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Scarborough at Scarborough Town

RHS National Britain in Bloom Gold & Category Winner (Large Coastal Category)

Scarborough is a great a place to stay for a holiday or short break, with the safe, sandy, accredited North Bay beach and South Bay Beach being broken by a rocky headland on which stands a reminder of the past - Scarborough's medieval castle.

The resort offers first class attractions such as the award winning Sea Life Marine Sanctuary, Scarborough Art Gallery and the newly refurbished Rotunda Museum.

The many festivals, including Seafest, Jazz, Bike week, Scarborough Fayre and the Cricket festival, provide you with all year round events.

By night you will be spoilt for choice with four fantastic theatres, each offering something different. One of the most famous is the Stephen Joseph Theatre, home of playwright Sir Alan Ayckbourn. Music lovers can visit the Spa Complex, home of the only remaining seaside orchestra, or Peasholm Park, which offers open air concerts and a variety of family entertainments.

Scarborough boasts many quality restaurants, each serving a variety of fresh local produce. The restaurants cater for all tastes with everything from seafood and a la carte establishments to Italian, Greek, Indian, Chinese and Thai cuisine.

The resort provides a great choice of high street shops and boutiques. The Brunswick Centre is a prestigious all-weather shopping centre with a department store and thirty-five other retail outlets. The Centre is located in Scarborough’s pedestrianised shopping precinct, which, with the surrounding streets, has many individual boutiques, specialist shops and inviting cafes and bars.

Whatever you decide to do or wherever you decide to go you will always receive that warm Yorkshire welcome.

Origins of the name Scarborough:

A medieval Icelandic saga tells how two Icelandic Viking brothers called Kormak and Thorgils were the first men to "establish the fort called Skardaborg". The fort was named after one of its founder's nickname, for Thorgils was call Skardi, meaning hare-lipped, by his brother. It is now generally accepted that the name Skardaborg, which has come down to us as Scarborough, means "the fort belonging to Skardi".

Kormakssaga tells more about these brothers. Kormak was a talented poet, described as a wild man with black curly hair while Thorgils on the other hand was taciturn and easygoing. Both men had a taste for adventure and plundering around the coasts of Britain and Ireland. About the year 966 they decided to make the sheltered waters of the south bay their base and built the fort. They may even have re-used the ruins of the Roman Signal Station. Kormak was killed while raiding in Scotland.