We were genuinely sad to hear that the National Trust is to close the cafés and visitor facilities at Ravenscar and the Old Coastguard Station at Robin Hood’s Bay as of September 6th (being their last days of operation).
These are two places that have always felt like much more than somewhere to stop for a coffee. They have been gateways into one of the most beautiful and fascinating stretches of coastline in Yorkshire — places where you can pause, learn about the landscape and its history, and then head out on foot to experience it for yourself. We have loved visiting both over the years, and our growing children have been able to access a huge amount of learning through all ages in the two small, but well put together establishments.
If you have the time coming up before September 7th 2025, maybe it’s time to put on the hiking shoes, grab your binoculars and a water bottle, and head out to the coast of North Yorkshire. The walks and the access obviously wont go away, but these two lovely information centres and cafés, with their knowledgable staff soon will be.
I’ll share some of the fascinating things I’ve learnt over the years from these two places (and from growing up nearby) at the end of the blog.
Walking the coast from Robin Hood’s Bay – (distance: roughly 5km) depending on how much time you spend wandering the higgledy piggledy streets and tunnel of the bay.
One of our favourite walks is along the beach from Robin Hood’s Bay to Boggle Hole, and returning back over the cliff tops. To be very aware, the entire Yorkshire coastline is eroding over time – hence so many wonderful fossils to be found, but a key warning to heed:
- stay back from the base of the cliff. Heavy clay cliffs falling will do you some serious damage
- stay away from the edges and remain on the paths when walking the tops. It’s a long was to fall
There is something particularly special about seeing this coastline from different perspectives. Down on the beach, you can look up at the enormous cliffs above you and really appreciate their scale and layers. The information provided along the route helps explain the different rocks and formations that make up the cliffs, turning what might otherwise simply look like beautiful scenery into a fascinating geological story.
Then, climbing back up from Boggle Hole and walking along the cliff tops following more of the Cleveland Way, the view changes completely. You are suddenly looking out over the sea and back towards the coastline you have just walked beneath. With Robin Hoods bay in the near distance, you can imagine exactly why the town is infamous for smugglers bringing in illegal contraband to the UK. Instead of sheep up on the hillside, now a fabulous vineyard sits proudly above the town.
It is exactly the sort of experience that makes these information centres worth protecting — beautiful, but also full of things to discover.
Walking Ravenscar to Boggle Hole – (distance: just under 10km)
Another favourite is the walk from Ravenscar along the cliffs towards Boggle Hole, returning up a steep climb from Stoup Beck to the old Cinder Track.
This summer, we were thrilled by the number of people we saw enjoying Ravenscar. In our eyes, it was a really encouraging number of visitors, and it was wonderful to see so many people discovering this remarkable part of the coast.
Walking towards Boggle Hole, the landscape constantly changes. And then there are the seals! From high on the cliffs, you can hear them below and, with a good view, watch them gathered along the shoreline and rocks. There is something quite magical about standing high above the sea, hearing the seals calling from far below and watching them in their natural environment. The sound is wild!
This walk also takes you through some fascinating reminders of the area’s industrial and social history. Eventually, the route brings you down towards the steep climb of Stoupe Beck, before turning back towards Ravenscar along the old cinder track.
That return route is another reminder that this landscape is much more than a pretty view. The old track, the remains and stories of the area’s industrial past, the dramatic cliffs, wildlife and changing geology all sit alongside one another.
And throughout it all, the National Trust’s information helps connect what you are seeing with the story of the place.
A difficult goodbye
We were particularly sad, therefore, to hear about the closures.
At Ravenscar, we had hoped to walk down towards the famous seal colony, but unfortunately the instability of the cliffs means that access is no longer possible at the moment.
Of course, sometimes conservation means accepting that we cannot access every part of a landscape. Protecting the cliffs and the wildlife has to come first.
And that is perhaps why we want to say thank you rather than simply say goodbye.
Thank you to all the staff who have welcomed visitors over the years — for the coffees, cakes, books, information, friendly conversations and countless small moments that have helped people appreciate this coastline.
And thank you to the National Trust for the work it continues to do to care for these extraordinary places. The Trust has confirmed that its wider conservation work along the Yorkshire Coast will continue, including caring for walking routes and landscapes, restoring habitats, monitoring wildlife and protecting the area’s natural and historic heritage.
We hope that whatever happens to these particular buildings and facilities, the spirit of welcome, discovery and conservation they have provided will continue.
For us, Ravenscar, Robin Hood’s Bay and the paths between them will remain places of wonderful memories, and more in the making — of long walks, spectacular views, seals calling from below, fascinating geology and the feeling of being part of a much bigger landscape.
Thank you to everyone who has helped keep these beautiful places alive. We are very grateful that we have had the opportunity to enjoy them.
History Along the Ravenscar to Boggle Hole Walk
As I mentioned before, one of the things I love about the walk between Ravenscar and Boggle Hole is that the scenery comes with rather a lot of history attached. I therefore think it’s important to share some of those points here. If you walk out along the coast and return on the Cinder Track, you pass through the remains of old industries, abandoned railway infrastructure and, perhaps best of all, a seaside resort that never actually became a seaside resort.
Ravenscar – the town that never was
Ravenscar has one of those odd stories that makes you look at the landscape rather differently once you know it. It’s not just a tiny village perched on a cliff, with a majestic old hotel watching over the seal colony.
Until the late nineteenth century the little settlement here was generally known as Peak. Then, in the 1890s, developers came up with the ambitious idea of creating a brand-new seaside resort to rival Scarborough. The area was renamed Ravenscar, streets were planned, roads and drains were laid out and plots of land were offered for sale.
There was, however, one fairly major flaw in the plan – which really seems so obvious, it makes it more remarkable that anyone would have even conceived this idea of a “seaside town” in the first place. Ravenscar sits high on the cliffs, around 600 feet above the sea, and getting down to anything resembling a beach involves rather more effort than the average Victorian holidaymaker probably had in mind. Those little changing wagons on wheels wouldn’t cut the mustard to get the ladies of leisure down to the waterfront.
Lo and behold, the grand resort never materialised.
Only a scattering of houses was ever built, leaving behind the slightly surreal layout you can still see today: roads, junctions and empty spaces where whole streets of villas and hotels were supposed to stand. Walking through Ravenscar is therefore a little like wandering around the skeleton of a town that exists mostly on an old developer’s plan.
Peak Alum Works
Heading from Ravenscar towards Boggle Hole along the coastal path brings you close to the remains of the Peak Alum Works, one of the most important historical sites on this stretch of coast.
Alum was once an essential part of the cloth-making industry, used to help dyes bind to fabric. The process of making it was enormous, dirty and labour intensive. Shale was quarried from the cliffs, piled up and burned slowly for months before being processed to extract the alum.
The remains scattered around the hillside include old industrial buildings, workers’ cottages, a lime kiln and traces of an inclined railway that once moved materials between the cliff top and the shore.
It is also worth looking at the landscape itself. Some of the huge hollows and strangely shaped slopes around Ravenscar aren’t purely natural: centuries of quarrying and industry have quite literally reshaped the coast.
A much older Ravenscar
Long before Victorian developers or alum workers arrived, Ravenscar was already an important lookout point.
A Roman signal station once stood on the headland here, forming part of a chain of coastal watch stations built during the late Roman period. From this lofty position there was an excellent view across the North Sea and along the Yorkshire coastline.
There isn’t a great deal for the casual walker to see today, but I rather like knowing that people were standing up here watching the horizon more than 1,500 years ago.
Boggle Hole and Bay Mill
At the bottom of the steep wooded valley is Boggle Hole, whose name sounds as though it belongs in a children’s story.
A boggle was a mischievous goblin or spirit in northern folklore, supposedly the sort of creature that might lurk in caves and lonely places. Given the dark little caves, wooded ravine and secluded beach here, it isn’t difficult to understand how the name stuck. There’s also an old cave on the beach at the corner of Boggle Hole, where the local Boggle is rumoured to live still. Again, don’t go too close to the cliffs. They are crumbling.
The building now used as the Boggle Hole Youth Hostel was once Bay Mill, a water-powered corn mill, with records of milling here stretching back to at least the seventeenth century.
The Cinder Track and the old railway
Returning towards Ravenscar along the Cinder Track changes the historical theme completely.
The broad, gently graded trail follows the route of the old Scarborough to Whitby railway, which opened in 1885 and finally closed in 1965. The line was notoriously difficult to operate because of its steep gradients, sharp curves and exposed coastal position.
Ravenscar sat at the summit of the route, and trains climbing towards it had a considerable job on their hands.
Near Boggle Hole you pass the site of Fyling Hall Station, a tiny rural station which once served the surrounding farms and villages. Parts of the old platform can still be spotted if you know what you’re looking for.
Further towards Ravenscar the track passes through an old alum quarry and areas later associated with brickmaking. A railway siding once served the works here, another reminder that the railway wasn’t built simply for tourists but was an important part of the area’s industrial life.
Ravenscar Station and the abandoned tunnel
Back at Ravenscar, the remains of the old railway station sit alongside the Cinder Track. Remember, it was originally opened as Peak, and later changed to Ravenscar – that badly selected location for a fashionable Seaside Resort.
Just beyond it is another intriguing remnant of the railway: the old Ravenscar tunnel. The original railway passed through the curved tunnel, while today’s Cinder Track diverts around it.
It feels particularly fitting to finish the walk here.
In the space of a few miles you’ve passed Roman lookouts, an industry that helped clothe Britain, an old corn mill, stories of boggles and smugglers, a vanished railway and finally the empty streets of an ambitious Victorian seaside town that never quite happened.
Not bad for a walk with a sea view, and thanks again to the National Trust staff for working here.