Saltburn Pier

We went to Saltburn today, once again ignoring the BBC's best attempts to keep us indoors with their flaky weather forecasts. Saltburn (or Saltburn-By-The-Sea, to give it its full title) is on the coast of Cleveland, and is the home of the North East's only surviving pier. In fact, it was recently (yesterday, as it happens) voted Pier Of The Year!

Saltburn is a quite attractive little town, clinging to vestiges of its Victorian past which are still evident in many of its buildings in the streets behind the railway station. The beach lies at the bottom of the cliff, down to which winds a steep and torturous road, some steps or, for the unfit or those who just want to experience it, an old fashioned cliff-lift. The pier is right at the bottom of the lift.

The beach is lovely, easily the best in the area, and the stretch beside the pier is patrolled by lifeguards in season. Surfing is popular and it's probably a good place to learn, the breakers not being too big for the most part. The area at the back of the beach has surf shops that hire out equipment.

We had a stroll around the town, taking a look at some of the picturesque Victorian streets before walking down to the beach and out along the pier. This was followed by a walk along the beach and up the Cleveland Way onto Hunt Cliff, a site of Iron Stone mining back in Victorian times and part of what helped to fuel the growth of Middlesbrough. The views from up here were gorgeous and we had to resist the temptation to follow the cliff path for too far - lunch was calling!

One Mocha & Cakes later at the excellent Camfield's just behind the beach and we were off for a walk up the Valley Gardens. These start (or end, depending on your perspective) at the beach and head up the valley of Skelton Beck. In the lower reaches it's just trees and grassland set in an attractive wooded valley, but further up formal gardens are planted up the hillside and stretch right up to the road up above.

For such a little town Saltburn has a lot to offer - great beach, pier, cliffs, woodland and countryside walks, surfing, cafes and some nice, quaint backstreets. We've been coming here for 25 years, but we're still growing to appreciate it more and more.