Find out more about this picturesque fishing village near Whitby in Yorkshire.
A beautiful spot to relax and explore, history, scenery, culture, smuggling tales, fossils, the sea... who could ask for more...?
Robin Hoods Bay is perhaps the prettiest and most popular of all the Yorkshire east coast fishing villages...
The old village clings to the cliff-side, looking across a beautiful, curved bay, with tiny streets, steps and hills winding their way through higgledy-piggledy old fishermens' cottages - a wonderful place to explore!
The village is certainly a popular tourist hot-spot...
Leave your car at the top of the cliff - Bank Top Car Park (Pay and Display), or the overflow car park at the former Station (also Pay and Display - toilets at each in holiday season) - and explore the old village on foot...
Legends of Robin Hoods Bay
The village is famous, not just for its quaint streets, but also for the legendary Robin Hood who gave the bay its name...
One story tells how Robin Hood disguised himself as a fisherman here, to avoid capture.
Another story claims that Robin Hood fired an arrow here from Whitby Abbey 5 miles away, which gave the bay its name.
There are also countless tales of smuggling here in Robin Hoods Bay. You can certainly picture clearly this isolated fishing village, with its tiny streets, being filled with old sea-dogs, subterfuge and smuggling!
Smuggling was at its height in the 18th Century, when brandy, silk and tea were landed here, and then taken up secret passages which connected many of the Robin Hoods Bay cottages, to the top of the town.
Many of the tales of the village are from the books of Leo Walmsley, where the Bay appears as the fictional village of 'Bramblewick'.
Read his most famous Robin Hoods Bay story 'Three Fevers' to get some local colour for your stay...
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There are quite a selection of Leo Walmsley novels if you get into his writing...
You can also holiday in the house where Leo Walmsley lived...
Robin Hoods Bay - known locally as 'Bay' or 'Baytown', has always had a very intimate relationship with the sea.
Aside from smuggling, fishing was always the mainstay of the village, seeing its heyday in the 1820's, when several hundred villagers were employed in the fishing industry, with very many boats working from the village.
Crabs, lobster and other locally caught seafood and fish are still sold in the village - try 'Bay Fisheries'
In 1780, the main village street was completely washed away by the sea, during a storm. And more than 200 houses were lost to the sea before the sea wall was built in the 1970's.
Local stories tell of the bow of a ship knocking through a pub window at high tide!
Robin Hoods Bay Today
The old village, today, is the main tourist attraction - and you can see why! Arguably, the most quaint and pretty fishing village on the Yorkshire coast.
Meander through charming, tiny streets, looking at the very many old fishermen's cottages. Many Robin Hood's Bay cottages are holiday cottages available for hire - you really will be spoilt for choice!
There are also many little gift and craft shops, pubs and tearooms to browse in, or stop for a rest and a bite to eat before toiling back up the hill again...
Unfortunately some of these shops (but by no means all!) were shut at our last visit (early March) so I don't know if this was a winter thing, or a Monday morning thing.
We did enjoy our lunch in the sunshine at the Swell Cafe-Bar
Don't forget about the sea! The bay itself is a lovely crescent of beach at low tide - ideal for paddling, rockpooling or searching for fossils.
Belemnites and ammonites from the Lower Jurassic period can be found amongst the loose rocks and rockpools - do take care for rock falls and high tides though!
You can walk all along the beach to nearby Ravenscar at low tide. There are also walks along the cliff tops, including the Cleveland Way, and the 'Moor to Sea Cycle network'.
And, not quite a holiday cottage, but something a bit more unusual - a Converted Railway Carriage located a few miles outside Robin Hoods Bay at Hawsker.
They are currently running a special project based around The Bay, and have a full programme of events in the area on geological and fossil related topics.
Bay on the Map
This map is interactive.
Just use the + and - buttons in the top left corner of the map to zoom in and out.
Use the arrows to move about the area.
Also take a look at this more detailed map of the village with all the street names and holiday cottages on - very useful indeed! - click here to see the map and index (a PDF document will open in a new page, right click to download it to your own computer)
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