A Love Letter to Lastingham, North York Moors...

Some places are lovely to visit. Some places make you slow down, breathe a bit deeper and accidentally spend 45 minutes walking 200 metres because everyone stops to chat. The North York Moors National Park has always been that place for us.

Long before we chose to share our holiday cottage with others, we were visitors ourselves.

We’d been coming here for years and every single time we arrived, it just felt like home. That feeling never changed - which is exactly why we wanted to create a place where other people could experience that feeling too.

What makes this place so special isn’t just the beautiful scenery (although the walks, peace, quiet and dark skies are pretty hard to beat)… it’s the people.

There’s such a genuine community spirit in the village. People are warm, friendly and welcoming, and there always seems to be something going on — open gardens, the midsummer fair, sports day,Halloween fun, Santa visits and so many events that bring everyone together. The support for the village hall is amazing and the village’s dark skies accreditation says so much about how much people care about this special place.

Over the years, we’ve made real lifelong friends here — the kind of friendships that start with a quick chat and somehow turn into years of laughter, catch-ups, Sunday roasts, BBQs and shared memories.

Our children have grown up visiting too — from babies in arms to muddy boots racing around village events — and some of our happiest family memories have been made right here.

Honestly, we came for the scenery… but we kept coming back for the people.

If you know Lastingham, you’ll understand exactly what we mean… and if you don’t yet, we hope you will one day.