Crooklets Beachwith a dog
A full seasonal ban on Bude’s surf beach — and the beach four hundred yards down the coast has no ban at all. Which car park you choose decides the afternoon.
Yes, except between 10am and 6pm from 15 May to 30 September
Crooklets Beach is on Cornwall Council’s Public Spaces Protection Order, listed as “Crooklets Beach, Bude”, and what it carries is a prohibition rather than a lead requirement: no dogs at all, 15 May to 30 September, between 10am and 6pm. Before 10am, after 6pm, and every day from 1 October to 14 May, the beach is open with no restriction.
The rules, and when they apply
Crooklets takes the longer of Cornwall’s two standard bands. Much of the county is restricted only from 1 July to 31 August; here it starts six weeks earlier and runs a month later, so a late May half term and a September weekend both land inside the ban. The other thing to hold on to is local: Crooklets is cut off from Summerleaze by a rocky outcrop at anything above mid tide, but at low water the two join up — and Summerleaze is not banned at all.
| When | Where | What applies |
|---|---|---|
| 15 May – 30 Sep 10am – 6pm | The whole beach | No dogs. A prohibition, not a lead requirement. |
| 15 May – 30 Sep before 10am / after 6pm | The whole beach | No restriction. Dogs welcome, off the lead. |
| 1 Oct – 14 May | The whole beach | No restriction at any hour. |
| Low tide, in season | South, towards Summerleaze | The sand joins Summerleaze, where there is no ban — only a lead requirement, 21 May to 30 September, 10am to 6pm. Nothing on the sand marks the change, so it works in your favour going south and against you coming back. |
What it’s actually like with a dog
Crooklets is the surf beach of the three in Bude — home to Bude Surf Life Saving Club, with a promenade of beach huts, cafés and surf shops behind it — and it is much more tidal than it looks in a photograph. At high water it narrows to a thin crescent with the waves close in. At low water it opens right out and joins Summerleaze to the south and Northcott Mouth to the north, which is when it becomes a proper walk rather than a stretch of sand to stand on. Time a visit for the falling tide and it is a different beach.
Getting down is easy by the standards of this coast: level from the car park by ramps and short slopes rather than steps, with a sand chair available on request. Cornish Secrets is more cautious than the tourist copy, pointing out cobbled sections and steeper gradients that some wheelchairs will not manage. With a dog the surface is the thing to know about — tarmac, then cobble, then soft sand, all inside a short distance.
The water is the reason the lifeguards are here. Cornish Secrets warns that powerful rip currents form around the shifting sandbanks and near the rocky edges of the beach, and the advice is to stay between the red and yellow flags. Cover is thinner than at the neighbouring beaches, though: daily from 16 May to 27 September and nothing at all outside that, where Summerleaze and Widemouth get Easter, spring weekend and October half-term patrols. Wrangle Point closes the north end and a rocky outcrop the south, both rock and rock pool rather than sand, and both only passable around low water.
The car park is the other constraint. It holds 158 cars against Summerleaze’s 421, so on an August morning it fills before the bigger beach does.
Parking at Crooklets, and getting on to the sand
Crooklets car park
EX23 8NF · Cornwall Council · 158 spaces
Directly above the beach with level access down to the sand, 158 tarmac spaces with grass overflow in summer, open 24 hours and with no height restriction. Coach parking is available. Charged 9am to 6pm from 1 April to 31 October on a banded tariff (up to an hour, one to two hours, two to four hours, 24 hours and weekly), with a flat evening charge from 6pm to midnight and nothing to pay between midnight and 9am; from 1 November to 31 March the charged hours shorten to 9am to 4pm at cheaper rates, free from 4pm to 9am. The machines take coins from 10p to £2, chip and pin, contactless, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and mobile payment is JustPark on location code 8205, or 8206 for coaches, with a 10p transaction fee. It holds barely a third of what Summerleaze does, so it fills faster in August despite being the smaller beach. No sleeping or overnight camping.
Facilities, access and what to watch
| What | Detail |
|---|---|
| Getting on to the sand | Level from the car park by ramps and short slopes rather than a staircase, and Cornwall Beaches records disabled access with a sand chair on request (01288 352226). Cornish Secrets is more careful about it, noting cobbled sections and steeper gradients that will defeat some wheelchairs. With a dog the practical read is that you need not lift it, but the surface goes tarmac to cobble to soft sand inside a short distance. |
| Toilets | Public toilets at the beach, with seasonal showers on the promenade reported by Cornish Secrets rather than by the council. |
| Food on the beach | Rosie’s Kitchen and Crooklets Beach Café are both at the top of the sand and the Crooklets Inn is moments from the shoreline. There are surf shops and traditional beach huts for day hire on the promenade too. |
| Fresh water | No dedicated dog shower and no freshwater dog tap was verified here — the seasonal showers are a local guide’s report, not a council facility. Rosie’s Kitchen sells a dog-friendly ice cream, which is not the same thing. Carry water. |
| Lifeguards | RNLI 2026 cover is daily, 16 May to 27 September, 10am to 6pm — and that is the whole season. Unlike Summerleaze and Widemouth there is no Easter cover, no spring weekend cover and nothing at October half term. No flags means no lifeguards. |
| Tide | Plan a long walk here around low water. At high tide Crooklets narrows to a thin crescent and all but disappears; at low tide it opens out and joins Summerleaze to the south and Northcott Mouth to the north into one long bay. |
| Underfoot at the ends | Wrangle Point closes the beach to the north and a rocky outcrop separates it from Summerleaze to the south. Both are rock and rock pool rather than sand, and both are only passable around low water. |
| What else is on the beach | It is the home of Bude Surf Life Saving Club, and the promenade carries beach huts, cafés and surf shops. There is an outdoor swimming pool at the beach — a separate thing from Bude Sea Pool at Summerleaze — and a wood-fired sauna, Ocean Soul Sauna. |
| Beyond the council order | Nothing. No National Trust land, no SSSI request, no harbour byelaw and no private beach rule was found at Crooklets — the council order is the whole of it. Outside the restricted hours, ordinary control of the dog is the only requirement. |
Dog-friendly pubs and cafés near Crooklets
Three at the top of the sand. All three are listed as dog friendly by Visit Bude, the town’s own tourism site, and none of them says which part of the room a dog may sit in.
Crooklets Inn
Above the beach · open 3pm to 10pm
A coastal pub moments from the shoreline. Its Visit Bude listing states that dogs are always welcome, making it a good choice for anyone exploring Bude with a four-legged companion. The opening hours decide how you use it: 3pm to 10pm daily, so it is an after-the-beach stop rather than a lunch one.
Rosie’s Kitchen
A stone’s throw from the sand · dog ice cream
A family-run beach café and restaurant that describes itself as being for families, friends and dog lovers, and lists a dog-friendly ice cream alongside the human ones on its own website. Visit Bude lists it as dog friendly as well. What neither says is which areas dogs may sit in — ring 01288 354238 if that matters to you.
Crooklets Beach Café
At the top of the sand · Visit Bude listing
A family-run café on the edge of the beach doing breakfast through to burgers and cakes. Listed in Visit Bude’s dog-friendly eating category, with no stated policy on inside versus outside. Treat it as probably fine and worth a call if you are driving a distance for it.
Local tips for Crooklets
Signage changes, car parks fill, streams run dry. If you walk this beach, add what you know — which car park still has spaces at 11am, where the water is, which end stays quiet in August.
No tips yet.
Be the first — anything you’d tell a friend before they drove down.
Questions people ask
Are dogs allowed on Crooklets Beach?
Not between 10am and 6pm from 15 May to 30 September. Crooklets is on Cornwall Council’s Public Spaces Protection Order and the restriction is a full ban. Outside those hours, and on every day from 1 October to 14 May, dogs are welcome with no restriction.
Can I take my dog to Crooklets in August?
Yes, but only outside the restricted hours. Before 10am and after 6pm the beach is open to dogs even at the height of the season. An early walk here is entirely legal, and it is the quietest the beach gets all summer.
Which beach near Crooklets allows dogs in summer?
Summerleaze, 0.4 miles south, carries no ban at all — only a lead requirement from 21 May to 30 September, 10am to 6pm. Northcott Mouth, half a mile north, and Sandymouth, four miles north, are both open all year with no lead rule.
Is the Crooklets dog ban longer than most of Cornwall?
Yes. Much of the county is restricted only from 1 July to 31 August. Crooklets runs 15 May to 30 September, which is six weeks earlier at the front and a month later at the back — so late May half term and September weekends are both caught.
Can I walk from Crooklets to Summerleaze along the sand?
Only around low water. A rocky outcrop separates the two beaches and is passable at low tide, when the sand joins into one strand. Above mid tide they are separate beaches and you go round by the road or the promenade.
Are there lifeguards at Crooklets?
Yes, but for a shorter season than the neighbouring beaches. RNLI cover is daily from 16 May to 27 September, 10am to 6pm, with no Easter, spring weekend or October half-term patrols at all. No flags means no lifeguards.
Is there a dog-friendly pub at Crooklets?
The Crooklets Inn is moments from the shoreline and its Visit Bude listing says dogs are always welcome. It opens 3pm to 10pm daily, so plan it as an after-the-walk stop. Rosie’s Kitchen and Crooklets Beach Café are also listed as dog friendly.
Is Crooklets hard work with an old dog?
The arrival is not — it is level from the car park by ramps and short slopes, with a sand chair available on request. The tide is the harder part: at high water the beach shrinks to a crescent, so a long walk needs to be timed around low water.
Nearby beaches with a dog
Summerleaze
Next along the coast, south. Open all year, with a lead rule 21 May – 30 Sep.
Sandymouth
A couple of miles north. Open all year.
Widemouth Bay
3 miles south. Main beach restricted 15 May – 30 Sep; Black Rock open.
Crackington Haven
7 miles south-west. Restricted 15 May – 30 Sep.
All of Cornwall
The council’s full list of 49 restricted beaches, with dates and hours.
Dog-friendly places to stay near Crooklets
Somewhere your dog is genuinely welcome rather than merely permitted — enclosed outside space, somewhere to rinse sandy paws, and no surcharge surprises on arrival.
Dog-friendly cottages in Cornwall →Report a correction
Restriction dates get revised, car parks change hands, signs go up without notice. Tell us what you saw and we’ll check it against the council and update this page.
Checked 1 August 2026. The restriction dates and hours are transcribed verbatim from Cornwall Council’s Dogs on Beaches Public Spaces Protection Order, on which the beach appears as “Crooklets Beach, Bude” with the 15 May to 30 September band, 10am to 6pm. Summerleaze appears on the same council page under the separate dogs-on-lead list, which is what makes the short walk south useful. Lifeguard dates are from the RNLI’s own page for Crooklets, and the parking detail from Cornwall Council’s car park page. Venue listings are from Visit Bude’s dog-friendly category. Restrictions are reviewed between seasons; this page records the position for the 2026 season. Reviewed by Dr Elizabeth Adey · Last checked August 2026 · Report a correction