U.K. seasides !

HeavenLeigh

Have you a favourite one, for me southwold scores quite high. But for a family day out I still love good ole skeggy ,Although last time I was there was five years ago so could well have changed

Ahh, UK seasides really are special – the sea air, the fish & chips, the chilly breeze even in summer 😄
I’ve always loved the coastal getaways in places like Whitby, Cornwall and Brighton.

Actually, I recently came across something fun: a giveaway where you can win a free Airbnb stay in the UK or Europe – no strings attached, and it’s open to anyone who loves travelling. Thought it might interest some of you here, especially if you’re thinking of a seaside trip without spending too much.

Would it be okay if I shared the link? Not sure if that’s allowed here, so happy to DM it instead if anyone’s curious 🌊🏡🎁

Witzend

Lyme Regis. Sandy town beach, and safe for swimming, plus the other stretches of beach, with all those fossils….

Ahh, UK seasides really are special – the sea air, the fish & chips, the chilly breeze even in summer 😄
I’ve always loved the coastal getaways in places like Whitby, Cornwall and Brighton.

Actually, I recently came across something fun: a giveaway where you can win a free Airbnb stay in the UK or Europe – no strings attached, and it’s open to anyone who loves travelling. Thought it might interest some of you here, especially if you’re thinking of a seaside trip without spending too much.

Would it be okay if I shared the link? Not sure if that’s allowed here, so happy to DM it instead if anyone’s curious 🌊🏡🎁

Northumberland has some wonderful beaches, but, by 'eck, the sea is very cold even in the middle of a heatwave

What's the use of the sea if you can't swim in it without turning blue?

(expat Essex girl here who learned to swim as a child in the sea at Walton on the Naze)

Another vote for Bamburgh. But as you do say UK, I will add some Scottish beaches. Gullane in East Lothian. Kiloran Bay on the Isle of Colonsay. And Farr Bay on the north coast of Sutherland.

Lytham, St Annes, and the Iron Men at Crosby beach.

Kynance Cove but pretty much every beach in Devon and Cornwall.

Blackpool Sands, Devon
Strete, Devon
Oxwich Bay, near Gower
Rhossilli Bay

Definitely a thread to come back to, amongst the beaches, I've posted up thread, other GNs have triggered memorable UK holidays by the sea. Cornwall, just so many glorious beaches, also love the areas around the Helford Passage and that river. Fowey so scenic, north Cornwall around Bude and into Devon glorious Clovelly. North Devon Woolacombe. South Devon Salcombe beautifully scenic, photos don't do it justice. Just a shame unless staying there, impossible to get parked these days. Going up the coast towards Dartmouth, Blackpool Sands. The Dorset/Devon borders, the Jurassic coast, we had some lovely bucket and spade holidays there when one of my sons was going through his "dinosaur" stage and imagined himself as a very young latter day Gideon Mantell when digging away on the beach. Lots of lovely places there, Lyme Regis, Beer, Budeigh Salterton. Of late we discovered North Norfolk, Holkham Beach used for scenes in Shakespeare in Love, was amazing. Going right up north, Bamburgh, wind swept but outstanding. The pebbly beaches of Sussex contained my early childhood memories, so in that respect they're special to me. The Seven Sisters near Eastbourne, a knockout, always with an idiot or two poised on a dangerous part of a cliff for that must have photo opportunity. Further east into Kent around Broadstairs beaches appear to get sandy again. However, If we stay in Sussex, we do enjoy a walk at West Wittering, a sandy beach in Sussex no less! well that's if we can get parked!

Then of course there is Wales, wow! Rhossili, Three Cliffs, Saundersfoot, Llansteffan and several lovely ones on Anglesey. My husband discovering the ones in South Wales for the first time, exclaimed, "if I'd known before how amazing and quieter the beaches are here, I wouldn't have driven all the way to Cornwall umpteen times", which took longer, not that those aren't wonderful too, but it's a long haul down into to the depths of Cornwall, somehow it always seemed further away than Wales, probably because it was .

"I do love to be beside the seaside" as the song goes, as much now as I did when I was young. For a small island, we have a wonderful coastline. This is a lovely thread it's been great for resurrecting memories of coastal places visited and recommendations for ones yet to see.

Saltburn ,Bamburgh up north and Studland in Dorset.

Bournemouth is great. From Sandbanks to Hengistbury Head. In all seasons.

I live in Redcar, the town has gone downhill like many seaside towns but the beach is lovely. Five miles down the road is Saltburn, a lovely victorian seaside town, which Madelaine often writes about. Half an hour away is Whitby, a stunning place that is busy all year round.

madeleine45

I used to live at Preesall over wyre. Very rarely came into Blackpool, not the place I enjoyed but much preferred Morecambe. Liked the beach there and occasionally went for coffee at the Midland Hotel , so very art deco. Took an elderly friend there and we would sit with a lovely view over the sea and she would have tea and I of course had coffee, and we would sit there and for the price of the coffee, you could hear the man playing the piano and expect Poirot to come through the door at any moment!! There was a lovely ice cream place , I think it was call LEWIS , and that would be a treat to chose from. Wonder if it is still there?

According to Google Lewis’s is indeed still there Madeleine45

We stayed at The Midlands a couple of years ago and ice cream is a passion of mine. We did go to an ice cream parlour which may have been this one. It was very art deco so I imagine it could have been.

Budleigh Salterton in Devon gets my vote, I've always loved it since childhood visits. We went there in June and stayed in the town, visiting the beach every day. It was idyllic! I'm not a fan of sandy beaches - they look great but the stuff gets everywhere! Budleigh has big pebbles and is quite steep, you can wriggle about & get comfy among them and just watch the sea.

Pantglas2

JaneJudge

I can't really pick a favourite but the Eryri coastline is just breath taking. The mountains rolling into the sea and the ice age lakes. It really is other worldly

You’re right JaneJ and Ynys Mon (Anglesey) is also blessed with so many stunning beaches and quiet coves too.

I get to walk home along Penmaenmawr beach regularly after picking up a weekend 🗞️ but it’s not the prettiest although ideal for fishing and good long dog walks!

Penmaenmawr looks lovely. I may have been as we've been to Llandudno a few times yet I've never made it over to Ynys Mon...maybe I should make this a plan

InnocentBystander

When my parents used to take me to Brighton it had a wonderful continental atmosphere; traffic policemen in white helmets, white cotton gloves and short sleeved shirts. It could almost be somewhere like Gibraltar crossed with the French riviera. Now some six or seven decades later it is shabby, run down, full of down and outs and people out of their heads sleeping on the pavements. Rats running about on the terrace above the Madeira Drive and that terrace has been closed for years because of neglect. The annual Brighton Speed trials were like a smaller Monaco Grand Prix and brought crowds to the town but even that has now stopped due to lack of support because of the poor surface on the Madeira Drive, and no spectator access to the terrace. I still love the place but it's like seeing an an elegant young woman reduced to bag lady level. You still love soul within, but regret the decay.

Brighton is still lovely but like most coastal towns and cities has suffered from
Severe under investment. The Governments of the last few years have pumped money into deprivation in inner cities but have neglected coastal areas. We suffer from seasonal employment and high property and rental prices on the south coast
plus a lot of London Boroughs place their homeless in other towns putting a strain on local services, eg Hastings, which has a lot of poverty as it is.

Scarborough - first, last & always! The nostalgia for childhood holidays with my parents has never left me. Over the years we have taken our children & grandchildren there and try & do what my husband terms a ‘pilgrimage’ every year. We have some hilarious pictures of us recreating holiday pics from the 1960s/70s.
The central bit has always been a bit tacky but the bays are both beautiful.❤️

JaneJudge

I can't really pick a favourite but the Eryri coastline is just breath taking. The mountains rolling into the sea and the ice age lakes. It really is other worldly

You’re right JaneJ and Ynys Mon (Anglesey) is also blessed with so many stunning beaches and quiet coves too.

I get to walk home along Penmaenmawr beach regularly after picking up a weekend 🗞️ but it’s not the prettiest although ideal for fishing and good long dog walks!

2 favourites. Mousehole but as it was in the 40s and 50s. My mother's uncle and cousin lived in a big house just on the fringe of the village, and we had a path down the cliff opposite to a tiny beach. Also Harlech where we were lucky enough to have a holiday flat. So many happy times there with my friend and her 2 children as well, in spite of the occasional horizontal rain and sunny but blowing a gale. We had a sturdy canvas wind break! The children loved to go up the steepest street in Britain and buy doughnuts from the machine on the street where they were made travelling along on a little conveyor belt

I used to live in the North East of Scotland (near to Elgin) and some of the beaches up there were fabulous.

I live in Wirral now and love West Kirby and the walk over to Hilbre Island to see the seals. You have to be careful though and check the tide times which are posted on a notice board on the entrance to the beach (near to the Morrisons). I also enjoy Thurstaton Country Park and the beach there.

Luskentyre on Harris,in fact any of the beaches on the Outer Hebrides, North Berwick,St Andrews

What a lovely thread on a windy rather grey day here. No rain so far, but it's very warm outside although the house feels chilly.
I would like to be walking on a beach now. Lucky those who live by the sea now.

Another vote for Margate or more precisely Westbrook the next one along. Granny lived a walk from beach so many many holiday memories.

I have a fond memory of an early morning swim off Dinas Dinlle as a teenager in about 1961. Heading back to the beach the beauty of the skyline of the mountains cannot be bettered.
Many a happy time in North Wales with my late wife when she was my fiancé in the mid 1960s. Ho hum...

I used to live at Preesall over wyre. Very rarely came into Blackpool, not the place I enjoyed but much preferred Morecambe. Liked the beach there and occasionally went for coffee at the Midland Hotel , so very art deco. Took an elderly friend there and we would sit with a lovely view over the sea and she would have tea and I of course had coffee, and we would sit there and for the price of the coffee, you could hear the man playing the piano and expect Poirot to come through the door at any moment!! There was a lovely ice cream place , I think it was call LEWIS , and that would be a treat to chose from. Wonder if it is still there?

I love many beaches, remember so well when we used to sail to Isle of Man, and the lovely beach at Peel was always lovely and my son loved digging to australia from there! A wonderful place we sailed to was Plockton in Scotland, wonderful place. But now my go to place is Saltburn. My two places are Swaledale and Saltburn, either of which I can get to quite quickly and so to lovely Saltburn, above Whitby next to Redcar and close to Guisborough and Middlesborough. It has what I like, a quietish seaside place, without tatty things and loads of people. The beach is good, sandy and pleasant to walk along. There is a pier that goes out a good way, and best of all for me they have a lovely funicular. I have a disabled badge and when I am struggling I park up near the funicular and just enjoy looking out at sea , with my binoculars. I can look down at the beach and depending on the weather, if it is quite still there will be paddle boarders having a go, when there are waves the surfers are all out in wet suits having a go. There is a little railway and a park nearby , a station and a local farmers market on certain days. Lots of different cafes and ordinary shops so plenty of choice . Whether I am struggling and cannot even really walk to the cafes I take my own coffee and enjoy sitting up on the cliffs , watching the sea and the beach and thinking of the times my lovely husband and I used to go there. There is always something to enjoy there for me . Then you can drive down the coast to Whitby and do the park and ride - whitby is awful to park round and it is much the best way to go there. So I never tire of Saltburn, quiet and peaceful and my kind of place rather than large busy places. Try it if you come up this way!