I can’t believe this is the 10th Staithes Festival having attended many over the years, and was so pleased to have a gap in my busy touring schedule to head up with my wife and black lab Bronte to this picturesque fishing village on the Yorkshire Coast for this year’s event.
The annual event started as just an Art Festival but has blossomed over the years to include heritage too. This year I was honoured to experience the wealth of creativity and talent on display throughout the village as well as over 100 artists exhibiting and selling their work.
Organised by a small festival team (and a crew of volunteers), the Festival sees artists set up pop up galleries in the village and a wide range of arts events taking place across the course of the weekend.
Staithes is about 11 miles north of Whitby and sits on the North Yorkshire Coast on the border between Yorkshire and Cleveland. Once a quite fishing village, it has now become a popular tourist village with its winding cobbled streets and cottages mainly dating to the 1700’s. It has a rich maritime history and has proved a timeless landscape. Once being home to a group of artists known as the “Staithes Group” who lived and painted in the village because of the fabulous light.
The Staithes Group were inspired by French impressionists such as Monet and Cezanne and chose to paint in the open air, their most famous member was probably Dame Laura Knight who lived in the village with her husband a fellow painter Harold Knight.
Laura Knight is actually honoured outside one of the pop up galleries with an artwork by a modern day artist called Paul Czainski, who has a holiday home in the village and has a “Painted Illusion trail” which helps attract visitors to the village. Other living artists who either live in the village or spend time painting here today include Rob Shaw, David Curtis, Sue Nichol and Lucy Wilson.
The progammme of events includes musical performances throughout the village as well as film shows. Sadly we missed out on folk singer Eliza Carthy as her concert has sold out but we witnessed a great show from Nick Rooke and Paul Blackburn with a spirited performance including some Irish folk outside The Staithes Gallery, where there was literally dancing in the street.
It was great to see the village come to life and the village residents embrace the event providing refreshments and allowing their homes to be used as pop up galleries as well as the many holiday homes.
We spent hours wondering around the village, my wife and myself taking it in turns to view the exhibits due to being accompanied by a very wet dog.
We broke up the day with tea and cake at Dottie’s Vintage Tea Room as well as the odd pint at The Royal George and The Cod & Lobster, both pubs benefiting from the many visitors seeking sustenance.
Guided tours of the village took place hosted by resident and local historian Bill Hinchley who brought the village’s colourful history to life. There were so many talks and events taking place it was a shame we didn’t have time to take them all in.
The Life Boat Station also hosted a series of concerts during the day which were well attended.
A couple of mentions must go to our old friend Kit Helmsley who now lives in Runswick Bay for her wonderful ceramics – a pot of hers takes pride of place in our bedroom!
I also loved looking at the old sepia images of “old Staithes” in a quirky exhibition by Rod Jewell and local museum The Staithes Experience.
I hope the event continues and would highly recommend people paying a visit in 2025 for the 11th iteration of the event. I certainly aim to attend again.
Find out more: www.staithesfestival.com
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