A two-story stone house sits on a steep cliff below the coastal town of Salt urn-by-the-Sea. Cars and a bus navigate along the steep road up the cliff. Top left are terraces of four-story dwellings. There is a red-roofed commercial property lower down the cliff.

Teddy’s Nook: Where Facts are Optional

Working with the National Trust at Old Saltburn, tucked away in Littledale—a predictably small valley with a narrow view across to the new town. The place has some flora worth noting, though you will be mostly clawing your way through Blackthorn, Gorse, and Brambles. Today’s thrilling task was hacking back this jungle.

Perched smugly on the cliff overlooking the sands is a quaint two-storey stone house called Teddy’s Nook. It was positively basking in the early morning winter sunlight, as if it knew its own importance. Built in 1862 by Henry Pease, the founder of Saltburn, it was originally called ‘The Cottage’—a title as imaginative as a brick. Allegedly, it was his holiday home, but the place has since gathered more scandal than sea breeze1Teddy’s Nook (NZ666216). North-East History Tour. http://northeasthistorytour.blogspot.com/2012/01/teddys-nook-nz666216.html.

It is unclear whether Pease ever darkened the doorstep, but it did not take long for the house to fall into eccentric hands. A pair of oddball ladies moved in and, as one does, kept a lion as a pet. They supposedly paraded it on the beach before burying it in the garden when it shuffled off this mortal coil.

Then there are the wartime tales, because every old house needs those. The story goes that German spies occupied the place during the Second World War, signalling ships with flashing lights. Because evidently, Saltburn Sands was the hotbed of espionage.

Later, it was inhabited by the Kelly family, supposedly a cousin to Jimmy Savile. Savile himself, it is whispered, was a regular visitor. Lovely, we won’t see that in the brochures.

The pièce de résistance, though, involves Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales, and his mistress, Lillie Langtry. In the late 1870s, Langtry supposedly holed up in the house while Edward lounged at the Zetland Hotel. This tawdry affair, real or imagined, is said to have given the house its name, though the first written mention of ‘Teddy’s Nook’ does not crop up until 19282Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer Tuesday 15 May 1928. Three years before that, it was still quaintly going by ‘The Cottage.’

One might expect a treasure trove of reports in the newspaper archives about such illustrious (or dubious) occupants. Alas, a search turned up precisely nothing. So, this entire post is little more than unfounded gossip, but since we are now about to begin an era where facts are optional – thank you, Mark Zuckerberg – who am I to argue with hearsay?


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3 responses to “Teddy’s Nook: Where Facts are Optional”

  1. Pete avatar
    Pete

    As luck would have it I happened to see you today, although of course I didn’t know that it was you at the time, as I walked up the path below The Coastguard Cottages with Littledale the other side of the hedge.
    I have always meant to write a comment to say how much I enjoy your informative, well-researched articles. Please keep up the good work.

    1. Fhithich avatar
      Fhithich

      Thanks, Pete. It was Thursday that I was at Littledale.

      1. Pete avatar
        Pete

        That’s when I saw you. I hope the bonfire kept you warm.
        I walked over Warsett Hill to the Fanhouse and then back down Huntcliff and the paths were frozen.

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