Jack Cooper, along with childhood friends Gabriel and Cameron Hill, runs Mary’s Sandwich Shop on the seafront at Sandsend. He explains why the village is the perfect location for a relaxing day by the sea…
MORNING
The early mornings are beautiful in Sandsend. I’d probably get here before 9am, get a coffee from our place, Mary’s, which we opened last October, and then head straight into the sea. A five-or ten-minute dip really kick starts your day. There’s loads of wild swimming down here now, with a wild swimming club. If you’re into it, there’s yoga on the beach with Happy Seal, or you can do ‘yogging’, which is more cardio-based: yoga with jogging. They do yoga on paddleboards, too. Then head over to the Sandside Café for a full English – they have great views out to sea from their terrace, and it’s a good, classic, seaside café. A full English and a pot of tea – I feel like I’m on holiday! I’d probably need to walk that off then – I’d head into Mulgrave Woods; it’s a lovely stretch of woodland managed by the Estate. It’s really well-maintained, with routes that take in the old castle, bridges, hidden spots, caves and beautiful old-growth trees.
It's a shameless plug, but I’d have to have lunch here at Mary’s – a sarnie and maybe a Bloody Mary. I’m assuming that our 24 hours is on a Saturday, so a lunchtime drink seems fair. We’ve started making our own Japanese milk bread, which is nice for a light lunch, especially when you’ve had a full English for breakfast. Then back out to sea – but this time on a kayak or paddleboard. Whitby Surf School have a little trailer here, you can rent surfboards or stand-up paddle boards. You can watch the sea for hours here There are loads of seals around, and dolphins in the summer. A minke whale and its calf spent the whole day meandering around the bay the other day. Then, a classic, chilled-out beach afternoon: beach cricket, and maybe an ice cream. Cameron and I used to work for Beacon Farm ice cream, a local firm which has a van here, and it was maybe the nicest job we ever had – just serving people ice cream and making them happy! Sandsend is a really good beach, a long stretch of clean sand that goes out such a long way that even when it’s busy, there’s lots of space. We’re so lucky to have an office with a view like this.
I’d go for a pint at the Hart Inn, just near the bridge – it’s a classic English pub with a nice selection of cask ales, and really cosy in the winter. Then for dinner, straight across the bridge to the Fish Cottage – it’s really cool with a nice beach-y vibe. They do classic fish and chips, but also things like fish tacos, a flatfish of the day, lobster. I love the cod and ‘nduja croquettes with gremolata. They have some nice wines and Spanish lagers. Then, to finish the night, back to Mary’s for some nice craft beer, or maybe a negroni – we do an English twist on ours, using Whitby gin, and the vermouth and bitters are both English.
Due to (re)open its doors this month, the former Raithwaite Sandsend hotel is now Saltmoore, a ‘wellness-led’ retreat. Revamped at a cost of £10m, it features 72 luxurious rooms and a spa featuring an indoor pool, jacuzzi, relaxation room, sauna and steam room. The Sanctuary also features a cryo chamber: described as a ‘modern day ice bath’, this promises ‘relief from chronic inflammation, accelerated recovery, improved mood and elevated skin health’.
Just three miles north of Whitby – you can walk from one to the other along the beach when the tide is low – Sandsend is rightly celebrated as one of the prettiest places on the North Yorkshire coast. It’s a simple little resort with a pleasingly vintage feel. A long stretch of golden sand is divided by a shallow freshwater stream which runs into the sea and creates a home for the mallards which are an unusual feature on the beach.
Mulgrave Woods
If you think Sandsend is all about sun, sea and sand, think again. Take a walk into shady Mulgrave Woods, where you can ramble for hours enjoying the woodlands and wildlife. The woods are owned and managed by the Mulgrave Estate and are open to the public from dawn to dusk on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays year-round except May.
Mulgrave Castle Gardens
On selected dates each summer, Lord and Lady Normanby, the owners of Mulgrave Castle, open their magnificent gardens, including a walled garden, rose garden and fabulous ‘scrolled’ box hedges. Each open day is hosted by a different organisation in aid of a local charity.
The elephant in the room
Feeling the sand between our toes on a hot summer’s day is blissful – but not, apparently, for elephants. How do we know this remarkable fact? Because a former resident of Mulgrave Castle was Duleep Singh, the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, who rented the residency between 1858 and 1862. Local legend has it that he liked to travel to Whitby by elephant, walking a pair of them along the beach – but when he realised that the sand made them uncomfortable, he constructed the road that now connects the two locations.
Out with Romany
For a certain generation, the soothing voice of G Bramwell Evens [correct] on the radio was a passport to a wilder place. Better known as ‘Romany of the BBC’, he was one of the earliest broadcast naturalists, inspiring later broadcasters such as David Attenborough with his travels around the countryside accompanied by his faithful cocker spaniel Raq and Comma the horse. Romany loved Sandsend and bought a cottage there – his book Out with Romany by the Sea was written in the village.
