Dog-friendly beaches in Hornsea

Atwick is the first beach north of Hornsea and it sits entirely outside the council's dog Public Spaces Protection Order, which names only Bridlington North, Bridlington South, Hornsea and Withernsea, so dogs are free here off lead every day of the year with no seasonal ban. Go through the village past the Black Horse on Main Street, take Cliff Lane to its end and the beach is reached by a steep and often slippery clay ramp cut into the cliff, which is remade every few years as the sea takes the last one. There is space for a handful of cars at the top and nothing else, no toilets, no cafe and no lifeguard. Turn south and you can walk the whole sand into Hornsea at low water. The cliff is soft boulder clay retreating a couple of metres a year, so keep well out from its foot and never sit under it.

Mappleton is the small beach two miles south of Hornsea where two enormous rock groynes were built in 1991 to hold the village up, and it is one of the best free dog beaches on this coast because no dog order applies to it at all. The council's dog Public Spaces Protection Order lists only Bridlington North, Bridlington South, Hornsea and Withernsea, so there is no seasonal ban and no lead requirement here on any date of the year. Park in the small council car park on Cliff Lane by All Saints Church and take the stepped ramp down beside the southern rock groyne. Between the two boulder groynes the sand builds up deep and soft, and north of them you can walk the whole way to Hornsea at low water. The clay cliff is live and slumping, so keep well out from its foot.

Hornsea's sand runs for several miles between timber groynes below a two-tier promenade, and the seasonal dog ban covers only the middle of it. The East Riding of Yorkshire Council dog Public Spaces Protection Order names the excluded stretch as Hornsea Beach between the concrete ramp at Headland View and the steps south of Sands Lane, and applies it from 1 May to 30 September only. Everything north of the Headland View ramp towards Mappleton and everything south of the Sands Lane steps towards Rolston stays open every day of the year, and from 1 October to 30 April the whole beach is open with no lead requirement anywhere on the sand. Park in the pay and display car parks off Marine Drive by the leisure centre; the upper and lower promenades are linked by ramps, so a dog that will not do steps can still get down. The exclusion zone is signposted at both ends and there are location maps along the promenade.