A hidden delight in the North Yorkshire National Park that has easy access to the seaside town of Whitby and the Yorkshire Moors

published 2 July 2021

A private natural pool fed by a cascade worthy of a water nymph is attached to this sweet four/five-bedroom property in the hidden valley at Golden Grove, about 10 minutes from Whitby. The house is currently on the market via Knight Frank for offers in excess of £700,00.

Formerly owned by the Turnbull family — a big name in the golden age of ship building — sandstone Beck Cottage has been created by merging two adjoining houses.

It overlooks Cock Mill Beck and the kitchen opens directly onto a sun-dappled waterside terrace; a footbridge over the beck leads to a further sitting area with lawns and wooded grounds along the beck with fishing rights.

A further 51½ acres lies slightly to the east of the hamlet, including 4½ acres of paddocks and broadleaf woodlands criss-crossed by becks (more fishing potential) and monks trods — footpaths created by monks hundreds of years ago.

Beck Cottage is currently on the market via Knight Frank for offers in excess of £700,000 — see more pictures, or enquire with the agent for further details.

Whitby: What you need to know

Location: Whitby is situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk. It is ideally located on the coast, yet close enough to the North Yorkshire Moors. There are several train stations in the area, with the closest being Whitby station that has links to London and the south.

Atmosphere: Whitby is known for once being home to the famous British explorer Captain Cook. It was also the setting in which Bram Stoker wrote Dracula (although we can assure you there is nothing scary about the town). It is also famed for its Abbey ruins and stretch of sandy beaches.

Things to do: With a slightly gothic charm, there is something in Whitby for everyone. The town itself is home to numerous independent shops, restaurants and cafes. Climb the 199 steps to St Mary's Church to take in the views, visit the Captain Cook Museum or enjoy the stretch of sandy coastline that frames the town. There are also plenty of walking and cycling routes in the nearby Yorkshire Moor's that cater to a variety of levels.

Schools: East Whitby Primary Academy, Ruswarp Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School and Eskdale School were all rated 'good' in recent Ofsted reviews.

See more property for sale in the area.

Credit: Strutt and Parker

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Annunciata grew up in the wilds of Lancashire and now lives in Hampshire with a husband, two daughters and an awful pug called Parsley. She’s been floating round the Country Life office for more than a decade, her work winning the Property Magazine of the Year Award in 2022 (Property Press Awards). Before that, she had a two-year stint writing ‘all kinds of fiction’ for The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, worked in internal comms for Country Life’s publisher (which has had many names in recent years but was then called IPC Media), and spent another year researching for a historical biographer, whose then primary focus was Graham Greene and John Henry Newman and whose filing system was a collection of wardrobes and chests of drawers filled with torn scraps of paper. During this time, she regularly gave tours of 17th-century Milton Manor, Oxfordshire, which may or may not have been designed by Inigo Jones, and co-founded a literary, art and music festival, at which Johnny Flynn headlined. When not writing and editing for Country Life, Annunciata is also a director of TIN MAN ART, a contemporary art gallery founded in 2021 by her husband, James Elwes.

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Whitby: What you need to know

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