Walk · Devon

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. Off-lead information here is what walkers reported or what signage allows — never our advice. Whether and when a dog is off the lead is the owner’s decision and legal responsibility; keep dogs under control near livestock and follow signs on the day.

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 allowed
REGION · DEVON
GRID · 51.1725, -4.2105
SOURCE · HTTPS://WWW.WOOLACOMBETOURISM.CO.UK/NEWS/DOG-RESTRICTIONS-WOOLACOMBE-BEACH
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