The older part of the village is west of the main crossroads and is focused around a small but busy High Street.

[4] In modern times, as an artificial flood relief channel, much of the flow of the River Derwent (which drains a large area of the North York Moors into the Vale of Pickering) has been diverted, (about 6 miles (10 km) upstream of West Ayton and before it reaches the plain of the Vale of Pickering), into a new channel called the Sea Cut which runs east along a previously dry side valley (probably a glacial overflow channel) and into the existing Scalby Beck.

[6] In 2012 the hotel was purchased by Mark Giles, a former doctor and Hollywood marketer Gerry Aburrow, who initiated a six-year renovation of the house and its 21 bedrooms between 2012 and 2018, with Burlington of London fittings, Italian carrara marble, Duresta furniture and Wilton carpets.

Additionally there is the Scalby & Newby Lawn Bowling club which shares the site and the clubhouse.

On a small hill behind the western limits of the village is the location of Scalby Cricket Club (Carr Lane playing fields which are held in trust by the Parish Council).

The 48 miles (77 km) Tabular Hills Walk starts at Scalby Mills and goes westwards tracing the southern extent of the North York Moors park and finishes in Helmsley.

[10] Scalby hosts an annual fair in June which started in 1977 as part of Queen Elizabeth II's silver jubilee celebrations and continues to this day.

Another bus service operates a circular pattern that links the village with the Sea Life Centre and the railway station in Scarborough.