Ravenscar

The Raven Hall Hotel, perched broodingly on the clifftop, was once a home owned by King George III’s physician, Dr Francis Willis: it’s rumoured that the king may have stayed there during his treatment.

A stone’s throw away is the alum works, once an important part of this country’s fabric dyeing industry, and now a fascinating National Trust site.

In the late Victorian period, big plans were made for Ravenscar to become a holiday resort to rival Scarborough and Whitby. Roads were laid out, a handful of fine houses were built and sewers laid. But Peak – as it would have been named – never really caught on, perhaps because of the steep path down to the beach – and the development company went bankrupt. But remnants of the resort that never was remain.

And – like the rest of this fabulous Jurassic coast – the beach at Ravenscar is a wonderful place to find fossils.