The Leeway

Trip Advisors Traveller's Choice 2012

2012-01-24T03:33:00.000-08:00

Great News:-

Trip Advisor's Travellers Choice 2012 Awards have been announced. The Leeway, Whitby has won 2 Awards! They have ranked us the 16th best B&B in the UK, and the 19th best B&B in Europe. This is fantastic news.

Thank you so much to all of our guests who take the time to write a Trip Advisor Review after staying with us. It really makes our day when guests have enjoyed staying with us. We couldn't have won these awards without you all. Thanks again.

The Whitby Gazette are calling up on Friday to take our photos and write an article on us.

Our Bella

2012-01-18T00:53:00.000-08:00

Those of you who have visited us, may have met our 2 Basset Hounds Jazz and Bella. Sadly Bella took poorly at Christmas, and we found out on the 2nd January that it was Chronic Kidney Failure, and we only had a very short time left with her. It has been a very hard 2 weeks, getting her to continue to eat and drink, but we did manage for a while and we took her to the beach every day, and onto the playing fields and for a long walk over the cliff tops to Kettleness. If you saw her on the beach you would never know she was poorly, although she had lost 5 kilos of weight in 5 weeks! But she ran and fetched the ball and had great fun. Sadly Bella passed away on Sunday 15th January. She was only 2 years old. I have attached a photo that was taken on the 12th January. Bella is the little one on the right! Her sister Jazz will miss her dearly as will we all. She was such a sweetie.

Happy New Year

2012-01-02T10:39:00.000-08:00

We would like to wish all our guests a Happy and Healthy New Year. For our special offers for 2012 visit our website. We have just refurbished our attic double room Hudson in a beach hut theme. You can now view photos of this on the view rooms page of the website. Hope you like it.

Karen Live on BBC Radio Tees

2011-10-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

This morning we received a phone call from Radio Tees saying they had heard our great news about the National Awards, and asked if I would do a live interview later in the day. Below is the link, hopefully you can all hear the interview! (talk about nerve racking or what!)

You will need to copy and paste the link into a new browser, then Scroll on the time bar to 40:00 minutes, that's when the 5 minute interview begins.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/p00kymy3/

White Rose Awards 2011

2011-10-11T08:37:00.000-07:00

Last night we attended the White Rose Awards at Doncaster Racecourse. We had a fantastic night. There were stilt walkers and roller blades performing in and around all the guests. There was a rocking band till 1am, classical singers and an Abba tribute band too. The meal itself was cooked by a Michelin star chef for 1000 people!

We were put through for Sustainable Tourism and although we did not win the outright prize we were delighted to be the Runner Up. Because of this we have now been put through to the Visit England National Awards for Excellence next year.

With a 20 plus year history, the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence (formerly the EnjoyEngland Awards) are the highest accolade in English tourism.

The awards recognise businesses that incorporate best practice throughout their operation and also celebrate the very best quality and innovation, helping to raise standards across the industry and secure England’s place as a world-class holiday destination.

We are delighted and very proud of our achievements. Can we take this opportunity to thank all of our guests for choosing to stay at The Leeway and make all this possible.

Special Offer for 2012

2011-09-06T02:09:00.000-07:00

If you book a 2012 stay with us before 31st December 2011, you can have it at this years prices. So your 2012 stay will only cost the same as it did in 2011. Now that's great value!

New Year Weekend with extras

2011-08-10T00:54:00.000-07:00

Celebrate the New Year at The Leeway.

Book your 3 night break now. Most places increase their prices for the New Year period, but not us. You will find our price is just the same no matter what time of year it is.

Not only is the price the same as always, but we are throwing in some special treats too.

Get your New Year celebration off to a great start with a complementary bottle of wine in your room ready for your arrival and indulge in some festive treats we'll have left there for you. Breakfast on New Years day will be much later than normal, so you can relax and enjoy a couple of extra hours in bed. Then to get the New Year off with a kick start, enjoy a glass or two of Bucks Fizz, while you enjoy our award winning breakfast.

Book your 3 day New Year break with us this year and enjoy our special treat.

Winter Special Offer

2011-08-10T00:32:00.000-07:00

Come and stay at The Leeway during November and December and receive a FREE nights stay. Just book a 3 night midweek break, any time between Sunday and Thursday inc. and you only pay for 2 - your last night is FREE.

So come along and do your Christmas shopping in Whitby, where you'll find some wonderful gifts in the little individual shops here. The scenery is beautiful in winter and with the added bonus of a free nights stay, what could be better.

Offer available between Monday 7th November until Thursday 15th December.

White Rose Awards 2011

2011-07-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

We received FANTASTIC news today. We have been put through for the very prestigious Welcome to Yorkshire's White Rose Awards for Sustainable Tourism. This is the second year running that we have been finalists. The glittering award ceremony will take place on the 10th October, at Doncaster Racecourse, we have booked our hotel already! How exciting.

We are the only Whitby Tourism Business to be through to these prestigious awards, so we hope we win, not just for ourselves but to fly the flag for Whitby too!

Royal Wedding Bank Holiday

2011-04-20T01:49:00.000-07:00

Help us celebrate the marriage of William and Kate. Our 'special' for that mornings breakfast will be dedicated to the Royal wedding and everyone will get a glass of Ker Royal to toast the happy couple.

I am sorry, but there will be buntin up and even Union Jack napkins - well it doesn't happen that often does it - lets splash out and enjoy the day.

Happy Easter

2011-04-20T01:45:00.000-07:00

A very Happy Easter to all our guests, old and new! Hope you all have a lovely time, and enjoy this sunshine, and eat lots of chocolate eggs!!

Our new website should be up and running now ready for the new season - so hope you all like it. Check out the availability to see when you can visit us again!!

Our Daughter's Wedding

2011-04-20T01:28:00.000-07:00

Our Daughter Becky got married in March at Grinkle Park Country House Hotel, at Saltburn by the Sea. Grinkle Park is a wonderful venue for anyone looking to get married. The whole day was fab, and nothing was too much trouble for Chris and his team there. www.classiclodges.co.uk/Grinkle_park_hotel_Cleveland We can fully recommend it. We all had our hair done at Grinkle Park by Leanne from Shearer's in Whitby, who did a great job, and made us all look beautiful. We had a live band - Laughing Jacks from the North East area, www.laughing-jacks.co.uk they were fantastic and played all the songs that Becky had requested. We also hired a photo booth which was great fun - everyone dressed up and had the classic 4 in a row photos taken in the booth. www.boothstar.co.uk The official wedding photographer was Scott Wickins in Whitby, and he took some lovely photos. The brides, bridesmaids and my own jewellry were bespoke and made for us by Linda Havelock www.geodevibrations.co.uk Thanks so much Linda, we love them - especially my jet and amber set. Becky's flowers were made by House of Flowers in John Street Whitby, our local florist, who did a fantastic job - Steph managed to get roses to match the burnt orange of the bridesmaids dresses. They were amazing. Thanks to everyone who helped make the day so special.

WWF - Earth Hour 2011

2011-03-24T01:43:00.000-07:00

http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk.takingpart

For the past 3 years we have taken part in WWF's Earth Hour.

Join us and switch of on Saturday 26th March at 8:30pm and help save our planet.

Extra Special Winter Offer

2011-01-21T08:44:00.001-08:00

Firstly a belated Happy New Year to everyone. Hoping it's a good one for you all!

To start the year off, we are offering an extra special offer for January - Stay 3 nights and get your 3rd night FREE, for the first time ever, this also includes stays at WEEKENDS.

As an extra bonus we are extending this brill offer for part of February too, upto and including the 10th February ( 10th February is our 5th Anniversary at The Leeway - how time flies).

So if you want a 3 day break for the price of 2 from now until the 10th Feb, give us a call on 01947 602604. Whitby is lovely in Winter, white waves crashing in against the pier and not too many crowds!

From Sunday 13th February we still have a winter special offer on - Stay 3 nights and get your last night half price, but that is from Sunday - Thursday only. Weekends are not included in this offer.

Yorkshire Coast Tourism Awards

2010-11-13T00:45:00.000-08:00

The Yorkshire Coast Toursim Awawrds took place last night in Scarborough. We were nominated for 3 awards by our Guests, and we had a great night and won all 3 nominations for the Whitby area! Best Guest Accommodation, Outstanding Customer Service and Best Cup of Tea. Thank you to all our Guests who put us forward for these awards. We really appreciate it.

Our Grandson's Christening

2010-11-13T00:19:00.000-08:00

Isaac Matthew Harrison was Christenend on 17th October 2010 at St Hilda's Church, Whitby. He was a little star! He's 7 months old now and soooooo adorable. Love him to bits.

Our Daughters Wedding

2010-10-19T03:38:00.000-07:00

We have returned from a wonderful holiday and a fabulous wedding in Cyprus.

Our Daughter Lucy and Son-in-law Matthew, got married aboard The Sea Star Yacht in Paphos Harbour on 7th October 2010.

Their day was just perfect thanks to Exclusive Yacht Weddings who organised everything from start to finish. They arranged the big red fun bus to transport us all to and from the yacht, a convertable BMW for Lucy and her Dad, organised all the legalities, the Disco, the Cypriot Dancers, the Wedding Breakfast, Flowers, Cakes, Nails, Hair, and photographer. Everyone was amazing especially the photographer Photo Papis. The photos and DVD are fabulous. A massive thank you to everyone who helped make Lucy and Matthews day so special. If anyone is thinking of getting married in Cyprus, we can whole heartedly recommend Exclusive Yacht Weddings.

White Rose Awards

2010-10-19T03:27:00.000-07:00

Sadly we did not win the award this year, but we have recieved feed back from the White Rose Awards and our secret visit, and our score was a whopping 97.8%.

Ironically what let us down was the apperance of the property, the report stated that the front of the building would need painting shortly. Last May we booked a decorator to paint the exterior of our property, but he kept having to delay the work - he was ready to come mid July but we cancelled him at that point as our flowers were in full bloom in the hanging baskets around the bay windows and up the stairs and it would not have been fair to guests, so we booked him for the first week in October when we were on holiday. If only we had known!! Who knows what may have happened.

Whitby in Bloom Awards

2010-09-20T13:35:00.000-07:00

The Whitby in Bloom Awards were held tonight in Pannet Park's Art Gallery.

The Leeway is proud to announce that it is the Category Winner for the Best Kept Business Premises for 2010. We were presented with a beautiful hand made ceramic plaque that can be placed in our garden.

We were also presented with a range of certificates for:-
Category Winner: Best Kept Business Premises
Silver: Best Kept Business Premises
Silver: Best Kept Guesthouse
Bronze: Best Kept Hanging Baskets
Bronze: Best Kept Back Yard

This is all down to the hard work of Garry - who this year, not only grew flowers in our small front garden, but also grew our own vegetables including Cauliflowers, Broad beans, Potatoes, Carrots, Onions and Swedes.

The Leeway is through to the White Rose Awards

2010-08-02T09:29:00.000-07:00

We are very proud to announce that The Leeway has been nominated for the Sustainability in Tourism Award in the prestigious Welcome to Yorkshire White Rose Awards 2010. The black tie event takes place in Harrogate in October, when the winner will be announced, but unfortunatley we will not be able to attend ourselves due to us being at our daughter's wedding, ( a grander affair, all together! ), but we will have someone there representing us. Fingers crossed.

www.whiteroseawards.com

New Visit England Breakfast Award

2010-07-06T02:09:00.000-07:00

We had a visit from the Hotel Inspector in June and she was really impressed with The Leeway and said we have a great 4 Star Silver property with some elements of our Guest House being 5 Star ( the bedrooms, breakfast and cleanliness).

She awarded us the new Breakfast Award, so we are thrilled to bits. The new award recognises hotels and b&b's that offer their guests a quality and choice of breakfast, service and hospitality that exceeds what would be expected at their star rating.

We are Grandparents

2010-03-20T06:22:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday 17th March 2010, we became Grandparents. Our Daughter Lucy and her Fiance Matthew gave us a beautiful Grandson, Isaac Matthew, weighing 8lb 3½oz. He has a mass of dark hair and is just wonderful.

Thank you to all our Guests who have sent their best wishes. We were preparing everyone for a few weeks in case we had to dash off, but in the end he came when we had closed for a few days - perfect timing!

Welcome to Yorkshire

2010-03-12T09:24:00.000-08:00

Today we had a film crew here from Welcome to Yorkshire. We were honoured. They asked if they could interview us and take photos of The Leeway. They said we represented everything that was great about a stay in Yorkshire! How nice was that. So hopefully we will be in the promotional videos and photographs for the season of 2010.

Forgot to mention last month that we have upgraded another room. Our Superior King / Twin room. (Room 3, if you view our website). This room is different to our usual choice of big and bold as it is very pastel. It is decorated in Laura Ashley wallpaper - a bird cage design with tiny blue birds and pink flowers - sounds unexciting I know, but it is really pretty, especially with the crystal bird cage bedside lamps. We added new furniture and carpet, matching cushions and throw and a flat screen TV. Hope you like it.

Fantastic Start to 2010

2010-01-20T08:27:00.000-08:00

We had fantastic news today. We are the WINNER of Travellers Choice 2010 for Best B&B and Inns in Europe by Trip Advisor. Thank you so much to all of you who put your reviews on to the Trip Advisor Site. We really appreciate that you have made it possible to win such an award. Apparently we were on Radio Tees this morning - we knew nothing about it until someone from the Dentist next door to us, said 'Congratulations'. Then we received an email from Trip Advisor - we even get a Glass Trophey!

Just thought I'd also mention that we have now fully refurbished Room 6 and have added a photo for you all to see it.

Extra Special Offer for January 2010

2010-01-11T05:57:00.000-08:00

Escape the snow in your area and visit Whitby. Whitby has no snow - all our roads and pavements are clear.

For the rest of this month, we are running an extra special offer. Stay 3 nights midweek and only pay for 2. Your last night is FREE. (Fridays and Saturdays, not included).

The North York Moors has plenty of snow, but the roads are still open. The Scarborough Road is fine for travelling. Whitby itself has no snow and none forcast for the forseable future, so if you are fed up with inches of snow at home, take a break to the Coast, and come and stay at The Leeway in Whitby, just bring plenty of warm clothing, as their is a cool wind on the sea front!

Happy New Year

2010-01-05T01:57:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to everyone. Hope 2010 is a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous year for you all.

We have now started the refurbishment of Room 6, so if you keep viewing our website, you should see the new photo's for this room by the end of the month.

We would also like you to meet our two new additions. They are Basset Hound puppies and are called Jasmine and Bluebell or Jazz and Bella for short. Please don't worry if you are not dog lovers, our dogs live down stairs in our private quarters and are not allowed in the Guest House, but you might meet them out in the front garden or see them playing in the back yard.

In the words of Tina Turner 'We're simply the best'

2009-11-09T01:21:00.000-08:00

Yes, better than all the rest! We have just won 3 awards from Whitby Hospitality Association.

We have won:
Guest Accommodation of the year 2009,
Sustainable Tourism 2009,
and Website of the Year 2009.

We are delighted. Thank you to all our Guests who took the time to nominate us. We really appreciate it.

Winter Special Offers

2009-11-02T00:44:00.000-08:00

Why not enjoy a winter break in Whitby. Throughout November, January and February we offer our winter special offers.

Offer One:
Stay any 3 nights midweek from Sunday to Thursday inclusive and get your last night half price.

Offer Two:
Stay any 4 nights midweek from Sunday to Thursday inclusive and get your last night free.

So come along and enjoy the beautiful Coast and North York Moors this winter.

Nominated for 2 Awards

2009-10-31T04:42:00.001-07:00

Last night we had fantastic news, we found out that we are finalists for 2 Awards from the Yorkshire Dales and Harrogate and Yorkshire Moors and Coast for Guest Accommodation of the year for 2009 and also for Sustainable Tourism. As you can imagine we are delighted. Thank you to all our guests who thought we were worthy of being nominated for such prestigious awards. The Awards Ceremony takes place on Wednesday 25th November, so fingers crossed.

The Leeway gets GOLD

2009-08-22T01:25:00.001-07:00

Last week we got great news , we achieved Gold with the Green Tourism Buisiness Scheme. We are really proud of this and will continue to work towards and improve our policy on a greener environment. A big thank you to our Guests for helping us achieve this.

Our Beautiful Dylan

2009-08-13T00:21:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 11th August was a very sad day. Our 2½ year old Bassett Hound Dylan passed away. He was an absolute joy and brought such love and laughter. What a character. On occasions he escaped upstairs to our dining room for a cuddle from Guests. Those who met him loved him, especially Ian and Julie who always brought him treats (and turned him into a Goth!). He was so cuddly, a big living teddy bear.

We would like to thank our wonderful Guests who were with us on Tuesday morning for their understanding when all we could offer them for breakfast was fruit, cereals, toast and tea and coffee. I am sorry I could not provide a cooked breakfast, but after finding Dylan unconscious in his bed, I had to stay with him until the Vet arrived.

In June 2008 Dylan became clumsy and started tripping up, and then falling, so after 3 months of investigations at the Vets the only thing they found was that he had hip displacia, so they sent him for an MRI scan which revealed he had a very rare brain disease. The vets said there was nothing they could do, and in September only gave him about a month to live. We bought him a massive stroller so that we could take him to the beach for a run, which he loved, and if he fell he did not hurt himself. In January 2009 we were lucky enough to learn of a healer who not only worked with people but also with animals. Her name is Eliza and she runs Healing Vibrations. Eliza came every week to work with Dylan and used Theta and Reiki on him. Dylan loved Eliza and was always full of energy when she left. Thank you Eliza for giving Dylan 7 months of quality life, you really did help him. From when his treatment started with Eliza we did not need to use his stroller. He started walking longer distances and in the end was so normal, we had forgotten there was something wrong with him. If you know of anyone who needs healing please contact Eliza at healingvibrations@ymail.com or telephone her on 07769902147, we can fully recommend her.

Dylan was going to be a Goth Dog in October. He was the first dog to wear a Hot Patootie coat at the April Goth Festival ( he can be seen parading the West Cliff on Utube in his Bat coat ). We had just purchased two more, one with skulls and one with spiders. These coats can be worn on their own or with a hot wheat bag inside to keep them warm in winter or to ease aching muscles which is why Dylan had them as he had hip dysplacia. Hope you like the photos. If you like his coats there will be a stall at the October Festival where you can purchase them from Angela, who makes them. www.myspace.com/hotpatootieuk

Our Little Cat

It is only right that I also mention on here our Blackie who passed away 3 weeks ago on Wed 22nd July at the grand old age of 20. We were a little worried when we got Dylan as Blackie was an old lady, but had no need to be, she was the Boss, as she had always been over our other dogs, Scamp and Toby many years ago. She was never a cuddly cat, but a loyal and very independent cat, who we miss dearly.

BBC Breakfast TV

2009-07-04T05:37:00.000-07:00

Did anyone see Garry on Breakfast TV yesterday?

The BBC called us on Thursday and asked if Garry would do an interview for Breakfast TV on Friday morning, regarding Tourism, and how more people are staying at home and holidaying in Britain. Of course he said yes.

So yesterday morning he was supposed to meet the BBC wagons by the Whale Bones, and have a walk on the beach while being interviewed, but the BBC wagon had broken down, so the interview had to take place at Cross Butts with views of the Moors instead of the sea!

Garry thought the interveiw was being filmed and shown later, but to his horror at 7:20am they said 'live in 1 minute'

What could he do, but carry on!! And he did well too.

Visit Britain Silver Award

2009-05-24T04:35:00.000-07:00

This week we had fantastic news. We had a visit from the Hotel Inspector, who gave us the Silver Award. This award is given to Hotels and Guest Accommodations to recognise exceptional quality at all levels.

So we are a 4 Star Silver Guest House now! We are really thrilled.

It is our reward for 3 years of hard work. We finally finished all the refurbishements this April, in time for the new season, so there is nothing remaining of the old Leeway Guest House. Of course we still have plans, and have already bought the new Laura Ashley wallpaper for Room 6! But the redecoration of this room will have to wait until the end of this season now, but we have big plans, as always, for Room 6 in November.

Keep it Cash in Whitby

2009-05-15T08:27:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was the Line Dancing Weekend in Whitby, and all our regulars seemed to have a great time. So much so they re booked for next year. So if there are any line dancing fans around the dates for next year are the 7th, 8th and 9th May 2010.

This weekend is the Gospel Music Convention, which we hope everyone enjoys. Lets hope the weather stays fine!

We have just come back from a mini break of 2 days, but this will be our last day off now until our holiday in September. We only went to Middlesbrough!! We are huge Johnny Cash fans and our favourite band 'Keep it Cash' were playing there, and they were brilliant as usual. If you want to see them, here is the link to their web page which shows where they are playing this year. If they are in an area near you, don't miss them. They will be playing at Whitby Pavillion again in January 2010. This was me on stage with them last time! http://www.myspace.com/keepitcash

We stayed at The Grey House Hotel, which is a 4 star b&b, set in its own lovely grounds, and run by Jana, who is really friendly, and has a great b&b. We can recommend staying there if you need to stay in Middlesbrough at any time.

Goth Weekend April 09

2009-05-05T01:39:00.000-07:00

Well, what a fantastic 5 days we had. This was our 7th festival since running The Leeway, and it was the best. This year we decided to join in the event, so every afternoon we were out shopping and each evening we were out dancing. We have a fantastic Goth wardrobe now, and must have fitted in, as we are on Myspace.com/Gothevents and also on UTube!!

We even bought a Goth coat for our Basset Hound, Dylan!! Who enjoyed meeting everyone, and is also on UTube.

A big thank you to Ian and Julie, our great Goth friends, for taking us under their wing. Can't wait till October, and we can do it all again.