Painting and photography 
Staithes was the centre of an eponymous school of painting in the early 20th century and it still inspires many artists (some of whom have chosen to live in Staithes for immediate access to this source). You won’t feel out of place if you set your easel up anywhere in Staithes, and there are always likely to be some fellow artists at work. Frank Sutcliffe was a remarkable photographer of the early 20th Century whose work provides vivid documentation of life in Staithes, Whitby and the surrounding area. The Sutcliffe Gallery in Whitby displays his work and sells prints of them (The Sutcliffe Gallery, Flowergate, Whitby - 01947 602239). An excellent art gallery has recently opened in Staithes (Staithes Gallery - 01947 841840) and there is also one at nearby Sandsend (Turnstone Gallery, Sandsend - 01947 893289) both of which display work by local artists. The Pannett Art Gallery in Whitby (Pannett Art Gallery, Pannett Park, Whitby - 01947 602908) has a large collection of paintings including many from the Staithes School.

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Birdwatching 
Staithes has a wide selection of sea birds in its environs. The harbour always has turnstones, redshanks, plovers, wagtails, cormorants and the obligatory seagulls. In Winter more exotic visitors can be seen including sea ducks such as eider. Whitby harbour has a fine gathering of gulls. If you come in the late April to June period and haven’t been before then it is well worth the 50 mile trip South to see the thousands of puffins, fulmars, kittewakes, guillemots, razorbills and gannets that breed on the sea cliffs at the RSPB reserve at Bempton.

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Golf 
Whitby Golf Club is situated on the cliffs just North of Whitby and non-members are welcome (01947 600660). There is also a course at Brotton a short distance away (Hunley Hall Golf Club - 01287 676216).

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Railways 
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway is based at Grosmont which is 20 miles South of Staithes. There are 18 miles of track from Grosmont to Pickering and beautifully preserved steam trains run along this with a regular timetable which is very frequent at weekends and in the Summer (North Yorkshire Moors Railway -  01751 472508). The Esk Valley railway is the ordinary railway that runs from Whitby to Middlesbrough, it has 11 stations in the picturesque Esk Valley so it can be used to explore this and to join up the ends of walks.

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Shopping

Nearby Whitby has a range of gift shops, galleries, jewellers etc selling a variety of interesting and unusual souveniers and/or presents to take home. Slightly further away to the north is Middlesbrough which has several large under cover shopping centres featuring all the usual array of big High Street names, M&S, House of Fraser etc along with some smaller local ones which you may not have heard of.