A Dracula Spectacular
A lit-up Abbey and a lot of toasted marshmallows
Readers, hello! How was your half term, and Halloween? We had a lovely week, and trick or treating is one of the highlights of the year for the girls.
Now, the open fields opposite our house were turned into a building site for 175 houses last year. SIGH. This is the second phase in a mega-development, and phase one, which covered the next field along with 180 houses, is now completed.
The disruption and noise of having a never-ending building site basically in the garden did finally bring a silver lining for my kids, as that means 180 newly completed houses to trick or treat.
We all got back on Monday night soaked through from the rain (my weather app promised it would hold off!) and with face paint dripping down the girls’ cheeks, but they had piles of sweets and trick or treat goodies from our new neighbours.
We had a super-spooky adventure in half term too, when we went to Whitby Abbey’s Illuminated Abbey event. Read on to find out more….
This week’s adventure… Illuminated Abbey in Whitby
We love going on holiday to the Yorkshire Coast, and we booked a four night stay near Whitby for half term.
Whitby, if you’ve never been, is the setting for Dracula, so it’s already got some seriously spooky chops. There’s a glorious Gothic, ruined Abbey on the headland and it also hosts the country’s biggest gathering of goths on Halloween weekend. It’s a fabulous place to visit at Halloween.
We’ve never actually visited the Abbey before, which is an English Heritage site, preferring to climb the famous 199 steps next to it and then admire from a distance. But Illuminated Abbey felt like too good an opportunity to miss.
The ruins are lit up by a kaleidoscope of rainbow spotlights for four nights, glowing turquoise then scarlet then violet on the headland. As we headed in we saw the monster hunter Van Helsing (well, obv an actor playing him, but more on that later) welcoming us, and three big firepits were ahead, set up for toasting marshmallows.
‘Mummy, I’ve got this, I’m an expert at marshmallow toasting’, declared my 9yo, citing her extensive experience at forest school (when they go and do woodland stuff one morning a week at school). Marshmallows were on sale for £1 (cheap in my experience of these things) and she issued confident instructions on how to get the perfect marshmallow sizzle.
Van Helsing then began ushering the crowds down a torchlit path towards a series of outdoor stages around the ruins, where a version of the Dracula story was played out. This was fun and spooky, and watching outdoor theatre, especially in the dark with the smell of marshmallow smoke in the air, was very evocative.
My 6yo was captivated, and somewhat taken aback when one of the actors pulled out a pistol and ‘shot’ Dracula, but watching the story unfold in the very location where Bram Stoker imagined it felt really special.
There was more time to look around and see the ruins of the Abbey in the lights, after the show, and then we headed back to the car via the hot dog and hot chocolate van. Lovely stuff.
Whitby is certainly more of a holiday destination for us than a day trip, but I’d 100% recommend it at Halloween or any other time of year, whether you’d like a lovely long weekend, or a longer, family stay with the kids.
When I’m next in your inbox the World Cup will be underway - I know, how weird does a football tournament feel at this time of year? - and we’ll have done a two-week dog sit. I’ll let you know about some canine-friendly activities we enjoy, and what we’ve got planned for the run-up to Christmas.
Thanks to everyone who got this far. You know you’re my faves.
See you next month,
Jenna