WAGFINDER
Walk · North Yorkshire

Woolacombe Sands to Putsborough and the Warren

Woolacombe
Pickwell Potter's Hill 110m N 880 YD © OpenStreetMap contributors
5MILES
1h 45mON FOOT
60mCLIMB
Out & backSHAPE
The route A-road B-road Lane Track Path Water Woodland
Off-road 92% 8% shares tarmac with cars
Field & moor path 78%Lane & track 14%Road with traffic 8%

Our drawing of the route, over road and path data from OpenStreetMap. It shows where the walk goes and what it goes through. It is not a survey and not a navigation aid — carry OS Explorer on the hill.

Starts at
Woolacombe Esplanade, at the south end by the stream
Parking
Paid estate car parks on the Esplanade and Marine Drive, hundreds of spaces but queueing by 10am in August; Putsborough at the far end has its own paid car park
Directions to the start →

Five miles of the easiest and biggest beach walking in Devon, an hour and three quarters down two miles of firm sand to Putsborough and back over the marram dunes of Woolacombe Warren, essentially flat with 60 metres of climbing. Park on the Esplanade or in the big Marine Drive car parks, both paid and both owned by the estate that owns the beach, and get there before ten on a hot day or join the queue on the hill. The dog rules here are set by the estate rather than the council and change as you walk: no dogs at all on the north end of the beach from 1 April, dogs on leads from the stream as far as Mill Rock from 1 May, and free running south of Mill Rock all year, which is exactly the stretch this walk uses, with a stream at either end to drink from.

THE SMALL PRINTWoolacombe beach is privately owned and zoned: from 1 April no dogs are allowed on the north end of the beach, Zone A, from the Esplanade to the stream; from 1 May dogs must be on a lead from the stream as far as Mill Rock; south of Mill Rock dogs may run free all year. Similar restrictions apply at Putsborough.

House rules, decoded

Off-lead OK
REGION · NORTH YORKSHIRE
GRID · 51.1725, -4.2105
SOURCE · HTTPS://WWW.WOOLACOMBETOURISM.CO.UK/NEWS/DOG-RESTRICTIONS-WOOLACOMBE-BEACH
Also in Woolacombe
Barricane Beach
Beach SOME LIMITS

Barricane Beach

Dogs banned MAR–SEP

A small shell-strewn cove at the north end of Woolacombe, famous for its evening Sri Lankan curry stall. Dogs are allowed but must be on leads while the cafe is in place, which is usually from March to September; outside that the cove is unrestricted.

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW ›
Combesgate Beach
Beach SOME LIMITS

Combesgate Beach

Dogs banned APR–SEP

A rocky, rock-pooled cove between Woolacombe and Mortehoe, with a reef that surfers use at mid tide. Dogs are excluded from the end of April to the end of September, which is a longer season than most of the Torbay bans and a fortnight earlier than Croyde.

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW ›
Grunta Beach
Beach DOGS WELCOME

Grunta Beach

Dogs allowed all year

A little sandy inlet north of Combesgate, named after a shipload of pigs wrecked here, and reached down a rough path from the coast road. Dogs are allowed on the beach at any time of year, which makes it the only wholly unrestricted cove on the Woolacombe side.

Off-lead OK
VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW ›

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