Our Amazing Time at The Ellerby Country Inn in Yorkshire

The last time we spent a few days away as a family was last year in Durham. Since then we have been away a few times visiting family, but not to stay somewhere we haven’t visited before.  We were all very excited, especially the girls. I love that they both have a sense of adventure. Travelling with kids is never easy and there are always a few tantrums along the way, like the typical ‘terrible 2’ tantrums we get with Sienna but overall, I really enjoy travelling together and making memories as a family!

We were approached by eviivo to spend 2 nights at one of the winning properties in their 2016 independent accommodation awards. It was a fantastic opportunity and so flattering to be invited to review one of the properties. For those of you that don’t know who eviivo are, they help small hotels and B&B’s succeed online. They have built up a customer base of over 6,200 properties across the UK, Mainland Europe and North Africa.

From the possible properties to review, we chose the The Ellerby Country Inn which won “Outstanding Host” for the 2016 eviivo awards. It is in Ellerby, North Yorkshire, just eight miles from Whitby.

We did a video of our time at Ellerby and Whitby. See below:

What do you think of the video? I hope that you like it! 🙂

TRAVELLING

Sienna happy with her Diono Radian 5

Although Nick actually studied not far away in Teesside, the girls and I hadn’t been in Yorkshire before, so we were super excited about the trip. We broke up our journey from London by stopping in the Midlands at the in-laws to make it easier for the girls. We then continued our journey on to Ellerby, Yorkshire on Sunday morning. My girls were very excited and all set for our adventure! 🙂

It was about 3 hours by car to the Ellerby from where we were in the Midlands so we stopped about half way, near Thirsk to have something to eat. We ate, stretched our legs, recovered our energy and then got back on the road to finish our journey!

THE ELLERBY – OUR BIG ROOM

It was already dark when we arrived at The Ellerby and it was really cold too following some snowy, wintery weather around the country that weekend. We were eager to check-in and get to our room to be comfortable. We couldn’t see much outside but we were loving the inside!

Bella’s bed in her own little area

We were greeted by Mark, our lovely host, who explained everything about The Ellerby. He then took us to our room and OMG, it was gorgeous! We were given the Superking RM3. The girls absolutely loved it because they got their own little beds! Everything in the room was very thoughtful. My girls each had a suitably sized bath robe too. How cute is that? Bella loved the idea of having her own bed in her own little area and most importantly, with her own TV! She was so excited about it and felt so grown up! Bless her!

Sienna’s bed in her own little area

The room is split over 2 floors, with a full-sized single bed on the ground floor (Bella’s bed) as you enter. An internal staircase then leads to a landing with a child-sized single bed suitable for children up to the age of 9. Sienna used this bed. This little area was really cute. There was also a useful gate to stop a child sleeping there from falling down the stairs if they awoke during the night. Sienna had her own little set of towels, a cute little tea set and 3 books to read before bed. I loved all these very thoughtful details!

Off the landing was the main bedroom with a super king-size bed, 40″ flat screen TV with Sky TV including sports. It also has a sofa and armchair. It is super comfortable with lots of space for all of us! It can accommodate a family of 4 or 3 single adults. The minibar has water and milk so you can prepare a nice cup of coffee or hot chocolate. They left some delicious biscuits too!

We had an en-suite bath with shower and Elemis products to use. My girls really enjoyed having a bath there. There was plenty of room for both of them. The price for this room ranges from £85.00 to £130.00 and includes breakfast.

Family Photos

As you can see we were very happy! 🙂

BAR AREA – DINNER TIME

We weren’t that hungry because of having a lunch late that day, so we decided to have some desserts instead. Sienna had a yummy ice cream and Bella had banana and custard which was really good too. I actually had a Prawn Cocktail starter! I was really looking forward to eating this because it is one of my mum’s favourite starters. It was really tasty, especially the prawns that were so fresh and tender! I really enjoyed it!

Just before you get inside the bar area they have a big selection of colouring and puzzle sheets for kids to take. My girls really liked the idea of picking some designs to colour in.  After dinner, we moved to the conservatory which has a box full of toys, some outfits to play dress up with and also a good selection of books to read. I thought this was a great idea so the girls can play a little bit before going to bed.

RESTAURANT – BREAKFAST

Breakfast is included when you book a room. They have a great selection of cooked food together with cereals, yoghurt and juices. They also have Nutella which my girls love and went nuts about when they saw it, LOL!

For the cooked breakfast you can choose from a full English breakfast, scrambled eggs, porridge, etc. Nick chose the full English breakfast on both days of course. They girls had cereal, porridge and scrambled eggs. I just ordered the scrambled eggs. It was all very nice.

OUTDOOR AREA

After breakfast, we walked around the hotel to get to know it a little bit more before we went out for the day. They have a nice garden area. I thought this would be great for when the weather is warmer. Just outside the hotel, they had a fantastic green field with a stunning view that was mesmerising for all of us. I really enjoyed this.

EXPLORING ELLERBY & WHITBY

Runswick Bay Beach

My girls, especially Bella was desperate to go to the beach. We had seen the sea from afar the night before so was really keen. We were told that the beach nearby called Runswick Bay Beach was nice and the perfect place for the girls to run around and jump through the water paddles.

It was very near to the hotel (about 5 – 10 minutes) and we were not disappointed! It was such a lovely beach indeed!  My girls ran like little nutters, so much that Sienna ended up face down in one of the large puddles. Poor little thing, all her face and clothes were wet. After this, we had to leave the beach to get Sienna changed into dry clothes.

Whitby Abbey

Before travelling we had done a bit of research and knew that we had to visit Whitby Abbey and I’m so glad we did. It was gorgeous. The views were stunning even though the day was dark, windy and wet. The ruins were very impressive. We walked around the whole Abbey from the outside as we weren’t able to go nearer as it was closed. This was okay as you were able to see them properly from the outside anyway and to be honest they look more impressive from afar. We also love the story about the relation between Whitby Abbey and Dracula.

Whitby

We then walked around Whitby. It is a gorgeous seaside town. The sea was quite wild that afternoon with a lot of big waves crashing against the sea walls which was fascinating to see. I must admit that this city has its charm. The views of the Abbey from below in the town were fantastic. We wandered around looking for, what is apparently the best Fish & Chip’s in the UK. It is called Quayside and it was indeed amazing! We all loved our dishes.

After our lunch, we walked towards the harbour to watch the waves. It was lovely, although it was getting a bit too cold and windy and the girls were starting to get tired so we decided to walk back to the car and head back to the hotel.

RESTAURANT – DINNER

Once back in our room and having rested a little bit, the girls wanted a bath. It was so much fun watching them playing together. We then went for dinner in the restaurant. They gave us a really nice table, which we had reserved for 7pm.

I chose the soup of the day this time which was a delicious vegetable soup. I really liked it.  I also ordered breaded balls filled with mozzarella. They were so tasty. Bella loved them too and ate a few of mine. The girls wanted lasagne which they shared as the portion was big. And finally, Nick ordered chilli con carne served in a pancake. It had a different look for sure. Nick enjoyed his meal too. The girls had ice cream for pudding.

ENTRANCE

After a fantastic night’s sleep, we all awoke rested. It was our last day and we needed to check out by 11 am. We got ready and went for breakfast. As I mentioned before it was fantastic.

After packing and checking out we decided to take some final photos in front of the entrance. It was a fun moment. We then had to say goodbye to this friendly and warm B&B. We got in our car and started our journey home. On the way, we stopped in York which I will publish a separate post about very soon so watch this space.

OUR THOUGHTS

We had a fantastic time at The Ellerby. We loved our room. I think I had the best sleep I’d had in a long time and the shower for me was divine! I loved the experience. It is a B&B that has kids and family in mind and they go out of the way to make your stay easy and comfortable. All the staff were so nice and caring. I loved the touch of having a heart shaped chocolates and rose left on our pillows for Valentine’s day. We were always taken care of which was lovely. So yes, they definitely deserved their “Outstanding Host” award.

I will soon publish our video of this amazing trip. So please come back as the video will be added soon.

Have you been to Yorkshire before? Have you visited Ellerby or Whitby? What do you think of The Ellerby? Have you been there before?

*Disclosure: We were invited by eviivo to review The Ellerby for the purpose of this blog post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Love you all ❤️

Franca  💋

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