It’s the time of year where many of us start to think about spending long, warm days on beautiful beaches.
And while we may be a little short of sunny summer days at the moment, we are blessed with lots of brilliant beaches.
That is underlined as a new guide to Britain’s best beaches is published – and no fewer than four are in North Yorkshire.
Researcher Chris Haslam travelled 5,583 miles and visited 543 stretches of sand to compile the UK’s 50 Best Beaches in The Times.
“Our 11-point checklist covers everything from cafés to car parking, loos to dog-friendliness,” the guide says.
“Most importantly our guide only features beaches where the bathing water quality is rated Excellent.”
The North England regional winner is Beadnell Bay in Northumberland. But it was pushed very close by these four North Yorkshire beauties…
Cayton Bay
Beach location
Close to Scarborough but without the crowds, Cayton Bay is described as “home to the Yorkshire surf scene”.
“There’s a pop-up sauna on the old bunker at the north end (from £13; whitbywellbeing.com), and if you climb the path from there you’ll reach the Salty Dog café, which is very proud of its £6 smash burgers.”
Boggle Hole
Found south of Robin Hood’s Bay, this is an undiscovered gem for many. “A short descent from the tiny car park brings you to the wooded mouth of the Mill Beck, running wide and shallow across a beach paved with Yorkshire mudstone,” says The Times.
“They used to believe hobgoblins live in the caves here, but you’ve more chance of spotting an ammonite.”
Whitby
The seaside resort that has it all: award winning chippies, gleaming jet, a bustling harbour, vampires – and a lovely beach. Whitby’s West Cliff is described as “a world-class beach” by The Times, which adds…
“The old cliff lift has been out of order since 2022 and there’s little chance of any change this summer, but the town council will be operating a bus service to ferry passengers between the clifftop lawns and the sands, where beach huts are available for £22 a day (northyorks.gov.uk) and surf lessons cost from £35 (whitbysurf.co.uk).”
Redcar
While we might think of it as Cleveland, it’s technically in North Yorkshire and has “an impressive stretch of immaculate sands running eight miles from Teesmouth, past the ruins of the steelworks and on via Marske to Saltburn,” says The Times.