Tyreman's Return, Whitby

First things first: there's no denying the great location of this property in terms of central placement in Whitby. It's very central and easy to get anywhere in the town via foot. However there are some things future renters need to be aware of that are not very clear in the listing for the cottage on the many websites it appears on. The property is best described as "quaint" as it clearly harks from an era where a roof over your head was the primary concern. Attempting to house 4 adults in this property for a week was a bit cramped, but at least there are proper beds for everyone (although there is a caveat here, more on that later). Being located down an alley off Flowergate it is absolutely tiny, and very dark. The alley is narrow and hence it's hard for light to reach the windows, especially the main living area. It comes to something when you can say that the natural light in the bathroom far exceeds that in the lounge/kitchen/diner. There is no outside space of any kind so you are left sitting in the dark, even on bright sunny days. You will need the lights on all day. The front door is awkward to close as it sticks in the frame, but that's a minor issue. There are 2 small, 2-seater sofas in the living area and a dining table with 2 church pew benches that are hard, uncomforable and unforgiving. It's a squeeze to seat 4 slim adults round it, so beware if you have a fuller figure that you may not be able to sit here. However, there appears to be a number of trays provided in the kitchen, I suspect these are for sitting and eating on the sofas. There is a small television and DVD player as well as Sky. The kitchen area looks on first glance to be nicely presented but there are some silly oversights, such as providing random numbers of plates for people - 3 small plates between 4 people doesn't go for example. In all it seems that the cutlery, plates and cooking pans etc where hastily thrown together from a car boot sale or charity shop as many items don't match or are incomplete. The oven works well but there are no baking trays provided which seems like a ridiculous oversight for a holiday let. This continues with the rather random selection of pans - 2 saucepans but only one lid, for example. The microwave is of the cheap, manual timer variety and this seems broken as the timer appears to stick when using, so beware of that. There are a large variety of glasses available in a cupboard over the table, which is useful. All in all, the main living area is rather randomly decorated - the peculiar dog picture placed at a random location above the table being one example - it's dark and oppressive in summer, but might border on the cosy in the winter with the fire lit. The stairs up from the living area are in-keeping with the age of the cottage - by that you need to think of the stairs on a double-decker bus: narrow and winding. There is no way a person who is unsure on their feet or finds it hard to climb normal stairs will be able to cope with these tight, uneven steps, so please beware of that. The first floor has a double bedroom and the only bathroom. The bathroom is functional, but the window is painted shut meaning any showers result in a steamy, sauna effect, even with the fan running. The double bedroom has a bed with a tired mattress that sags in the middle and is rather lumpy, plus a wardrobe and a couple of chairs. There are night stands either side of the bed with lights. The window is not painted shut and opens fine in here, which is good news. Note that any movement upstairs from the loft area causes the ceiling to squeek and wobble as well as the bedroom door rattling in its frame. There is no sound-deadening of any sort in this cottage and you can hear other family members talking (or using the bathroom!) from any location. From the first floor landing there is a narrow door and further flight of tight, winding, uneven stairs up to the loft area. Up here there are 2 single beds set either side, with the eaves above them - beware of banged heads as both my sons hit their heads before getting used to the angle of the roof. There is also some draws and a small television up here. Ironically, despite the tiny window (which does open), this room is much lighter and appealing than the living area, at least in terms of natural light. I need to mention the parking situation in Whitby - for those that are not aware, it is absolutely terrible. Everything is governed by different letters on the parking signs which match different sorts of parking disks or scratch cards. The cottage listing states that scratch cards are provided, but beware, even though these cards cost the owners a couple of pounds to buy, they are in short supply and you'll need to beg for more. We found a 4 day scratch card for zone "W" in the cottage. With this in hand, the only place we could reliably find parking was up on West Cliff in the crescent near the Royal Hotel. This is about 10 minutes walk from the cottage. We had to contact the cottage owners by text message to request a further parking card but got supplied a 2 day card, meaning we needed to pay for parking on the Friday and Saturday at the end of our week long stay. I just do not understand why there was any need to be so stingy with the parking scratch cards - the 4 day cards literally cost the cottage owners 2 pounds. I'd say this was my biggest gripe and annoyance as you do not want to be constantly worrying about if your car is going to get a parking ticket while you are on holiday. A final note about noise. There is a pub literally 2 doors down from the cottage that is very lively most nights of the week, especially so on Friday and Saturday, and you will definitely hear the music and shouting late into the evening. Especially so with the bedroom windows open on a warm evening. All in all, if you are prepared to literally use this property as a jumping off point for Whitby and plan to spend little time indoors, I'd say it's totally suitable. If however, you are unlucky to have bad weather and need to stay in, you are likely to find it too cramped for a family of 4, and also rather dark and oppressive.