The beaches at Studland Bay are amongst the most popular in the country, and on hot summer weekends they fill up with thousands of people. The South East Dorset Conurbation lies on the other side of Poole Harbour, resulting in the beaches being relatively accessible to a large population. North of the visitor centre the beach and dunes are owned and managed by the National Trust, who have restricted parking provision at the site to prevent overcrowding. A short northern stretch of beach is reserved as a naturist beach.