In January 2014, when Paul told me the house would be ready for Christmas, I should have asked him "which Christmas"!. 3 years later on  we finally have a finished product - well, nearly finished at any rate. It's been an interesting time, and we've enjoyed (most) of the journey.

Paul's idea was always to turn this very neglected house into somewhere warm, bright and comfortable; somewhere to be enjoyed by us, our dogs, our family & friends, and anyone else who stays here. We wanted the house to be like the place you always wanted to go on holiday to, and nothing like some of the places we have rented over the years! I'm sure you know the sort of places I mean - the ones with notices everywhere telling you what you cant do, or the mean spirited places with no home comforts.

Anyway, 8 West Terrace, Whitby is now truly our home from home.  Let me describe it for you - 

We'll start with the ground floor.

The green front door takes you into the hall; pause a moment and take a good look at our modern stained glass porch door - it looks fabulous with the sun shining through it.

The wooden floors at this level were in good condition, so a bit of staining and polishing brought them to life.

The first door to your right leads into the main living room; with its wood burning stove, its a great place to snuggle up on a blustery evening and watch tacky films on the TV.

The 2nd door takes you to the 2nd reception or living room. We've furnished this one with a couple of settees and a bookcase. This room catches the morning sun, and its very quiet, so its a good place to read the paper or a book whilst listening to music.

Also on this floor is the downstairs loo, and a place for hanging coats and dog leads, and storing wellies and boots.

The back door takes you outside to one of my favourite places on a sunny day - the back yard. It's just too easy to sit at the patio table with a pot of coffee (or, even better, a bottle of wine) and a good book and let the hours drift by. Which is a shame because there is so much to see and do in Whitby - but sometimes its good to do nothing!

I digress.

Back inside, and down the flight of stone steps into the cellar. This isn't what you would normally think of as a cellar. It isn't dark, or dingy - quite the reverse. This is what I think of as Paul's masterpiece. It's a spacious, airy kitchen dining room with large windows at each end. 

The kitchen area is equipped with just about every item for modern cooking, including range cooker, dishwasher, toaster, microwave etc etc. If it isn't here, I'm sure you can manage without it!  Plenty of space for the family cook to show off their skills.

The dining area is fantastic for either cosy dinners, or for feeding the entire family. We have entertained 12 people to a full scale dinner, with games to follow, and still had room for the dogs!

Also on this level is a utility room with a washer/dryer and a walk in larder complete with beer fridge.

Back upstairs, and on up to the first floor.

Off the half landing is the main family bathroom. Another sunny room, with 2 frosted sash windows. The pea shaped bath is long and deep with an over bath shower and glass screen. Perfect for long hot soaks, or cool, refreshing showers.

The 1st floor boasts 3 bedrooms, 2 double and 1 single.

The doubles have built in cupboards which are too narrow to function as anything sensible, so we turned them into quasi-dressing tables - very cute indeed.

The single is small, but very comfortable.

All 3 have ample storage space, both drawers and hanging room.

A further flight of stairs takes you up to the master suite in the attic. This is a lovely room, filled with light from velux windows and lots of character. Plenty of room for a king sized bed, wardrobe, drawers, mirror - and an en suite with a large, walk in shower.

And that's about it - the full guided tour. If you come to stay here, we hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Ann