If you’re looking for a walk to see the waterfalls at Falling Foss, then you’d be hard pressed to find a more picture perfect route than the circular path along May Beck.
Route: We used this route, starting the walk with an uphill section through lovely bracken and woodland, with the return leg along the side of the beck.
Parking: May Beck Car Park. Turn off the B1416 onto May Beck Farm Trail and follow the road past the caravan park and down the hill. At the bottom of the valley, the car park is just over the small bridge.
Facilities: The half way point is marked by the beautiful Falling Foss Tea Garden, which serves scrummy food and drink, toilets and play areas for small children.
Accessibility: Not suitable for buggies; uneven and muddy paths. Some rocks which can get slippy when wet. First section involves a fairly steep uphill (but short) section.
Walking to Falling Foss
However appealing the path along the beck looks when leaving the car park, I highly recommend walking to Falling Foss in a clockwise circular. It can be difficult to find the way back in the other direction (not helped by poor signage), and remember you’ll still get to enjoy it on the walk back!
From the May Beck carpark, turn away from the road that you came in on and head up the gravel path. Take the immediate first right turn- along the track that’s just above the car park. You’ll soon see some steps on your left. Take them and follow a narrow path uphill through the bracken. This is the bulk of the climb all done so you can enjoy the rest of the walk with the hard work over!
The path soon goes through a gate, turn right (do not cross the style to your left) and then follow this all the way to Falling Foss! Easy peasy navigation and you can enjoy some beautiful woodland, with the path dividing coniferous and deciduous woodland- quite a sight!
When you eventually meet the road, follow it downhill to the Falling Foss Tea Garden at Midge Hall.
**** If you did decide to do this walk in an anti-clockwise direction, take note of the start of the path to May Beck from the picture below. There is a wooden signpost at the bottom of the hill that looks like the path follows the beck on this side. It doesn’t- we’ve tried this before and it soon became impassable and we had to cross the water to get back on the other side and get onto a path. You need to head uphill, and before you reach the five bar gate take the path pictured below.
Falling Foss and Falling Foss Tea Garden
What a perfect place to stop. We genuinely love it here, and try to visit whenever we’re in the area. Before you reach the Tea Graden, you’ll see a few spots for paddling and no doubt if you visit in summer there’ll be children and dogs (!!) already in there splashing about!
To look at the waterfall, there’s a good viewpoint just past the Tea Garden; head over the bridge and follow the path next to the wooden fence until you see the beautiful falls!
The Tea Garden itself is at Midge Hall, a tiny cottage with gardens overlooking Falling Foss. They serve a range of drinks, cakes and lunches- all delicious (and we’ve worked our way through a fair few items!).
The gardens are fantastic for small children, with lots of space for them to have a wander- and a mixture of wooden sculptures and a small play area.
If you’re not in a rush to get back, they have kindly provided a fairy trail walk that heads towards the Hermitage!
The walk from Falling Foss to May Beck Car Park
Coming out of the tea rooms, head over the bridge and you’ll see a wooden decked path along the side of the beck. Follow this all the way back to the start of the walk.
The path is brilliant for children (and dogs) with loads of places to stop for a little paddle on a warm day!
I truly hope that you enjoy this walk as much as we do, despite living over in Leeds it’s one we make the effort to do a few times a year- not least because of the fantastic Tea Garden!
You might want to follow this walk with a trip to do some rockpooling in Robin Hood’s Bay!
