Eight Yorkshire postcodes appeared in this year's Best Places to Live guide, compiled by The Sunday Times. The annual list combines data and statistics such as crime rates, house prices and school performance with local knowledge and expertise. The locations were selected for offering the best quality of life to the widest number of people, and combining desirable features such as a positive community spirit, good local shops and services and attractive outdoor spaces.
And among the things picked out as highlights are the Seaview Restaurant, the “elegant” pier, transport links and school.
Here’s what The Times has to say.
“This grand slice of posh Victorian seaside resort.
“It’s got a lot more going for it than its old nickname, Darlington on Sea, suggests. There’s surfing and a wide, sandy beach, earning it a reputation as the Newquay of the north. But it also has all the trappings of the classic British seaside, including an elegant pier (the most northerly in Britain), a water-powered cliff lift (the oldest in Britain) and a miniature railway.
"The seafront has been tidied up over the past few years, and there are plans to bring in “luxury” beach huts for the summer."
"Saltburn is famous for the fish and chips at the Seaview Restaurant (£10.50 for cod, chips and a glorious view), but new businesses are popping up all the time, with a florist, a microbrewery and an interiors shop opening in the past six months. There’s a weekly farmers’ market and an annual food fair, and the lively town centre is full of art galleries, antiques shops and jewellery stores. It’s a reminder that the town’s advantages stretch beyond the beach."
"Huntcliff, the local secondary school, gets a solid good from Ofsted, and there are trains to Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Darlington. If that wasn’t enough, Saltburn has a surprise up its sleeve: a 'secret knitting society', the Yarnbombers, emerge under cover of darkness to decorate the pier with huge displays of woolly toys and sculptures."