Best to go to Runswick on a bright blue day by way of the high road to Ralph's Cross, for it is from there comes that sudden uplift at the first sight of the sea.

Driving past frisky lambs and ponderous ewes and an increase in curlew chicks this year, just beyond the Westerdale turn-off it is all set for Runswick; a scenic descent to Castleton, series of sharp bends into and out of Danby, then up and over the low moor to the busy junction of the Whitby road above Scaling dam, regular haunt of bird-watchers.

Alongside the reservoir, the rising toward the stark silhouette of Calais House, the Sandsend road signals left, and as moor and coast gradually merge approaching Ellerby bank top, there unfolds a superb panorama of the glittering north sea.

Hard left there and down the green lane of this dreamy hamlet to a deft zig-zag across the A174 and on to the home run for Runswick Bay, its bank-top car park, and 27 miles on the clock from Kirby.

From Runswick bank top, the sheer depth of space is accentuated by feathers in flight. Pigeons, doves and jackdaws soar, circle and dive, up across and through the huge block of air between the visitor and the old village far below. The birds of Runswick obviously enjoy the wild abandon their aerial skills afford, and their enthusiasm infects the observer, sharpening the sense of this beautiful bay and its broad curve of woodland echoing the southern shoreline.

In addition, the chack-chack of jackdaws is constant, mingling with the wail of herring gulls about the cottage chimneys, while out of the cliff top foliage comes the summer song of blackbird and thrush, and the sweet smaller voice of the hedge sparrow.

Best keep a tight rein on shank's pony down the old road to the village from the bank-top bollards as you descend into a maze of clean-cut cottages which, much like the new car parks adjacent and remodelled bay frontage, exhibit fine modern restoration. Structure and feel based upon the past is well apparent but the old village reality is a ghost.

For years, Runswick has been a seductive tourist trap and happy holiday base, even more so now, its aims soundly focused upon this new century.

Strolling through this charming environment of tile, stone, steps and byways brings the wide-eyed visitor to a thatched cottage beside the sea.

Behind it is a small marine parade, directly below Runswick's prominent nab. Here be a sun trap; a lovely place to sit and wonder at passing ships, and absorb the peace, time and away from the rat-race.

Statuesque cormorants stand, as at Whitby, drying their wings on nearby rocks. Spending time afloat too, diving suddenly, only to reappear minutes later somewhere else. Or flying past in pairs low and fast against the sea, heading north to Port Mulgrave and Staithes.

In 1973, a social history was published. A vivid document, extremely funny, gloriously rude in places, it was written by a man who is today representative (in spirit) of Runswick as it once was - a fishing village.

John Johnson (1911-84) called his book 'The Nagars of Runswick Bay' and it is perhaps better read in seclusion lest the resulting giggles and belly laughs disturb the household.

I managed a double the day I met Mr Johnson, coming away from his house with a head full of his amusing chat and a signed first edition. He shared with me his extensive knowledge of Runswick's bird nests, and eggs - collected avidly by him as a boy. He told me of robins, dunnocks and yellowhammers nesting on the bank tops, skylarks in the fields above the sea, and of Kettleness as the place for herring gulls - their eggs brought home for his mum to fry as a filling meal.

Runswick's feathered population circa 1920 was remarkably varied, and it would be no surprise to find the situation unchanged today as, thankfully, much of the landscape explored by John Johnson remains untouched.

Artists have strong links with Runswick. The famous Staithes Group (whose works provided York City Art Gallery with one of its most powerful and evocative exhibitions in 1993) was the nub of it all.

Members such as Rowland Hill, Mark Senior, Arthur Friedenson and Fred Jackson caught an earlier vision of Runswick on canvas.

Bright blue days appealed to them too, and the sunny, happier side of life in the late 19th and early 20th century village shines out of their paintings - paintings keenly collected today through Whitby's popular auction houses at ever-increasing prices.

One image which brings Runswick up to date in this respect, only to push it even further back in history, is a black and white picture by photographer Graham Lowe.

At one point during the visit of Captain Cook's replica ship HM Bark Endeavour to Whitby in May 1997, this artist captured a private moment in the vessel's dramatic and emotional return to its spiritual home. The bark took overnight anchorage in Runswick Bay unbeknown to most, and it is this haunting apparition which Graham Lowe has preserved.

The photograph is available as a card plus envelope or as a framed print, and a visit to the lively Montage Gallery in Castleton will find this and more of his original work, plus much else in the way of modern art in the park.

Updated: 11:36 Thursday, August 02, 2001