To visit Whitby’s ‘Yards’ is to step back in time. Hardly changed from the Middle Ages, this is where one can still meet old Whitby - a secret Whitby - unspoilt and untroubled by the holiday visitor. The yards, alleyways and ghauts are fascinating places to explore. Though often private, there are enough remaining to catch a glimpse of what this small seaport must have been like two or three hundred years ago. Today, over eighty named yards still exist out of more than one hundred and there are, in addition, another thirty or so places of similar character but perhaps called ‘steps’, ‘lane’, ‘square’ or ‘place’. The origins of the yards lay in the days of medieval Whitby and its development. Join Alan Whitworth on this affectionate and lavishly illustrated account, which will surprise and delight anyone who knows the area.