#CountryKids in Whitby with Dracula

Saturday's excursion with Single with Kids was to Whitby with its evocative Abbey ruins: 

The Abbey dates back to AD 657 and the ruins are from the 13th Century. Yet another victim of Henry VIIIs Dissolution:

The children and I enjoyed exploring the ruins which my daughter and I both loved photographing:

My son seemed to prefer finding bits he could safely climb on:

The highlight for everyone was a promenade performance of Dracula: 

These kind of performances are amazing for everyone as you are close to the action and its so impressive how 3 actors perform so many different parts each:

Dracula is traditionally a scary story but with a family audience there was plenty of humour:

The actors got really close up with their audience and did really well to cope with things like dogs barking at them:

Even the potentially scary bits were done in such a way so that children were not frightened:

The actor had moments of interacting with the audience and this is the point my daughter spotted a mistake that apparently no-one else had noticed in 5 years of performing the play:

The actors came to fear her when she stole their lines accidentally by telling the hero that the lady had been bitten and was dead (the actress was shaking with laughter!). He did very well to adjust his lines:

It was my daughter's friend who was singled out as a potential victim by the newly fledged vampire though:

He scuttled backwards through the audience to try and hide behind his mum:

Luckily she failed to bite him and got her just desserts:

The play kept all of us gripped until the end:

What a fabulous cast:

Afterwards my son had found a perfect spot for a family photo:

We all wanted to explore Whitby itself so we headed out of the Abbey and down into the old town. Some how we took the cobbled lane instead of the 199 steps:

It was a steep slope and I was glad of an excuse to pause for a snap of the harbour:

The town has some wonderful old buildings but it was way too packed for my liking. We did manage to find this perfect sibling photo opportunity:

Apparently its name is a misspelling of a Flemish resident from the 16th century Argomont! We managed to make it to the harbour where an RNLI event was taking place. I would love to visit on a quieter day:

It was good to be able to look back to see the Abbey ruins:

After buying some sweet treats to sustain us we headed back to the Abbey and this time the famous 199 steps:

Boy did they make our calves burn! Maybe that is why they have this warning sign:

I certainly needed to pause for breath at the top:

I would certainly recommend a day in Whitby especially if the play is on at the Abbey!