Filey

From Coble Landing, take the path up Carr Naze and drop to the rocks. The Brigg runs half a mile out and is only safe for two hours either side of low water — check the tide board at the top of Church Ravine. Rock pools, kittiwakes, and cormorants drying their wings on the outer end.

At the foot of Church Ravine, the tractors still haul the cobles up the concrete slipway. Best at mid-morning when the boats come in. There is a lifeboat station, a couple of kiosks selling crab sandwiches for around £6, and the sort of pottering that eats an hour without you noticing.

Two seventeenth-century cottages knocked together, run by volunteers, on Queen Street in the old town. Fishing, smuggling, the coble builders, and the town's Victorian reinvention as a resort. Admission is a few pounds and the opening season is roughly Easter to October, afternoons only — turn up in November and you will find the door shut.

Head south from the ramp below The Crescent along the sand. It is about three miles to the Hunmanby Gap access and its café, with clay cliffs on your left the whole way. Firm sand, no obstacles, and you can turn back at any point. Check tides — the far end narrows on a high spring.

The medieval parish church sits in the old village across the ravine from the Victorian town, twelve minutes uphill from Coble Landing. Norman core, big tower, and a churchyard with the wind coming straight off the bay. Free, usually open in daylight hours, and the quietest place in Filey on an August afternoon.

A Yorkshire Wildlife Trust wetland on the western edge of town off Muston Road, ten minutes' walk from Murray Street. Two hides, reed beds, and a reliable list of waders and warblers in spring and autumn. Free entry, muddy underfoot after rain, and almost nobody there on a weekday morning.

Filey station is on Station Avenue, three minutes from Murray Street, and sits on the Yorkshire Coast line between Hull and Scarborough — Northern services, roughly hourly in the day, about 12 minutes to Scarborough and 30 to Bridlington. For York or Leeds you change at Seamer or Scarborough; allow around two hours from York door to door. East Yorkshire's service 12 runs the coast road to Scarborough and Bridlington far more frequently than the trains, but the evening service thins out badly after about 6pm. Driving, it is a mile off the A165. Park at the Country Park or Crescent car parks, roughly £5 for a day, and leave the car there — nothing in town needs it.

For under-eights and for anyone who wants a quiet week, yes. The beach is flatter, safer and far less crowded, and rooms cost £20 to £40 a night less. But Filey has no big attractions, no theatre and one small amusement arcade, so teenagers get bored by day three. Scarborough is 12 minutes by train if you want the noise for an afternoon.

Yes — Filey Bay holds a good water quality rating and the main beach below The Crescent is patrolled by RNLI lifeguards in the summer season, usually from late May to early September. Sea temperature peaks around 16°C in August, so most people wear a wetsuit. Avoid swimming near the Brigg itself, where the currents around the rocks are genuinely dangerous.

If you walk, yes; if you want to be entertained, no. Rooms drop to around £55, the beach at low tide in January is spectacular, and the Brigg is at its wildest. But several seafront cafés close from November, some town restaurants shut Mondays and Tuesdays, and it is dark by four. Bring a car or accept a limited evening choice.

The main options are the Country Park car park at North Cliff, the Crescent car parks, and Church Ravine down by Coble Landing. Reckon on roughly £5 for a full day, less for a couple of hours, with machines taking card. Street parking on the residential avenues is largely permit or limited-stay, and traffic wardens do work Filey in the summer.