6 Best Water Activities In North Yorkshire

Every one of North Yorkshire's six water listings is outdoors, which tells you the county's swimming culture straight away: this is open-air territory, from surf to lido. Whitby Surf School tops the page at 4.9, teaching families on the town's West Cliff beach where the North Sea provides dependable learner waves and bracing temperatures in equal measure. The lido tradition holds two entries — Ingleton Open Air Heated Swimming Pool, rated 4.6, heats its Dales water to civilised temperatures beneath the fells, and Helmsley's open-air pool does the same service for the Moors at 4.5. Allerthorpe Lakeland Park, the page's one free-entry listing at 4.4, wraps paddle sports and lakeside beach around its waters near Pocklington. The remaining two are parks with water at their heart: Rowntree Park gives York riverside paddling and play at 4.6, and Peasholm Park stages Scarborough's dragon-boating oddity — pedalos beneath a pagoda, plus the famous miniature naval battles. None of the six publishes an admission price in this listing, and everything is seasonal to some degree: the lidos run summer seasons, the surf school follows conditions, and even the parks' water features hibernate. Ratings run a tight 4.4 to 4.9 — a strong page.