About us
May 2024 and we have finally GONE IT ALONE, it took a while to get here, see our story below:
We started coming to Whitby over 20 years ago, and the minute we arrived I loved the place so made it my mission to move here. Luckily, Iain my husband loved the place as much as I did and helped to create a plan of action.
We had some properties in Bradford where we are both from and decided to sell these so we could buy in Whitby and start a holiday cottage business.
In 2011 we found Pecks Cottage……..I just fell in love with the place even though we had only stood on the patio area, so we bought it, engaged a builder and set about the renovation. Oh boy did it turn out to be some renovation as we found things were not as they seemed, the house was taken back to the brick work, and we rebuilt it making sure it was energy efficient and to a high spec.
It was tough but a great learning curve as we still lived in Bradford. We managed to come and give our input into the renovation which was important to us, we wanted our cottages to be some of the best in Whitby giving holiday makers an experience to remember.
We soon added to our portfolio with Cobble Cottage in 2012 and Seashell Cottage in 2013, although this cottage was not for a holiday let it was for us to stay in as we came to Whitby most weekends.
Then in November 2013 we had the opportunity to buy Paradise Cottage and Paradise View which were next to each other and also next to Pecks Cottage, it was a no-brainer for us to do this, as they also came with 3 parking spaces which are like gold dust in Whitby!!!
We eventually realised our dream and moved to Whitby in 2016………I am smiling as I write this, we still pinch ourselves and feel so lucky to live in such as beautiful historic town.
During this year we also bought Springhill Cottage (sold it in 2021) in Whitby and Turnstone Cottage in Sandsend.
In 2017 we decided to take the next step and actually have some cottages built after sourcing a great location in Whitby town centre. The piece of land is where the old police station and court room used to be so our aptly named cottages ‘Columbo’, ‘Morse’ and ‘Sherlock’ were up and running from April 2019 each with 2 parking spaces and outside space.
When we first invested in 2011 we used agencies to help with bookings and to manage some elements of the business as we both had full time jobs in Bradford, this still carried on when we moved here but in May 2024 we decided TO GO IT ALONE. After over 10 years we have built up a good reputation in Whitby, have a great set of repeat guests and felt we could manage the online travel agencies ourselves such as Booking.com, Airbnb and also have Charlotte, Iain’s daughter here to help us now so the time seemed right.
We have now engaged with a local company SL Laundries who do our cleaning/linen, however we are still hands on and like to make regular checks and carry out the general maintenance of our cottages to make sure they feel loved and comfortable for our guests. We think this gives us a slight edge over owners who don’t live nearby or regularly check their cottages to ensure everything is spot on.
We are always around town and love an excuse to chat with our guests making sure they are happy, offering advice or recommendations as well as gathering any feedback or suggestions they may have on how we can improve or if something is amiss.
We have 10 cottages with no intentions of adding any more as we find this is enough to be able to manage successfully whilst allowing us time for family as well.
We would like to thank all guests old and new for your support, kindness and often friendships we have made and hope you will come stay in one of Vitty’s Cottages making happy family memories for many years to come.
Heather, Iain and Charlotte – The Vitty’s
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