Suffield

Suffield itself is too small to offer hotels, but it makes a quiet rural base within easy reach of Scarborough's much wider choice of accommodation. Scarborough, just four and a half miles away, has everything from traditional seafront hotels with sea views over the South Bay to smaller guest houses and budget chains in the town centre, so it is the natural place to look if you want an en-suite room, a proper breakfast and easy access to shops and restaurants. For something closer to Suffield's own setting, the surrounding villages of Scalby, Hackness and Harwood Dale have a handful of inns and guest houses that put you nearer the moors and Dalby Forest while still keeping the coast within a short drive. Booking ahead is sensible in summer, when Scarborough's hotels fill up with holidaymakers drawn to the beaches and the Georgian and Victorian seafront, and again around the school holidays when the North York Moors more generally gets busier with walkers and cyclists. Whichever base you choose, Suffield's position right on the edge of the national park means you are never far from a good day out, whether that is a coastal stroll around Scarborough's harbour or a longer walk up onto the open moor.

Suffield's real draw is what surrounds it. Within a few miles you have national park moorland, ancient forest and a historic seaside town, so most visitors base themselves here and head out each day.

• North York Moors National Park — Suffield sits right on the park boundary, with heather moorland, dry-stone-walled dales and quiet bridleways on the doorstep.
• Dalby Forest — a large Forestry England woodland a short drive south-west, with waymarked walking and cycling trails, a forest drive, and the Go Ape high-ropes course.
• Scarborough — the historic seaside town is only around four and a half miles away, with its two bays, medieval clifftop castle, working harbour and Victorian seafront.
• Scalby and Scalby Beck — the closest village, two miles east, with a beck-side walk down towards Scarborough's North Bay.
• Hackness — a picturesque estate village a few miles north, with a fine parish church and the wooded valley of Lowdale Beck.
• Forge Valley — a National Nature Reserve of ancient semi-natural woodland along the River Derwent, popular for gentle riverside walks.

The hamlet is home to a small local cider producer, reflecting the area's orchard tradition, though everyday food and drink options are limited on the doorstep. Scalby, two miles away, has village pubs and cafes, while Scarborough offers the widest choice, from traditional fish and chip shops down by the harbour to cafes and restaurants along the seafront and in the old town.

Suffield sits right on the eastern flank of the North York Moors National Park, which makes it a reasonable base for campers wanting easy access to both moorland and coast, though the hamlet itself has no dedicated campsite of its own. As with the rest of England, wild camping is not legal here without the express permission of the landowner, so pitching up on open moorland or in a farmer's field without asking first is not an option, however tempting the views. Instead, look to the licensed campsites and caravan parks dotted through the surrounding villages, particularly around Scalby, Cloughton and further into the Dalby Forest area, where Forestry England also permits camping at designated sites within the forest itself. The terrain here is a mix of gently rolling farmland close to the coast and steeper, more exposed heather moorland further inland, so a pitch nearer Scarborough and Scalby tends to be more sheltered than one deep in the National Park. Late spring to early autumn is the most reliable window, with long daylight hours, drier ground and the moors turning purple with heather in August; winter camping is possible but the higher ground can be cold, wet and genuinely remote, so it suits only well-prepared and experienced campers. For anyone who wants the moorland setting without the full camping kit, glamping options such as shepherd's huts, safari tents and static pods have become increasingly common across the wider North York Moors and Scarborough coast, offering a warmer, more comfortable way to experience the same views and quiet lanes that surround Suffield.