Dog-friendly attractions in Flamborough

Fifty acres of woodland dropping down a steep ravine to the sea, on the line of the prehistoric earthwork that cuts clean across the Flamborough headland from here to Cat Nab on Bempton Cliffs. The council's countryside service asks only that dogs are kept under close control and picked up after, so there is no lead rule and no seasonal ban anywhere on the reserve or its beach. The tree trail and the ravine paths are soft underfoot and shaded, which makes this the sensible Flamborough option on a hot day when the clifftops are baking. Pay and display parking for about 80 cars sits on the site of the demolished Danes Dyke House off Flamborough Road, with toilets open all year and a kiosk in season. A bridleway leaves the top of the exit road, crosses the ravine and heads over the golf course to Sewerby.

Two hundred and twenty acres of clifftop grassland and chalk cliff wrapped round the lighthouse at the tip of the headland, the most northerly chalk outcrop in Britain. The council's own page for the reserve says dogs are allowed but must be kept under close control and picked up after, and there is no lead order and no seasonal ban here in any month. Walking is on foot only across open field and cliff-edge grass where restharrow, carline thistle and kidney vetch grow, and the drop is unfenced in places, so a recall you can rely on matters more than a lead does. The beach at Selwicks Bay is down a long flight of steps from the grass. There is a large pay and display car park by the lighthouse with toilets open all year, picnic benches and a seasonal cafe and shop.

A wooded chalk valley dropping to the RNLI slipway on the south side of the Flamborough headland, with a circular nature trail through the trees and out along the clifftop above Bridlington Bay. The council countryside service asks only that a dog is kept under close control and picked up after, noting that not everyone is comfortable around dogs, so there is no lead rule and no seasonal ban here in any month. The main access path has a firm surface, is wide enough to walk two abreast and is suitable for a wheelchair, and there is an access-for-all route round the two ponds with interpretation boards and picnic benches a hundred metres along the trail. The beach is down seventy-five steep steps. Admission is free, parking is charged for a hundred cars on the upper level, and the lower level is RNLI and permit holders only with fixed penalties for anyone else.

The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's stretch of clifftop between Thornwick Bay and Breil Nook, a mile and a half of chalk grassland and sea-pink ledges with puffins, kittiwakes and razorbills below and the odd bottlenose dolphin offshore. The Trust's own reserve page gives the dog rule as on a lead, and asks you to pick up after your dog and use a bin, which is stricter than the council land either side of it. The way in is the coastal public footpath from the North Landing car park, and the Trust warns the path is hilly and steep in places with steps, and to take extra care in wind. Parking is not the Trust's own: use the charged car parks at North Landing or Thornwick Bay, with seasonal toilets and a cafe at North Landing. There is a picnic area on the reserve itself.