Barmston Beach

The shale cliffs at Barmston drop straight into the North Sea, and they're crumbling away at a rate that would alarm the Environment Agency if anyone was paying attention. This is proper East Yorkshire coast - no promenade, no amusement arcade, just a working beach where locals walk dogs and collect fossils from the fallen debris.

It's a straightforward spot: park up near Driffield direction, walk down to the shore, and you've got a stretch of sand and shale that feels genuinely removed from the seaside postcard version. The cliffs themselves are the main draw - they're geological, they're dramatic in a understated way, and they're visibly unstable. Kids will find it fascinating for about an hour, then want feeding. Serious walkers and geology types will spend half a day here picking through the debris.

Free access, no facilities to speak of. The tide matters - go at low water or you'll be scrambling. It's not a destination in itself unless you're already camped at Parkdean Resorts Barmston Beach Holiday Park, which sits practically on top of the place, or Seaside Caravan Park just down the road. From there it's a ten-minute walk.

Worth the detour if you're doing a park holiday on the Yorkshire coast and fancy something grittier than Bridlington. On a grey day with wind coming off the water, it's genuinely atmospheric. Summer weekends get busy with families from the holiday parks. Go midweek or winter for the real thing.