Beauty and history celebrated on 60 miles of coastline
Together there is a total of 60 miles of Heritage Coast in the region. There's plenty to see along the other sections of our North Sea shoreline as well. For more see our Seaside page.
North Yorkshire and Cleveland Heritage Coast
The whole of this coastline can be walked by footpath, a part of the 110-mile Cleveland Way national trail from Helmsley to Filey Brigg and also now part of the King Charles III England Coast Path.
Along the way are the picturesque fishing village of Staithes, a favourite haunt of artists, beautiful Runswick Bay with its red roofs and thatched cottage, and the delightful fishing village of Robin Hood's Bay with its tales of smuggling and houses that seem to cling to the cliff.
This is Yorkshire's Jurassic Coast, where rocks dating back between 150 to 200 million years are exposed on the sea shore and cliffs. Ammonites can easily be found and occasionally there have been finds of fossils from large marine reptiles and dinosaurs.
More recent relics are those of the alum mines and works which sprang up along this coast between the 17th and 19th centuries which provided the fix for dyes used across the prosperous Yorkshire textile industry. There is also the railway heritage of lines which in places ran along the cliffs between Saltburn and Whitby and Whitby and Scarborough. A short section is still open for freight between Saltburn and the Boulby Potash Mine, but most of track has long been removed. However, the routes can still be mostly navigated as footpaths and bridleways.
In the middle of this section of heritage coastline is the wonderful seaside harbour town of Whitby with its rich maritime heritage, most famously from its time in the 18th century as the home port of renowned Royal Navy officer and explorer Captain James Cook.
Flamborough Heritage Coast
Through the spring and summer the cliffs are alive with around a quarter of a million nesting birds. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has an accessible nature reserve at Bempton Cliffs with cliff edge viewing platforms and a seabird centre.
The Flamborough headland's remarkable chalk coast features include stacks, caves and coves.
The headland continues to be virtually an island because of a huge earthwork, Danes' Dyke, thought to have been initially constructed in the Bronze Age around 3,000 to 4,000 years ago although with a present-day name suggesting a later period. The 2.5-mile (4km) long ditch and bank defensive earthwork has an average height of 7 metres.
More recent man-made heritage includes an old chalk tower from the 17th century which is the oldest full lighthouse remaining in the country and also an early 19th century lighthouse which is still active.
Spurn Heritage Coast
The headland includes the Spurn National Nature Reserve, run by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. Spurn can offer a spectacle of migrating birdlife in the spring and autumn and deer and grey seals can also be spotted.
While a century ago there was a railway along the headland and more recently a road, there is now no vehicle access for the public other than by cycle or the Spurn Safari tour by ex-military vehicle. Victorian sea defences have crumbled and tidal surges have washed over the headland at times to temporarily form Yorkshire's only sea island.
It is still possible to walk to