Dog-friendly East Riding of Yorkshire

The wide flat sand below North Marine Drive, running from the North Pier up towards the cliffs at Sewerby. East Riding of Yorkshire Council's dog Public Spaces Protection Order excludes dogs from one marked stretch only, between the northern end of North Marine Promenade and the north-eastern face of the North Pier, and only from 1 May to 30 September. The sand north of the promenade end, below Limekiln Lane and on towards Sewerby steps and Danes Dyke, sits outside the order and is open with no lead requirement all year. From 1 October to 30 April the whole beach is open, and at low water it dries hard and wide enough for a proper run. Pay and display parking is on North Marine Drive and at Limekiln Lane, and both fill by mid-morning on a hot day.

The long southern sand that starts at the harbour and runs unbroken past the Spa towards Wilsthorpe and Fraisthorpe. The council's dog PSPO excludes dogs from 1 May to 30 September between the southern face of the South Pier and the eastern face of Princess Mary Promenade Sea Wall, which is the busy town end in front of the amusements and the Spa. Carry on south past the end of the sea wall and you are outside the order, with several miles of open sand and no seasonal ban at all, which is where most local dog walkers go in summer. Out of season the whole beach is unrestricted. Parking is pay and display on South Marine Drive and at the Spa, or free further south on Belvedere Road.

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.

Withernsea's beach is sand over clay behind a long concrete sea wall, with the two mock-castle Pier Towers standing on the promenade where the pier used to be. The council's dog Public Spaces Protection Order excludes dogs from one marked section only, between the first groyne north of the access ramp opposite Seaside Road and the beach access steps at Pier Tower, and only between 1 May and 30 September. That leaves the long open sand running south towards Holmpton and north towards Tunstall outside the order all year, and the whole beach unrestricted from 1 October to 30 April. Access ramps and steps come down from the promenade at intervals, parking is on the seafront and around Seaside Road, and the beach is exposed with no shade at all on a hot day.

Aldbrough sits on the fastest-eroding coastline in Europe and the beach below it carries no dog restriction of any kind. The East Riding of Yorkshire Council dog Public Spaces Protection Order names only four beaches in the whole county, Bridlington North, Bridlington South, Hornsea and Withernsea, so Aldbrough is outside the order entirely and dogs may run here off lead all year round. Access is down the ramp at the seaward end of Seaside Road, past the caravan parks, and the cliff top itself is genuinely dangerous: the road has been shortened repeatedly, houses have gone over the edge, and the boulder clay slumps without warning after rain. Walk on the sand rather than at the foot of the cliff, check the tide because the beach narrows against the clay at high water, and treat any fenced or taped section as closed.

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.

Where the Ouse and the Trent become the Humber, the flood bank at Blacktoft carries you along the top of a huge sweep of saltmarsh, mud and reed with the Trent Falls light and Alkborough Flats across the water. This is a working estuary shore rather than a resort beach, reached down the lane past the Hope and Anchor to the bank end, and it carries no dog restriction of any kind at any time of year. The East Riding seasonal beach ban names only Bridlington North, Bridlington South, Hornsea and Withernsea, all on the North Sea coast, so nothing on the Humber shore is closed to dogs in summer. The tide runs hard here and the mud is genuinely dangerous, so keep to the bank top and the lead on.

The floodbank south of Broomfleet village runs out to Broomfleet Island, a low sandy spit thrown up inside the estuary where the Humber widens below Weighton Lock, with firm sand and shell at low water and a mile of saltmarsh and reed behind it. Nothing here is promenade: the way in is on foot from the level crossing at the end of Station Road, over the Market Weighton Canal and out along the bank past the Washlands. There is no seasonal dog ban of any kind on this shore. The tide fills the creeks behind the island far faster than it looks from the bank, and the deep-water channel used by ships up to Goole runs close in, so keep a dog out of the water.

The wide flat sand below North Marine Drive, running from the North Pier up towards the cliffs at Sewerby. East Riding of Yorkshire Council's dog Public Spaces Protection Order excludes dogs from one marked stretch only, between the northern end of North Marine Promenade and the north-eastern face of the North Pier, and only from 1 May to 30 September. The sand north of the promenade end, below Limekiln Lane and on towards Sewerby steps and Danes Dyke, sits outside the order and is open with no lead requirement all year. From 1 October to 30 April the whole beach is open, and at low water it dries hard and wide enough for a proper run. Pay and display parking is on North Marine Drive and at Limekiln Lane, and both fill by mid-morning on a hot day.

The long southern sand that starts at the harbour and runs unbroken past the Spa towards Wilsthorpe and Fraisthorpe. The council's dog PSPO excludes dogs from 1 May to 30 September between the southern face of the South Pier and the eastern face of Princess Mary Promenade Sea Wall, which is the busy town end in front of the amusements and the Spa. Carry on south past the end of the sea wall and you are outside the order, with several miles of open sand and no seasonal ban at all, which is where most local dog walkers go in summer. Out of season the whole beach is unrestricted. Parking is pay and display on South Marine Drive and at the Spa, or free further south on Belvedere Road.