if the customers are available. So what's the point in having your website say on page 30 of Google, where virtually no customers are surfing! To my mind it's obvious that it's worth the time and money to make sure your website is as prominent as possible, so that your hotel is as full as possible. Anyway there go the words of a very small and very full holiday accommodation owner.


Thank you Alan Davidson

Old Fishermans cottage near the harbour Whitby Holiday Cottage

Whitby Website for tourist information, calendar of events and news Whitby

Which is the safest place to live, the fishing port of Whitby or the city of Bradford?

The reason I'm posting the question above is not simply for the answer. I'm also putting forward the thought that sometimes we live our lives not in the best places in our country.

In my opinion there is little doubt which is the correct answer to the above question, but I'm going to give you my answer at the end of this article when I explain what brought me to this conclusion.

I live on the outskirts of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in quite a picturesque little village called Idle, which is quite a funny name when you consider its true meaning. We have the famous Idle Working Men's Club, with its emblem of a working man leaning on his spade, get the idea? People from all over the world ask for affiliated passes so they can say they are a member of the idle working men's club. Idle is quite nice in itself, being an old Victorian village, but its only three miles from the centre of Bradford city and 9 miles from the centre of Leeds.

Being so close to the city centre is good for my business, which is installing security alarm systems and CCTV. I've done this job since 1983. Why is this? Because, unfortunately, city centres in the United Kingdom are surrounded by crime and burglary. I used to think there must be other parts of the country which were not quite as bad. Now I definitely think this is the case and I'll explain why I think so.

In 2007 I bought a holiday cottage in the beautiful old fishing port of Whitby, North Yorkshire. The cottage needed lots of renovation work because I intended to let the property to holidaymakers as well as use it myself. It's in a gorgeous setting near the harbour, in a very quiet old yard with outhouses. The first thing that crossed my mind was this is very easy to rob because it's so quiet and there are no neighbours directly opposite. That was my security installer mind in force. So my first two jobs on the cottage were not renovation projects but firstly to install a security alarm system, which also had a telephone dialler which would ring me if the security alarm was activated and, secondly, to install a CCTV camera in the loft with a digital video recorder.

Then I moved on to all the necessary renovation jobs to make the cottage comfortable for holidaymakers. When I finished renovating the cottage, I asked the local and largest holiday letting agency to come around to view the property, quietly expecting nothing but praise for all my hard work and expenditure.

It was actually the owner of the agency himself who came to view the cottage. He was a pleasant and professional gentleman, but I'm afraid his first words were not entirely complimentary! His first comment was: Why did you put a security alarm and CCTV camera on this cottage ? I explained my worries about the vulnerability from the burglary point of view, to which he replied that he had well over 120 cottages on his books in the area, and had been in the property letting business since 1970. Mine was the only cottage which had ever had a security alarm and CCTV installation. He went on to explain that there was very little burglary in the area.

I suddenly started to have a different perspective on what it was like to live in an area like Whitby. Had I wasted my time and money because, even though there was no labour cost on the security equipment, as I had installed it myself, it had still cost just under 1000 UK pounds for materials?

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending how you look at it, I soon found out by asking local people their thoughts regarding burglary, that he was telling me the truth. They confirmed it was something which very rarely happened and was not a priority to worry about. Then, with a little time spent on my professional hobby of siren box watching, which basically means that when I'm travelling around Bradford I continually look at the Siren boxes on properties to see which company did the installation, I suddenly found around the Whitby area there were virtually no siren boxes to watch! As we say in Yorkshire, the penny had dropped, which means you suddenly see something from a different perspective.

I often meet older retired people in Bradford who have just been burgled and they typically say things like: It's not like it used to be when we were young; you could leave your front door open without fear of intrusion. It looks like you can still, as long as you don't live on the outskirts of a busy city!

So the answer to my initial question is, in my opinion, Whitby is much safer than Bradford.

And I now have a Whitby holiday cottage with a security alarm that has never been used and a CCTV camera system that thankfully will probably never be useful!

Thank you Alan Davidson

Whitby old Fishermans cottage for self catering holidays Whitby Holiday Cottage

Whitby tourist information and news Whitby

Whitby magazine style information website

I am currently getting a great buzz out of constructing what I hope will become a very popular Whitby magazine style information website, which is linked to at the top of this article. I'm hoping to include not just tourists information but also interesting articles about Whitby's history and then coming right up to date with things like how the program Heartbeat affected the tourism. I'm currently chasing interviews with some of the actors from the program.

I'm hoping to move permanently to Whitby's soon and I visit quite regularly to my Whitby holiday cottage there. If anybody in Whitby would like to promote their business on the Internet, give me a shot. I don't think you'll find anybody is more passionate about Whitby and the Internet, I love both subjects. I studied the subject of search engine optimisation or SEO for short, which means getting websites ranked well and search engines where they will be found more readily. Google is dedicated to trying to make the Internet a better place to visit by rewarding original content of websites, and trying to remove duplicated and cheated content and tactics.
These are some of my most recent articles about search engine optimisation and how it's affecting some of the lucky businesses in Whitby
Whitby SEO to Be or not to Be That Is the Question ? Surely to Be !
How I Made My Holiday Cottage in Whitby North Yorkshire a Very Successful Holiday Let, and so Could You.
If you're interested in how the Internet is working and would like to promote your website take a look at my website. Search engine optimisation
This is my endeavour cottage Whitby Holiday Cottage
Thank you
Alan Davidson

Beautiful self catering holiday accommodation in Whitby Endeavour Whitby Holiday Cottage

Whitby Website for tourist information, calendar of events and news Whitby

Whitby’s Swing Bridge 100 Year Centenary Celebrations

I was lucky enough to be able to watch Whitby’s swing Bridge 100 centenary celebrations on Saturday, 8 August 2009 from a prime location the second floor of the Dolphin Hotel which is right next to the bridge itself. I don’t think it would have been possible to have a better view on this gorgeous sunny day.
It was a very popular event and literally thousands of people turned up to watch the various celebrations.
Below are pictures from the opening Day ceremony in 1909 and then 2009.
Whitby Bridge celebrations 1909 and 2009
Much of the credit for organising the event must go to John Freeman was a local well-known artist with a gallery in the square.
The History of Whitbys Swing Bridge and its predecessors
At the entrance to the bridge during the afternoon Susan Harty pictured left (who regularly writes articles about forthcoming events in Whitby to inform tourists) was selling an excellent booklet called The History of Whitby Swing Bridge And Its Predecessors. It had been written by John Freeman in a short space of time so it would be ready for the big day itself, with some great articles and pictures.
If you’re interested in the history of Whitby I would highly recommend trying to find a copy. There was also a 100 year certificate on sale.
The certificate to celebrate the 100th centenary of Whitby Swing Bridge
There was a PA system next to the bridge which produced an entertaining commentary throughout the afternoon’s events from local Whitby man unafraid I didn’t catch the details of but he certainly kept everybody informed and entertained with some corny jokes.
Various entertainment started at 12:30 PM giving your day I carnival style feel. The entertainment was provided by the Cleveland Police band, Stakesby Steel band, Whitby Jets juvenile jazz band, and playlets by youngsters from the The Paul Nicholas School of Acting, Marske Fishermans Choir sang and the Saltburn Victorian Society dressed up for the day to bring a touch of period drama to the festivities.
Whitby Victorian Society costumes giving the bridge's centenary of flavour from the past
Also a spectacular stunt as the famous Red Arrows flew under Whitby Bridge in formation….. OK I’m fibbing with the last one obviously just a teeny weenie bit impossible Actually the Red Arrows are scheduled to make an appearance Whitby Regatta this year, and if you’ve not seen them before they are certainly worth a viewing especially with the gorgeous backdrop of Whitby.
There were many people from the Saltburn Victorian Society dressed up to the nines making the event the extremely atmospheric and giving you some idea of what the original opening ceremony could have been like in 1909.
As the time approached 4 PM the main events of the day were to unfold. Rev Canon David Smith blessed the bridge as there was a sail through by various boats including the current Whitby lifeboat and the 1938 Whitby lifeboat Mary Ann Hepworth which is now used as a pleasure trip vessel by a gentleman called Barry who I believe is a former Whitby lifeboat member.
Whitby Lifeboat from 1938 called Mary Ann Hepworth
Next a group of dignitaries gathered on both sides of the bridge to officially unveil the specially-commissioned plaques marking the anniversary.
Then on the west side, Whitby town mayor Coun Terry Jennison cut the ribbon to reveal the plaque, while on the east side, Scarborough Borough Council mayor Coun Bill Chatt did the honours.
The Lord Mayor of both Whitby and Scarborough and various other dignitaries
They then led their groups, including many in historic costumes, to meet in the centre of the bridge, recreating a famous image from the opening 100 years ago.
In the meantime, huge crowds waited patiently on both sides for the bridge to re-open before the gates were finally unlocked and the massed throngs poured onto the bridge from both sides.
This is a film of eveyone crossing the bridge
Article, pictures and film by Alan Davidson copyright www.whitby.uk.net

Beautiful self catering holiday accommodation in Whitby Endeavour Whitby Holiday Cottage

Whitby Website for tourist information, calendar of events and news Whitby

www.whitby.uk.net just another basic Whitby guide? Not if I have my way.

There are a number of Whitby guides already online and when I was discussing starting a new one some of my friends said why bother? surely the service is covered etc

Well I don't think so the reason is that often Whitby guides do provide a service and I'm not trying to discredit them, some of them provide good information, but then again often they are just really advertising machines.

So our “mission statement”, to use the modern terminology behind this new Whitby guide is to try and make this the informative, but also fun into reactive place to be online if you like Whitby.
I want to try to involve as many people as possible to put forward their thoughts opinions and suggestions using our built-in forum.


Mark and myself will be updating it on a regular basis, going to incorporate some fun features, we've got some challenging fun ideas coming up. Example I am a big fan of Heartbeat the television programme which unfortunately has finished, although I'm sure they will continue to show the old episodes which are ageless with their period setting. I've been lucky enough to appear in a few episodes fleetingly as an extra, so I'm going to try and contact some of the actors to interview them regarding their thoughts on the programme and Whitby.


I've loved Whitby from being a child which unfortunate that is more years and I wish to admit I have always regretted that just over 20 years ago I almost bought a house on the Royal Crescent, and sadly these fine properties will be well out of my price but it now. I have had the pleasure of buying a holy cottage near the harbour recently which is eased the pain.

There is a live news feed, what to do in Whitby guide and much more coming up but if you have any suggestions regarding future subjects to tackle, projects, want to have your holiday accommodation or business listed free of charge just get in touch with Mark myself.

Beautiful self catering holiday accommodation in Whitby Endeavour Whitby Holiday Cottage

Whitby Website for tourist information, calendar of events and news Whitby