Quarterdeck Cafe, Boggle Hole

If you haven’t been youth hostelling in a while much has changed. First of all it’s no longer just for youths: anyone can stay in dorms, family rooms, even double ensuites. Nor do you have to cook your own supper, do the chores or promise to walk on foot to the next hostel, like the tough old days.

The YHA has moved with the times, none more so than Boggle Hole, a former water mill perched just above the slipway, yards from the beach and just one low tide mile along the beach (3.5 miles by road) from Robin Hood’s Bay

Last year they completed a £1.2 million restoration which includes a splendidly over-the-top nautical interior done out in a pirate theme

The Quarterdeck Café made for a fine retreat for tea and lemon cake after a walk on a clifftop stretch of Cleveland Way. Warmed by a roaring wood burner in a room filled with sofas, armchairs and blankets, it’s delightfully quirky. Lampshades are made of old fishing floats, skeins of rope are slung here and there along with wall hangings like the breeches buoy and the bar (yes a real bar in a YHA hostel) is an upturned boat.

They are open to the public every day for drinks and cake and serve meals evenings and weekends with the likes of burgers, fish and chips, Thai veg. curry, falafel burger and apple crumble, all of which we have yet to sample but £11.95 for three courses sounds like a good deal.