The Woodlanders

THE picture is so perfectly English – an Enid Blyton-style scene of two young boys kneeling on the grass, their heads bent together to examine their latest treasure.

And yet the background has a Middle Eastern feel, the colours too jewel-bright to be in an English garden.

The picture is of Lizzie Clarke’s two sons, Ollie and Tom, painted by a former colleague who now lives in Kuwait, and sent to her as a surprise present.

And it inspired a hotel.

Lizzie, a petite and vivacious 49-year-old, is the driving force behind The Woodlands – a pretty little boutique hotel snuggled away in the off-the-beaten-track seaside village of Sandsend, on the North Yorkshire coast.

To say Sandsend is sleepy is doing it a disservice.

It is far more peaceful.

Just a couple of miles from its more boisterous neighbour Whitby, this is what every child of the Fifties remembers from their summer holidays.

A sandy, safe beach, a wooden hut selling buckets, spades and windmills, a couple of cafes and a friendly pub. What is there not to like?

Lizzie certainly likes it. Growing up in Whitby, she had her first job as a trainee chef in what is now her hotel. And when the chance came to take over the business, she just knew that was what she wanted to do.

The house was once the school for the villages of the surrounding Mulgrave estate. The adjoining schoolmaster’s house was converted into an hotel in the Fifties – 11 bedrooms and one bathroom – and was run by the same family for decades.

The Clarkes took it over two and a half years ago.

“It was a very popular traditional seaside hotel in its day,” says Lizzie. “People came back year after year for their holidays and several have visited us since to tell us their memories of the place.”

It was pretty much run down when Lizzie and her husband Graham took it on. But, for Lizzie, who had run an interior design business in York since her chef’s days, it was a golden opportunity. She spent six months renovating and redesigning. Apart from plumbing and wiring, she’s done everything herself, including all the painting – “I have the RSI to prove it” – but soft furnishings are her real forte.

She’s a big fan of Designers’ Guild fabrics and she’s not frightened of using them in a bold and surprising way. The result is shabby French chic combined with African elegance and a twist of the Middle East, as in the lounge, where the painting of the two boys takes over the large part of one wall.

It was described by the panel which judged The Woodlands the Best New Special Hotel in Yorkshire in 2009/10 as “Designers’ Guild meets Alice In Wonderland”.

Modestly, Lizzie says she “just makes it up”.

Furniture comes from a variety of sources – Habitat, eBay and the local salerooms. It’s an eclectic mix – Conran practicality alongside Sixties’ retro chairs and a massive, white-painted ship’s table in the sitting room; a Lloyd loom sofa covered in pretty cushions and surrounded by wellies and brollies in the hall.

The five bedrooms are individually themed and named after Lizzie and Graham’s children and grandchildren: the bedlinen’s 100 per cent cotton, there are no TVs, just top quality radios; the bang up-to-the-minute bathrooms have The White Company cosmetics.

That mix and the hotel’s unique location are proving an irresistible draw for romantic couples celebrating anniversaries, or those just wanting to get away from it all.

Lizzie and Graham live next door in the former school – another project Lizzie has taken on herself. “Everywhere was wood panelled and covered with dark brown varnish, with bits of polystyrene tiles glued on, some bits of Formica here and there and crumbling plasterboard.

It took ages to strip it all down.”

Now the schoolroom is a light and airy space with a mezzanine floor for the bedrooms.

The hotel, Woodlands Sleep, is given over entirely to its overnight guests, while Lizzie’s latest project, Woodlands Eat, is where guests and visitors can enjoy breakfasts, lunches and dinner.

Situated just down the road towards the beach, the restaurant, in a white-painted cottage with the feel of a shooting lodge, is run by Lizzie’s daughter Natasha, 22, and her partner Alex, 27.

Again, Alex is a local – brought up in Sandsend, he studied at Scarborough College (the alma mater of Andrew Pern of The Star at Harome) and ran The Blue Bicycle in York.

At first the couple ran the restaurant in the hotel. “It was a nice, intimate space in the hotel, but it did get a bit noisy for the other guests,” says Lizzie. “So when the chance arose to take over the property in the village we jumped at it.”

The decor of Woodlands Eat is very much down to Lizzie, but the menu is definitely in Alex’s control.

They’ve been up and running for just two months, but already are making an impact with their bright and youthful approach and a menu that features produce from North Yorkshire’s larder – Dexter beef, freshly-shot game and catch-of-the-day fish.

Having just spent all her time – and energy – getting Woodlands Eat up and running, Lizzie is now hoping to step back and let Natasha and Alex take the reins of the restaurant. “The hotel is ticking over nicely,”

she says. “It’s enough for me.”

But then she goes on to say how she plans some changes. “I want to put the fireplace back in the lounge, change the colour, the soft furnishings…”

Somehow, you don’t think she’ll be stepping back too far.

■ Woodlands Sleep, The Valley, Sandsend, YO21 3TE. Tel: 01947-893272. Woodlands Eat & Buy, East Row, Sandsend, Whitby YO21 3SU. Tel: 01947-893438.