Hidden in the steep, oak-clad valley of Littlebeck Wood, Falling Foss is a graceful single-drop waterfall where May Beck pours over a lip of Jurassic Ravenscar sandstone a little above the point where it meets Parsley Beck to form Little Beck. Sources put the drop at around 9 metres (about 30 feet), the figure most walking guides quote, though some references give a considerably greater height. Either way it is the loveliest natural set-piece of the Coast to Coast's final stage — a shady, mossy glen that feels a world away from the bleak moor crossed earlier in the day. A short way upstream stands the Hermitage, a Georgian folly hollowed from one colossal sandstone boulder, complete with a doorway, windows and a carved interior bench, and crowned by two stone 'wishing chairs'. Its west face bears the inscription 'G C 1790'. It was made for the owner of nearby Newton House as part of a fashion for romantic garden retreats, and is credited to George Clubb, a Whitby schoolmaster and 'jack of all trades' to the estate. The falls sit within Little Beck Wood, a woodland nature reserve, with the Midge Hall tea garden beside the plunge pool — a welcome refreshment if it happens to be open, though it opens only on selected days in season, so do not rely on it — check ahead.
Highlights
- The waterfall itself — a wooded gorge with a clean drop of around 9 m (about 30 ft); the C2C path runs along an elevated terrace that rises to roughly the height of the fall
- The Hermitage — a folly carved from one giant sandstone boulder, with doorway, windows, a rounded interior bench and a semicircular viewing seat outside; chisel-marks still clear
- The 'wishing chairs' — two seats hewn into the rock on the roof of the Hermitage; local lore says you wish in one then sit in the other for it to come true
- The 'G C 1790' inscription on the west face and 'THE HERMITAGE' lettering on the south face
- Midge Hall tea garden beside the falls — wood carvings, a children's fairy trail and (seasonal) tea and cake
- Spring flora in Little Beck Wood: carpets of bluebell, wood anemone, primrose and early purple orchid
- Riverside birds — dipper and grey wagtail on the beck, plus treecreeper, nuthatch and great spotted woodpecker in the canopy
At a glance
| Period | Georgian (1790) |
|---|---|
| Stage | 16 — Grosmont to Robin Hood's Bay |
Before you go
The Midge Hall tea garden beside the falls opens only on selected days in season — check ahead rather than relying on it for refreshments.
Take care
- Steep woodland paths are slippery when wet near the falls
- Keep back from unfenced drops at the waterfall viewpoint
History
The Hermitage is a Georgian garden folly carved in 1790 from a single huge block of sandstone. Its south face is lettered 'THE HERMITAGE' and its west face bears the date and initials 'G C 1790' (the carving actually reads 'G + C'). Documents held at Whitby Museum credit the work to George Clubb, described as a Whitby schoolmaster and a 'jack of all trades' or factotum to the Brown family of Newton House — the gentleman's estate whose pleasure grounds once reached to this part of the wood. (Many older and secondary accounts give the name as George Chubb, but this is now regarded as a transcription error, the correct name being Clubb.) Newton House itself belonged to Jonas Brown, a Whitby ship-owner and merchant who laid out the surrounding grounds in the late 18th century. The folly belongs to a wider 18th-century vogue for hermitages and rustic retreats, ornaments to a landscaped estate where the leisured could play at the solitary, contemplative life. Falling Foss itself has long been a celebrated North York Moors beauty spot; the cottage beside it, Midge Hall — a former gamekeeper's cottage dating from the 1700s — had been derelict for decades before it was bought in 2008 and revived as a tea garden, continuing a use that goes back at least to the 1930s. The surrounding Little Beck Wood passed from the Forestry Commission to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, which took the lease in 1970 and bought the wood in 1986.
Myth & legend
Two seats hewn into the Hermitage's roof are the Wishing Chairs: stories say a wish made in one is granted only once you cross and sit in the other. Local legend credits the carving to George Chubb, an out-of-work seaman set to hollowing the stone, though Whitby Museum papers name another hand.
Geology
The fall drops over the Middle Jurassic sandstones of the Ravenscar Group, the same hard, permeable beds that give the eastern moors their steep, wooded dale-sides and that crop out in the coastal cliffs from Whitby to Scarborough. May Beck has cut down through these strata to create the short gorge, and the durable sandstone forms the clean lip over which the water falls. It is the same rock, worked as a single great block, from which the Hermitage was carved. Soils on the valley floor are thin and free-draining over the sandstone, supporting the rich broadleaved woodland.
Wildlife & nature
Falling Foss lies within Little Beck Wood, a roughly 26-hectare woodland nature reserve managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. The canopy is a characterful mix of oak, ash, alder and cherry over an understorey of hazel, holly and rowan; ferns dominate the shadiest, dampest ground beside the beck. In spring and early summer the floor is bright with bluebell, wood anemone, primrose, moschatel and early purple orchid. The beck holds dipper and grey wagtail, while treecreeper, nuthatch, marsh tit and great spotted woodpecker work the trees, and spotted flycatchers visit in summer. Look too for signs of badger and deer in the soft ground. As across the region's woods, ash dieback is changing the canopy, so expect some standing and fallen deadwood — itself a valuable habitat.
The view
After the open, often windswept miles of Sleights Moor, the descent into Littlebeck Wood is one of the great changes of mood on the whole walk: from bare heather to a green, dripping, fern-hung ravine. The path threads the steep east bank above Little Beck before opening at the natural amphitheatre of the falls, where the water slides white over dark sandstone into a shaded pool. The Hermitage, half-swallowed by moss and trees, adds a touch of Romantic theatre. It is a place to linger in the last cool shade before the climb out and the first sight of the sea.
Photography
Best light is soft and overcast — bright sun blows out the white water and the deep shade together. Photograph the fall from the elevated C2C terrace path and from the pool below; a slow shutter (with a small tripod or by bracing on a rock) silks the water, while the surrounding ferns and mossy boulders frame it. The Hermitage rewards a wider lens to take in the whole carved boulder and its setting; catch the 'G C 1790' inscription and the rooftop wishing chairs in detail. Spring (bluebells) and autumn (turning oak and beech) are the most photogenic seasons; after heavy rain the fall is at its most powerful.
When to visit
Spring brings the woodland flowers and a lively flow after winter rain; autumn gives golden colour and, again, a fuller fall. High summer can reduce the cascade in dry spells, though it is generally reckoned to keep a respectable flow even then; the glen stays cool and shaded. Winter is atmospheric but the woodland paths and the riverside terrace can be muddy, slippery and leaf-strewn — take care on the steps and roots. The Midge Hall tea garden is seasonal and weather-dependent, and in 2026 its opening is very restricted — only over the late-May bank holiday and then weekends in July and August — so do not rely on it on any other date or in bad weather, and carry your own food and drink.
Getting there
The falls sit on the final stage between Grosmont and Robin Hood's Bay. Grosmont is served by the heritage North Yorkshire Moors Railway and by the Esk Valley line (Middlesbrough–Whitby). At the finish, Robin Hood's Bay is linked by bus to Whitby and Scarborough. Drivers visiting the falls directly use the Forestry England Falling Foss car park or the May Beck car park, reached by narrow lanes off the B1416, which connects to the A171 Whitby–Scarborough road; the waterfall itself is at about OS grid reference NZ 888 035.
Where to stay
There is no accommodation at the falls themselves. Walkers overnight either back at Grosmont/Sleights or, more usually, push on to the journey's end at Robin Hood's Bay, which has B&Bs, guesthouses and pubs with rooms, with the nearest youth hostel at Boggle Hole about a mile down the coast — book well ahead in the peak summer season. Littlebeck hamlet and Whitby (a short drive/bus away) offer further beds. Most C2C walkers use a baggage-transfer service so they can walk this final wooded section with only a day-pack.
Food & water
The beck water is not a safe drinking source untreated. The seasonal Midge Hall tea garden beside the falls (water, tea, cake) can help, but in 2026 it opens only over the late-May bank holiday and on July and August weekends, so on most days it is shut — do not count on it. Fill up in Grosmont at the start of the stage; the next dependable food and drink after the wood is on the approach to and at Robin Hood's Bay.
Safety
The riverside path is uneven, with tree roots, mud and steps, and runs along an elevated terrace above the gorge — keep to the path and well back from drop-offs, especially in the wet or with children and dogs. The rocks around the falls and pool are slippery; the pool is shallow enough to paddle but currents rise quickly after rain. Mobile signal is patchy to absent deep in the wooded valley. This is the long final stage (a full day from Grosmont with a stiff climb over Sleights Moor first), so carry water, food and waterproofs and allow time. In an emergency dial 999 or 112 and ask for Police, then Mountain Rescue; for non-urgent medical advice call NHS 111.
Accessibility
This is an off-road woodland and riverside section reached on rough, rooty, sometimes muddy paths with steps, steep banks and an exposed elevated terrace above the beck — not wheelchair- or buggy-accessible, and care is needed in the wet. There is no step-free route to the falls or the Hermitage from the path. Drivers can shorten the approach by using the Forestry England car park near Falling Foss (a few minutes' walk to the falls) or the May Beck car park, from which a footpath of about three-quarters of a mile follows the beck down to the fall; the woodland walking is on natural surfaces throughout.
Visitor tips
Do not plan on the Midge Hall tea garden — in 2026 it opens only over the late-May bank holiday and on July and August weekends, so on most days it is closed; carry your own water and food. Wear footwear with grip for the wet, rooty terrace path and the slippery rocks by the pool, keep dogs and children close to the drop-offs, and don't count on a mobile signal in the gorge. After heavy rain the fall is at its most dramatic; in a dry spell it is gentler but the glen is still a beautiful, cool place to rest before the last climb to the sea. Spring bluebells and autumn colour are the loveliest times to come.
Listen: the audio guide
The full narration of this stop's audio guide, in text.
You come down off the last of the moor into a different world entirely — a deep glen of old oaks, the light suddenly green and soft, the air cool and full of the sound of water. And then, through the trees, you see it: a stream gathering itself and dropping clean over a lip of rock, some thirty feet in a single graceful fall. This is Falling Foss, and hidden in the woods beside it is one of the strangest small wonders on the whole walk — a room hollowed out of a single boulder. You are in Littlebeck, in the oak woods of a steep little valley that once belonged to a Georgian gentleman's estate. "Foss" is the old Norse word for waterfall, a reminder that the Vikings settled and named this coast long ago. The fall itself drops around nine metres through mossy rock and hanging ferns, fed by the beck that tumbles down from the moor above. And in 1790 — Georgian England, the age of the picturesque, when the wealthy loved to adorn their grounds with romantic follies and hermitages — someone carved a retreat here out of one colossal block of sandstone, complete with a doorway, windows, and a rough little chamber inside. It was fashion and whimsy both: a place to sit, to muse, to feel deliciously remote. Two centuries on, moss-grown and weathered, it feels more magical still. So here is what to look for. First, the waterfall in its full drop — find the viewpoint where you can take in the whole graceful fall at once, the water breaking white over dark rock. Second, seek out the Hermitage itself, a little way off among the trees: that single vast boulder, hollowed and shaped by hand into a tiny dwelling. Third, look closely at its weathered face and you can still make out the carved inscription — the initials and the date, 'G C 1790' — the maker's own signature in the stone. Fourth, step to the doorway and see the rough-hewn room within, and think of the patient chisel-work that scooped it from solid rock. And fifth, drink in the glen around you: the ancient oaks, the deep moss, the ferns, the tea garden that nestles nearby among the trees, a welcome pause on a long day. Do take care on the paths, for they can be steep, rooty, and slippery after rain, and keep back from the wet rock at the edge of the fall. Now, a word about that little hermitage and the age that made it. In the late eighteenth century, England fell in love with wildness — or rather, with a carefully arranged idea of it. Gentlemen laid out their estates to look romantic and untamed, and built grottoes, follies, and hermits' cells in the most picturesque corners, sometimes even paying a real hermit to sit in them and look suitably melancholy for visitors. Whoever cut this chamber from the rock in 1790, and whoever the initials 'G C' belonged to, they were part of that curious fashion. What survives is quietly wonderful: a private daydream in stone, left for walkers like you to stumble upon, still keeping its two-hundred-year-old secret in the green shade. From Falling Foss the path threads on down through the woods and out toward the coast, and now the end is truly near. Ahead lies the last descent to Robin Hood's Bay, the red roofs, the slipway, and the North Sea that has waited for you all the way from St Bees. Take a moment here in the cool and the green, by the falling water and the little carved room, and gather yourself for the finish. The sea is close now. Walk safe.
Common questions
How old is Falling Foss & the Hermitage?
Falling Foss & the Hermitage dates from the Georgian (1790) period.
How do I get to Falling Foss & the Hermitage?
The falls sit on the final stage between Grosmont and Robin Hood's Bay. Grosmont is served by the heritage North Yorkshire Moors Railway and by the Esk Valley line (Middlesbrough–Whitby). At the finish, Robin Hood's Bay is linked by bus to Whitby and Scarborough. Drivers visiting the falls directly use the Forestry England Falling Foss car park or the May Beck car park, reached by narrow lanes off the B1416, which connects to the A171 Whitby–Scarborough road; the waterfall itself is at about OS grid reference NZ 888 035.
Is Falling Foss & the Hermitage accessible?
This is an off-road woodland and riverside section reached on rough, rooty, sometimes muddy paths with steps, steep banks and an exposed elevated terrace above the beck — not wheelchair- or buggy-accessible, and care is needed in the wet. There is no step-free route to the falls or the Hermitage from the path. Drivers can shorten the approach by using the Forestry England car park near Falling Foss (a few minutes' walk to the falls) or the May Beck car park, from which a footpath of about three-quarters of a mile follows the beck down to the fall; the woodland walking is on natural surfaces throughout.
When is the best time to visit Falling Foss & the Hermitage?
Spring brings the woodland flowers and a lively flow after winter rain; autumn gives golden colour and, again, a fuller fall. High summer can reduce the cascade in dry spells, though it is generally reckoned to keep a respectable flow even then; the glen stays cool and shaded. Winter is atmospheric but the woodland paths and the riverside terrace can be muddy, slippery and leaf-strewn — take care on the steps and roots. The Midge Hall tea garden is seasonal and weather-dependent, and in 2026 its opening is very restricted — only over the late-May bank holiday and then weekends in July and August — so do not rely on it on any other date or in bad weather, and carry your own food and drink.
Is there food and water at Falling Foss & the Hermitage?
The beck water is not a safe drinking source untreated. The seasonal Midge Hall tea garden beside the falls (water, tea, cake) can help, but in 2026 it opens only over the late-May bank holiday and on July and August weekends, so on most days it is shut — do not count on it. Fill up in Grosmont at the start of the stage; the next dependable food and drink after the wood is on the approach to and at Robin Hood's Bay.
Where can I stay near Falling Foss & the Hermitage?
There is no accommodation at the falls themselves. Walkers overnight either back at Grosmont/Sleights or, more usually, push on to the journey's end at Robin Hood's Bay, which has B&Bs, guesthouses and pubs with rooms, with the nearest youth hostel at Boggle Hole about a mile down the coast — book well ahead in the peak summer season. Littlebeck hamlet and Whitby (a short drive/bus away) offer further beds. Most C2C walkers use a baggage-transfer service so they can walk this final wooded section with only a day-pack.
What should I know before visiting Falling Foss & the Hermitage?
Do not plan on the Midge Hall tea garden — in 2026 it opens only over the late-May bank holiday and on July and August weekends, so on most days it is closed; carry your own water and food. Wear footwear with grip for the wet, rooty terrace path and the slippery rocks by the pool, keep dogs and children close to the drop-offs, and don't count on a mobile signal in the gorge. After heavy rain the fall is at its most dramatic; in a dry spell it is gentler but the glen is still a beautiful, cool place to rest before the last climb to the sea. Spring bluebells and autumn colour are the loveliest times to come.
Is Falling Foss & the Hermitage safe to visit?
The riverside path is uneven, with tree roots, mud and steps, and runs along an elevated terrace above the gorge — keep to the path and well back from drop-offs, especially in the wet or with children and dogs. The rocks around the falls and pool are slippery; the pool is shallow enough to paddle but currents rise quickly after rain. Mobile signal is patchy to absent deep in the wooded valley. This is the long final stage (a full day from Grosmont with a stiff climb over Sleights Moor first), so carry water, food and waterproofs and allow time. In an emergency dial 999 or 112 and ask for Police, then Mountain Rescue; for non-urgent medical advice call NHS 111.
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