Burton Fleming

Burton Fleming sits in a fold of the Yorkshire Wolds, in the heart of what geographers call the Great Wold Valley, where the chalk hills roll down towards the coast at Bridlington and Filey. The Gypsey Race, one of England's few winterbourne streams, runs right through the village before making a sharp turn south towards Rudston and, eventually, the sea at Bridlington. It's a genuinely small place: the 2011 census recorded a parish population of just 430, and the village was historically known as North Burton to distinguish it from Bridlington's own Burton Agnes area.

The village's oldest building is St Cuthbert's Church, founded in the early 1100s by Walter de Gant and rebuilt and extended piecemeal ever since, so that its Norman south doorway and 13th-century west tower sit alongside 17th- and 18th-century remodelling of the nave and chancel. Just outside the village, archaeologists excavated a substantial Iron Age cemetery of around 64 barrows in the 1970s, part of the wider Arras Culture that once spread across this part of the East Riding – a reminder that people have farmed and buried their dead in these chalk valleys for well over two thousand years. Today Burton Fleming is a working farming community and a peaceful base for exploring the Wolds on foot, by bike, or by car, with Bridlington's beaches and the RSPB reserve at Bempton Cliffs both within a short drive.

Top things to do near Burton Fleming

Burton Fleming is small, but it sits within easy reach of some of the East Riding's best-known landmarks, and the surrounding Wolds villages are worth exploring in their own right.

• St Cuthbert's Church, Burton Fleming — the village's parish church, with a Norman doorway, a 13th-century tower, and centuries of later alterations layered on top; a good starting point for a walk around the village.
• Rudston Monolith — in the churchyard at nearby Rudston, this is the tallest standing stone in Britain at over 7.6 metres, a Bronze Age monument that has stood watch over the Great Wold Valley for thousands of years.
• Wold Cottage meteorite site, Wold Newton — a monument near Wold Newton marks the spot where a meteorite fell in December 1795, a fall investigated at the time by local magistrate Edward Topham and now recognised as one of the events that helped prove meteorites really do come from space.
• Bempton Cliffs RSPB reserve — dramatic chalk cliffs on the coast beyond Bridlington, home to one of England's largest seabird colonies, with gannets, puffins, and guillemots nesting in huge numbers through spring and summer.
• Bridlington Harbour and Old Town — a working fishing harbour with boat trips and fresh seafood, plus the cobbled streets, Georgian buildings, and independent shops of Bridlington's historic Old Town.
• Yorkshire Wolds Way — the 79-mile national trail runs across the Wolds from the Humber Bridge to Filey Brigg, and the chalk dry valleys around Burton Fleming and Thwing give a good taste of its rolling, big-sky scenery.
• Sledmere House — a fine Georgian country house and estate a short drive across the Wolds, with landscaped grounds, walled gardens, and a working estate village.

Getting to Burton Fleming

Burton Fleming lies around seven miles north-west of Bridlington and six miles south of Filey, reached along minor roads that thread between the Wolds villages of Rudston, Thwing, and Wold Newton. The nearest A-road access is via the A165 Bridlington to Scarborough road, from which the village is signposted inland. There's no railway station in the village itself; the closest mainline stations are at Bridlington and Filey, both on the Hull Trains and TransPennine Express routes, from where a taxi or short drive covers the remaining few miles. Hull and Leeds Bradford are the nearest airports, roughly an hour and two hours away respectively by car.

Best time to visit Burton Fleming

Late spring and early summer are hard to beat, when the Wolds' chalk grassland is at its greenest and Bempton Cliffs is at its busiest with nesting seabirds, including the gannets that arrive from March through to September. Summer brings warm, settled weather for walking the Yorkshire Wolds Way and for the beaches at Bridlington and Filey, while autumn brings quieter roads and golden stubble fields across the surrounding farmland. Winter is bracing and often wet underfoot on the chalk tracks, but the village and its churchyard have a stark, atmospheric beauty out of season, and it's the time of year the Gypsey Race is most likely to be running.

Where to stay near Burton Fleming

Accommodation in Burton Fleming itself is limited, as befits a village of its size, so most visitors base themselves in or around Bridlington, which offers everything from seafront hotels and guesthouses to self-catering cottages, or in one of the smaller Wolds villages nearby such as Rudston or Wold Newton. Camping and glamping sites dotted across the Wolds make the most of the quiet lanes and big skies, and are often the best way to experience this part of the East Riding at a slower pace.

Food and drink near Burton Fleming

Burton Fleming itself has no pub of its own, so most visitors head into Bridlington for its harbourside fish and chip shops and seafood stalls, or explore the wider Wolds villages, several of which have well-regarded country pubs. Bridlington's Old Town has a growing number of independent cafes and tea rooms alongside its traditional seaside fare, making it the natural place to eat after a day exploring the surrounding countryside.