May Beck & Falling Foss circular

A woodland tea garden beside the Falling Foss waterfall in Sneaton Forest, a few miles inland from Whitby, where dogs 'are more than welcome to join you'. The perfect finish to the May Beck circular with a muddy dog in tow.

A 6.4-mile forest and moorland circular of about three hours with 200 metres of climbing, from the waterfall at Falling Foss up to May Beck, round Newton House Plantation to York Cross on Sneaton High Moor, then back over Leas Head to the Hermitage and the coin-studded wishing tree. Park at Midge Hall by Falling Foss, signed off the Whitby to Scarborough road at Red Gate, or at May Beck a mile to the south; the tea garden beside the falls opens April to September, ten until four. Superb for a dog, with the beck alongside most of the wooded sections and forest track to run on, but the moor crossing is boggy after rain and is nesting ground in spring.

An easy 3.3-mile circular of an hour and a half through the oak and hazel of Little Beck Wood, taking in the Hermitage, a room hollowed out of a single boulder in 1790, a hidden waterfall in the wood and Falling Foss itself, 30 feet of it, at the end. Start from the Midge Hall car park at Falling Foss, signed off the A171 at Red Gate; the tea garden here opens April to September, ten until four. Shaded, enclosed and full of water for a hot dog, though the path runs along a steep bank above the beck in several places and the wooden steps near the falls go greasy in winter.