Danes Dyke Beach East Yorkshire Review

Last Updated on June 1, 2023 by Suzy McCullough

We love living by the sea and we will be exploring as many beaches on the East and North Yorkshire coast as much as possible. I struggle to find reviews of each beach so hopefully, this is something I can change. In each review I will cover parking, access, facilities, the potential for fossils/sandcastles/shells/rockpooling and more for each beach we visit. I am starting my series with a review of our visit to Dane’s Dyke beach in East Yorkshire.

Danes Dyke beach is located just north of Bridlington/Sewerby and just south of Flamborough. I was always lead to believe that Danes Dyke was named as such because of it’s Viking visitors long ago. In fact the bank and ditch earthwork ‘wall’ which cut off Flamborough peninsula from the mainland is said to date back to Iron Age times. It may even be post-Roman and was intended as a defensive structure to protect headland settlements. It is the most northerly outcropping of coastal chalk in Britain.

What I can tell you for sure is that Danes Dyke is stunning, even in winter. There is a forest now growing on the bank and the beach is as beautiful as its surrounding woods. It was declared a nature reserve in 2002.

Facilities at Danes Dyke

There is a rough ground stone base car park at Danes Dyke. This is high on the ridge and there is an overflow grass car park plus another grass car park a short drive away from the two main car parks. The car park is pay and display but won’t break the bank. We paid £1.40 for two hours.

There is a small kiosk at the main car park where you can buy hot and cold drinks, snacks, ice-creams and selected hot food such as burgers and chip butties. We visited on a Sunday in February and the kiosk opened at 10 am. They also have male and female toilets next to the kiosk.

Luckily access for cars is on a one-way system. The road is very narrow so this is essential and very welcome.

Dogs are allowed but must be kept on a lead. Sadly the lady who let her two massive dogs bother Jamie clearly hadn’t read the signs. There were also a few dogs that hadn’t been cleaned up after, which is a massive shame but I have seen worse.

Access to Danes Dyke Beach

If you just want to visit the beach without going one of their walks then the access isn’t as bad as the beaches at Flamborough. It is rough dirt ground though and you would struggle with a wheelchair or a buggy but it is not overly steep. In fact, at one point the walk down almost goes up.

It takes no time at all to walk down to the beach from the main car park. It took us around 5 minutes and that was with stopping for photos. The quicker route down is situated at the front left of the main car park. (in the direction of the sea)

Danes Dyke Beach

Before you visit it is worth checking the times for high tide. There will be little or no access to the beach at high tide. When we visited it was just a couple of hours after high tide. The tide was already out far enough and the next high tide wasn’t due for another 4 hours.

Maybe it was because we visited on a lovely sunny day but we both loved the scenery at this beach. The white cliffs and the white stones and pebbles everywhere is stunning.

After a bit of a scramble across the stones and pebbles, we made it close enough to the sea to throw some pebbles in. I didn’t want to hang around by the cliffs for too long as it was clear they are eroding and there had been a recent landslide. A lot of the North Yorkshire coastline is great for fossil hunting but it hasn’t really made it down to the East Yorkshire coast. We looked for a while but it was just endless white pebbles.

The 1 mile walk back to Danes Dyke main car park

You can take the easier and far less strenuous option and walk back up the way you came down. But we had mostly come as we wanted to do some walking. I spotted some signs at the bottom of the steps to the left of the beach area highlighting a 1 mile walk back to the car park so this is what we did. It was a lovely walk and never too strenuous even with steps going up and down in places. You can also walk a coastal path up to Sewerby if you so wish (or from Sewerby to Danes Dkye).

The walk we did took us along the top of the bank that was built many moons ago and you walk either side of the gulley/ditch (it’s a long drop down and there is a rope swing at the bottom).

The whole area is wooded and with plenty of snowdrops out and bluebells to come it certainly adds to the picturesque scenery. We also found a few more bridges to cross. You have to walk on the road that takes cars in for a short while but you are soon back on the path again. We are already looking forward to returning to see the bluebells.

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