It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out how the owners of Saltmoore arrived at the name. Up in the county of North Yorkshire, the country retreat is positioned between the rugged North Sea coast (providing the ‘salt’) and the wild, windswept moorlands of North York Moors National Park.
Originally, a 19th-century residence and country escape for a local shipping magnate, before opening as a hotel (first as Raithwaite Hall, then Raithwaite Sandsend), Saltmoore was one of north-east England’s most exciting new openings of recent years, launching after a massive makeover in November 2024. Not only is it sandwiched between two very different terrains, but it’s also a hotel of two halves. Set on an 85-acre estate within walking distance of Sandsend beach, the main building, Saltmoore House, is for adults-only, while two minutes down the driveway there’s the more family-friendly Beach House. Across the two, there are 72 bedrooms. Other than breakfast in the main house or if parents manage to get time away from their children to visit the spa and adult pool, the two areas don’t seem to overlap much.
On a road trip up through northern England, we stop en route to Saltmoore to take a step-back-in-time train journey on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR). Originally built as the Whitby and Pickering Railway, the line opened in 1836, with passenger carriages initially pulled by horses, before steam trains came in a few years later. Today, the line runs from the inland town of Pickering all the way to the popular seaside town of Whitby.
We board at Pickering’s restored Victorian railway station and settle into a private, comfy compartment on the train, which whistles as we pull away. Travelling first through wooded valleys, the train gradually climbs through open moorland with purple heather, with views across the surrounding hills and countryside. As well as sheep and cows in rolling fields, I spot a grey heron stalking along a riverbank, before we pass Goathland Station, which featured in the Harry Potter films. At Grosmont, in the Esk Valley, we wander around the station, checking out the heritage steam and diesel engines, including in the NYMR’s working sheds, and explore the village, before eventually taking another leisurely train-ride back to Pickering.
We drive on towards the North Yorkshire coast, through expansive moorland, the deep blue ocean appearing up ahead. At Saltmoore, as we’re travelling with our young son, we check in at the cool, white-washed Beach House. The reception area has a cool, whitewashed bar and lounge area, with pizza restaurant tucked away on the other side of a staircase.
Our spacious suite’s light and airy, continuing the beach-and-oceanic feel with blustery seascape and landscape paintings on ocean-hued, grey-blue walls, a dark blue sofa and a plush grey armchair, wooden floors and earthy sisal rugs. The main room’s dominated by a big comfy bed with crisp white linen. A TV’s mounted on one wall, with a mirror and make-up table tucked away to another side of the room, an old-fashioned dial-and-receiver phone placed on it. A gleaming white standalone bathtub is also in the lounge, positioned in front of three front windows, which look out onto the car park. The bathroom’s also big and breezy, decorated almost entirely in white, with marble floor tiles, twin sinks and mirrors, and a walk-in rainshower with relaxing Wildsmith products.
Saltmoore’s main dining venue, The Brasserie, is up at the main house, with a fine-dining restaurant, Calluna, getting reach to launch at the time of our visit. in Saltmoore House. There’s also the more casual The Pizzeria down at the Beach House, which is where we eat in the evening. Popular and lively, it also has a clean, smart, white-washed appearance.
As we’re just a few miles up the road from Whitby, one of the best places in the UK for seafood, it would’ve been rude not to order some of the scampi, which is crispy and moreish, served with tartar sauce. We also share starters of warm focaccia bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and mozzarella arancini (fried rice balls) served with Henderson’s relish, relaxing into our evening with a few glasses of a chilled Italian rosé. The pizzas are good, with thin, crispy bases. I order a classic Margherita and my wife goes for a satisfying Spicy Calabrese with pepperoni, nduja, burrata, red chilli and chilli honey, while our son approvingly empties a bowl of spaghetti bolognaise.
After a restful night, we stroll up to the main house for breakfast in The Brasserie, the cool, modern, low-ceilinged dining room decorated in places with deft additions of twigs and greenery. After helping ourselves to the extensive buffet, including cereal and yoghurt, croissants and fresh-baked raspberry and pistachio ‘cruffins’, we order from the hot dish menu. My breakfast - an Omelette Arnold Bennett - feels so hearty that I may not need to eat again all day, a sizzling, salty, baked dish of smoked haddock, creamy béchamel and eggs, browned on top, while my wife orders the Chorizo Shakshuka (eggs in a rich, spicy tomato sauce) with goat’s cheese.
Set up for the day, we take a walk around the hotel’s gardens, across neat lawns and through a maze to an old stone bridge. From there, we follow a trail past an outdoor sauna and along the side of a lake, clusters of ducks rushing over to see if we have scraps of bread. We hike past sprawling ancient trees, circling around the edge of the lake and back to the main house - a fine way to start to a day.
Afterwards, we take a trip into nearby Whitby, a town with no shortage of fish and chip shops, where we walk along the waterfront, taking in the Bark Endeavour, a locally built replica of HMS Endeavour, the historic vessel that Captain James Cook and his crew sailed on from England to the ends of the Earth (Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia…).
But most of our day is spent on Sandsend beach, reached with a 15-minute walk from the Beach House, down the hotel’s driveway, across the busy main road and down a zig-zagging, cliff-side pathway. The lovely, broad stretch of golden sand runs south-east towards Whitby, with the small village of Sandsend at the northern end. We spend hours resting and playing there in the soft sand and bracing surf, before walking down the quiet beach to the busier area around Sandsend itself, where we sit for a while at a café with views of the ocean, waves collapsing onto the shore.
After another good night’s sleep and satisfying breakfast, we repeat our walking route from the day before, up through the hotel’s tranquil gardens. Circling around the top of the still lake, cutting across narrow wooden bridges and through woodland, we find a grey heron perched on the banks. We watch him for a while, standing tall and still, perhaps watching the water for a fish. Like us, the bird seems absolutely content to be taking in the morning air in this calm, peaceful spot between the salty sea and magnificent moors.
Rooms from £325 per night (subject to change), including breakfast. Saltmoore, Sandsend Road, Whitby, North Yorkshire, YO21 3ST: saltmoore.co.uk. For North Yorkshire Moors Railway, see www.nymr.co.uk.
