Forget Cornwall, the ‘Land’s End of Yorkshire’ is quieter and wilder

A lone seagull catches the current and soars above us. My kids scream as the wind blows their hoods. On one side the waves gently break on the shore, while on the other the water is still and flat as we walk along a stretch of deserted beach. A salty tang hangs in the air, and for a brief moment it feels like we’re at the edge of the world. Which I suppose, in a way, we are.

Spurn Point, sometimes known as Spurn Head, is Yorkshire’s lesser known ‘Land’s End’. It receives around 80,000 visitors a year, according to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, compared to the estimated 500,000 who make the trip to the Cornish original. It is this comparative rarity of people that makes the Nordic alternative such a special place.

Curving between the North Sea and the Humber Estuary in Yorkshire, the Spurn was formed by sediment washing onto the rapidly eroding Holderness coast. At just over three miles long and only 50 meters (55 yards) wide at points, there is something magical about the peninsula: it constantly moves, moves and flows with the water that surrounds it.

Although it is owned and managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, there is a feeling that it cannot be tamed.

“Spurn is a seaside trip with a difference,” says Samantha Graves, Spurn Visitor Services Manager.

“It’s a deceptively long drive to Spurn (from the main road; A1033 from Hull).

“The winding road takes you through miles of beautiful fields and villages until you really start to wonder where you’re driving – it can feel like it’s at the edge of the world,” she adds.

“Maybe that’s why it was called (Yorkshire’s) Land’s End: it’s where the road ends, the farthest (east) point you can go in Yorkshire.”

Spurn’s unique landscape of beach, marshes, salt marshes, dunes and grasslands means that those who make the pilgrimage are rewarded with nature in abundance. In spring and autumn, migratory birds, including swallows, little terns and flycatchers, use it as a stopover. While in winter, the marshes attract flocks of wading birds such as the grebe, grebe and robin.

It’s quiet in the Spurn Discovery Center in mid-February when we visit (we see one more family and three couples) – although staff tell me it gets busier during the summer holidays. We check the board listing recent bird sightings. A huge window in the cozy cafe overlooks the reserve and we spy ducks and Brent geese as we warm our hands with hot sausage rolls.

Other common land wildlife sightings include deer and hares. While seals, porpoises and even the occasional minke whale can be spotted in the water.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust also has ambitious plans to restore the marine environment through its Wilder Humber programme. In 1936, Spurn was home to a seagrass meadow of 480 hectares. Now, due to pollution and coastal development, less than 5 percent remain.

However, a mudflat restoration project aims to restore 80 hectares, which will provide shelter for juvenile fish and a feeding ground for wading birds.

As we drive across the seaweed-strewn beach, my six-year-old daughter filling my hands with pebbles, a lone Unimog passes by. The ex-military 4×4 truck looks out of place in this desolate landscape, but is one of the regular tours on Spurn Safari, which offers fascinating insights into its military history.

The spit’s strategic location provided an important base during the First and Second World Wars, many of the defences, including tunnels and gun emplacements, still visible today.

But regardless of human intervention, there is always the feeling that this land belongs to nature. This is illustrated by the abandoned village of Spurn. The last families to leave, in 2012, were RNLI crew members. They left because of the erosion of the road and the fact that they were increasingly cut off by the tide. After the last inhabitants left, a large wave in 2013 washed away the road, cutting it off from the mainland entirely.

“Spurn Point is a dramatic place to visit,” says Linda Scott, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire.

“It’s a living geological laboratory where visitors can witness the raw power of nature at work.”

After checking the tide times, my kids and I walk across 1km of sand which is covered at high tide, creating Yorkshire’s second ‘island’ (the other being Whitton Island in the Humber Estuary). We pass a small wooden hut where unlucky visitors must wait if they are cut down – there is a bench inside where they can rest for about two hours until the tide allows them to return.

Then we see the lighthouse, bathed in light from the fading February sun. The 128-foot striped lighthouse beckons us toward it and my kids take off running.

Built in 1895, Spurn Lighthouse guided mariners around the coast for 90 years until it was decommissioned in 1985. Now run by volunteers, it is open at weekends and during school holidays.

“I’m here to climb the lighthouse,” my three-year-old son announces at the welcome desk. A gentle suggestion that the ascent might prove difficult for little feet is immediately ignored and he climbs the lighthouse he does, all 145 steps of it.

We follow him around the steep staircase, stopping every now and then to look out the instant windows of the sea. Finally we reach the gallery of the lantern room with leaded glass.

With a bird’s eye view of the sea in front and the narrow strip of land behind, the 360 ​​degree perspective really makes me appreciate the remoteness of Spurn. We have the sight to ourselves.

So yes, you won’t find any cream or iced teas here. There is no Land’s End sign near which you can pay to take a photo. But The Land’s End of Yorkshire is just as wild and wonderful.

We’re getting there
Public transport is available from Hull at weekends and public holidays. Take the number 71 Spurn Explorer bus from Hull Interchange to Easington/Withernsea and get off at Spurn Discovery Centre.

By car, follow the A1033 from Hull to Patrington. Turn off (right) onto the B1445 towards Easington and Kilnsea. Turn right at the T junction in Easington and continue on the secondary road to Kilnsea. Turn right at the junction to Spurn Discovery Centre.

Staying there
Dunedin Country House has double rooms from £110, dunedincountryhouse.co.uk
Westmere Farm B&B has double rooms from £75, westmerefarm.co.uk
Spurn Bird Observatory offers hostel-style accommodation from £20 per person, spurnbirdobservatory.co.uk/accommodation

Additional Information
ywt.org.uk/spurn