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Lyme Regis - really, really don't know why.  But I like it. Years since i've been but what are Ilfracombe and Brixham like now?

Cornwall is like a different country, filled my car up at a garage in Bodmin and the old biddy behind the counter started a conversation with me... I was thinking just let me pay and leave you old bitch, then when I thought about it ,it was quite a nice thing to do on her part.

Polzeath (Cornwall) for me. Been going down there since I was 17, once lived in a tent there for 3 months of the summer whilst working in a surf shop, great fun.

I have a shameful lack of knowledge of alternatives though, been to a few other sea side places here and there but really must see more of our coastline. And the rest of these wonderful shores.

Swanage....my favourite.

Hi Mystical Goat

I took the little boat over from Padstow to Rock, intended to walk around the Camel Estuary to Polzeath but the weather got the better of me. Totally idyllic. Tried finding John Betjemans grave in the sand dune covered graveyard but with no luck.

Good shout, was privelaged enough to be there for the Red Arrows, dipping in and out of Ballard Down. Truly spectacular and rather frightening. It was purely by chance I stumbled on the occasion.

I like south Devon.from dawlish to Dartmouth and all the lovely towns in between.

Done that boat trip a few times myself, and the walk from Polzeath to Rock is very nice but one I've only attempted in good weather.

Good to see that Sharp's Doom Bar is in so many pubs now, always buy it when it's on.

Tenby, Pembrokeshire.
Padstow, Cornwall.
Brighton, Sussex.

Any seaside town north of Stratford upon avon with the excepcion of whitby and maybe one or two coastal villages  in the north east deserve to be shut down. The South West truly reigns supreme for idyllic coastal nooks and crannies.

I'll go with Lyme Regis, plus Salcombe and St Ives. Although the later is over populated in the summer.

Arriba. adore that stretch of railway between Exeter and Dawlish, sheer on the seafront. Dartmouth is a charming place, and there's the steam railway from the little town across the estuary.

Sharps Doom Bar, in The Sloop, St Ives, a particular lifetime favourite. Stay off The Cornish Rattler though. Bed wetting stuff.

agreed. Along the exe estuary through starcross,then along the sea wall past dawlish and teignmouth then up the teign estuary to Newton Abbot. Very nice indeed

Shit, how could I forget my Anglian roots. The less said about (Great) Yarmouth and Lowestoft the better - but Southwold is wonderful.

I went to Morecombe on the way back from the lake district earlier this week. 

It was shit.

Agree with that most definitely, love that bit on the train, something to look forward to on the 3 hour journey

I like Torquay and Bournemouth

We came upon St Enodocs church where Betjemans grave is by accident a couple of years ago. We were down on the beach at Daymer bay and walked through the little golf course next to the beach and the church is pretty much hidden until your almost on top of it. There's a few stories about when the church was buried in sand the vicar was forced to marry a local girl and a pirate who they lowered down through the roof to be married before the pirate escaped. Great little church and well worth a visit, the views from Brea hill close to the church are stunning too. Like the ruggedness of North Cornwall but Looe and Polperro are still two of my favourite places.

If you like swimming with sanitary towels may I suggest Margate in Kent

I walked around that golf course trying to find the grave, feeling like I was trespassing, and couldn't for the life of me locate the church. It certainly must be obscured from view!

 I can highly reccomend a walk I did from Portreath to St Agnes along the coastal path, then you go up to Cornwall's highest point (St Agnes Beacon) where you can see from the north Cornish coast over to the south coast.

Aggie, another one of my favourite places, we stay in St Agnes fairly often messing about on the body boards down in the cove. A great walk from St Agnes along to Chapel Porth passing a few of the old mines, I found a mobile phone in StAgnes back in the summer, I managed to get it back to the owner who happened to be the landlord of the hotel in the village, he was most grateful and insisted I had a few pints that evening on the house  :)

Walked past that hotel, think it's a Tribute (St Austell's) Ales establishment. Yeh, those derelict engine houses are hauntingly beautiful.

Some of the shafts are exposed at the top, although gridded over. If you drop a pebble you can hear it ricocheting off the wall and finally plop into the water about 7 seconds later, gives you a sense of how deep those mines were!

That's the one

http://www.staustellbrewery.co.uk/pubs/a-z-of-pubs/254-st-agnes-hotel-st-agnes.html

Having lived on the East Anglian coast (well 10 miles inland) for 14 years I concur with the Goat's thoughts.  Great Yarmouth is a total shit hole, Lowestoft slightly better (nice beaches) but Southwold will take some beating.

Ryde is really nice. I've got a soft spot for the old (Eastern) side of hastings, the western side is a complete shithole though.

Wells-next-the-sea and Hunstanton (Old part) are also lovely seaside towns in that area. My favourite seaside place has to be Lulworth in Dorset although it's not really a town i guess.

Along with Southend

Used to go to Frinton in Essex loads when I was a kid. Really nice old seaside town and seemed relatively untouched - didn't even have a pub until 10 years ago. Could walk a short distance up the beach to Walton pier as well.

Oxwich bay is nice and tranquil. Port Talbot.
Teignmouth is nice, also like Swanage

I am guessing you've never been North of Whitby then? The beaches, along with the scenery in the North of Scotland are stunning (if a little cold at times).

Ahving spent the best part of the last 3 years (with one notable exception) holidaying in the UK, I've been to a fair few places. In no particular order:

Morecambe - totally agree with Saxondale, it has no commendable features whatsoever.
Blackpool - you know what you get and to expect. Enough said.
Aberystwith - I actually quite liked it, somewhat genteel and laid back.
Tenby - It alsolutely sloshed it down the whole weekend I was there. What I saw (through the rain) was lovely. Will go back.
Barry Island - even with the Gavin & Stacey makeover, its still a run down dump.....
Ilfracombe - a little secret, Tunnels Beach. Lovely, safe for kids, black sand. You have to pay to go on it (ergo its quiet), but we spent a lovely day there, had a lovely picnic and played in the rock pools.
Woolacombe/Croyde/Saunton Sands/Braunton - yearly pilgrimage - lovely area with beautiful beaches and popular with the surfer dudes of course. Highly recommended.
North Cornwall coast (Bude etc) - again lovely beaches, and its rugged scenic countryside. Beautiful.
Perranporth - lovely beach, quite town, shit weather....
South Devon - not an area I know that well, but we have a week in Brixham planned later in the year. Did spend a day on Blackpool Sands last year, was very busy, restaurant on the beach was lovely, but its expensive to park.
Exmouth - great for pensioners
Seaton - Pretty
Lyme Regis - Hilly. Expensive. Nice. The whole Jurassic Coast is generally brilliant.
Weymouth - slightly tacky, but haed out to Bowleaze Cove for a lovely, quiet beach.
Eastbourne - See Exmouth.
Margate - I was pleasantly surprised, we spent a lovely day on the beach (had pretty much the whole beach to ourselves) and found a great cafe on the end of the jetty. Had a bit of a makeover. Try it....
Whitstable - Bit of a gastronomy destination. Beach is a bit shabby, but overall quite nice.

I live in Weston-super-Mare. Its really quite nice, provided you time your visit right (and avoid all the obnoxious midlander's who seem to frequent it during the summer). Like everything, a little local knowledge is key.

If you're just after a great beach, then you cant really go wrong anywhere along the North Devon & Cornwall coasts. However I do find a lot of the towns a little run down now - Perranporth, Ilfracombe, Woolacombe could offer so much more than they do with a bit of investment but they just look a little bit tatty now. St Ives is nice but gets really busy, so try Hayle beach a few miles up the road - a massive stretch of golden sand with good waves that I've never seen busy even in the height of summer.
My favourite though has to be Croyde - again a great beach but the town/village itself has kept a certain old fashioned charm that others seem to have lost. And the Thatch is one of my top 5 pubs - great real ales & ciders and even though it is often rammed with surfers, the atmosphere just buzzes most of the day.

Morecambe is beautiful.

Lynmouth is a beautiful place by the sea. Picture postcard little town

Clacton is a nice seaside town, average beach but plenty to do. I stayed in St. Oesth just up the road the holiday site i was on had a private beach that was nice & secluded & best of all right next to a nudist beach. I was there for a week with 3 kids & they never got bored once apart from the journey home.

Been to Southwold and it is very nice. My wife's gran had a beach hut at Walton-on-the-naze which is/was very quaint. I'm not as keen on the east coast so tend to venture South, South-west. We often take the dog and a football down to Weston or Brean beach to stretch the legs on a Sunday.

Agree with most of that, but don't spread the message too far or the place will be inundated. I'm not convinced by The Thatch, good beer/cider selection and atmosphere, but the food (with the notable exception of the Nacho's) is geeting worse and not VFM. Off again in June for a long weekend.


I know I'm really short sighted, but its not.


Another place I've only been to when its raining. Agree entirely though.


Perfect location IMO. Despite all its faults, I really do enjoy a walk on Weston beach, especially this time of year.

Agree Pumbaa, normally drive down through Cheddar and across Bleadon hill? A bag of chips from the Kiosk opposite the pier and a wander around Weston is much better than a boring Sunday. The Brummies are venturing further south and have now reached North Devon and beyond  :)

Not really a town but Lulworth Cove/Durdle Door is a magical place

It really is a vile place.

Perhaps I was a little harsh on Morecombe.  It now has a nice hotel (the midland) which has done the pier / esplanade / whatever these things are called, up in a nice way and has a good cafe.  Very chic' boutique-y type thing. Some may say wanky.

It also has a statue of Eric Morecombe.

Other than that and a few nice building in between hideous 60's pre-fabs it was horrible.  The sea was grey.  Northerners probably think 'ah a proper seaside town, none of your poncey nice beaches and pretty things coz we're rock hard up here'.  I personally just thought depressing shithole.  Even my missus who loves a seaside town they forgot to close down thought it was horrific.

Down here,Whitstable is the pick of a poor bunch!

Try the Pasty's at Croyde PO

Do the still do the ice creams smothered in clotted cream? Spent 2 summers down there working at Putsborough beach shop when I was younger. Great place.

My home town of Broadstairs has a fantastic beach, proper fish and chips unlike the gash they serve up in Swindon.

As mentioned before, Bowleaze Cove near Weymouth is great and Lyme Regis is like stepping back in time, truly delightful.

On the places I've been I'm in agreement with most of the posts on this thread.

Lyme Regis is a lovely old place - and the coastline along there is good.
Haven't been to Cornwall enough - its a long old trip but one I should do a bit more.
Had a weekend in Salcombe last year which I liked.
Northumberland coast is beautiful if often a bit bracing but not really any seaside towns there as such.
Likewise I love the Gower Peninsula but no towns to speak of.

Morecambe is really a run down sad looking place - not sorry that we don't have a fixture there this season.
Hastings is another town of that ilk.  Really strange place.

Staying over in Bournemouth this Sat and planning to visit Swanage and Purbeck coast on Sunday - never been but it looks quite nice in pictures.

Dawlish Warren was lush when I was a kid. But then most of it burnt down I think

Margate, Skegness, Morecambe, Grimsby..

Broadstairs may have good fish and chips....but it is a dive,lived in Ramsgate Road for years and both Margate and Broadstairs were well in decline even then.
My favourite places are places that tend to have a river as well as a beach like Looe,Teignemouth etc.
The beaches on the Gower are stunning in places as are a couple on the Norfolk Coast.
For me Brighton is the best resort for its hustle and bustle and general atmosphere when taking into account the bigger resorts though as a historian old fishing ports like Shoreham and Gravesend do more for me than a quant little beach with nothing else to look at.
Padstow is stunning and i deliver there a lot which is a bonus....i would love to visit Southwold in Suffolk one day.

Incidently i have been off work with flu and back tommorow delivering .....in Hull :(

I like Hull too.

Hardest place to find a parking space in England when the sun shines.

Studland (not the nudest beach), I have fond memories from my younger days.
Lyme Regis is also a great place to spend a few days.

Broadstairs must have gone up in the world a bit since then, it seems a fair bit of cash was spent on it in recent years, The Westwood Cross development is better than anything we have in Swindon IMO. The problem with Broadstairs is the riff raff it attracts from dumps like Margate and Ramsgate due to the high number of pubs. Granted, Ramsgate Road (Broadstairs end) is very similar to the bedsit lands of Swindon, more Amphetamines available round those parts than Boots The Chemist, whereas the Ramsgate end is better. On my last parent visit I have to say I was amazed how nice Broadstairs is now, but Margate, what a shithole that is, the locals call it the Thanet Sangatte.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Papa's Fish and Chips on the Boulevard are the bomb. Off the sea front, but worth the 150 yard walk.

That hasn't changed, although my mum will always let you park at hers Dell  :)

She's very kind.

Tell me have they improved the road structure, it's not just the parking its getting to a parking space.

Broadstairs Town Centre remains the same which is why the new Westwood Cross development get all the shoppers. On the plus side it means less people shopping in Broadstairs, freeing up more spaces for beach lovers. The road structure outside of the town has been improved massively, to allow for the traffic that heads up to the new shopping centre, but the town centre never really has had any room for improvement. The alternative, around a 5 minute drive is Joss Bay, next to the lighthouse, tons of parking, nice little Cafe and beach shop, and The Captain Digby pub a 5 minute walk from the beach  :)

I think you are being rather generous with that assessment

Portsmouth through my roots but love Brixham.

No beaches just "real" places.

Polzeath in Cornwall has always got great surf if you're into that (best time of the year for surfing incidentally is ALWAYS October half term. It's you, the locals, and the few like-minded people brave enough to risk it). Huge great big beach and some cracking rock pools for the little 'uns/non swimmers too, although the tide has to be out for that. I honestly have yet to find a beach that is better, though it can be a little crowded in high summer...

Only downside now is that the Atlantic, the pub that was on the cliff overlooking the beach (right next to the free parking spaces) has turned into flats. What used to be my perfect beach day of getting there by 11, surfing, having a pasty/sandwich, surfing, then toddling off to the pub for a few pints and some cheesy chips and watching the sun set before going home has now disappeared. There are plenty of great pubs in the area (Port William at Trebarwith Strand comes to mind), so it's not a major downer, but it does mean Polzeath isn't perfect anymore...

At the other end of the M4 to Swindon, and more my specialist subject (as I lived there for three years) Swansea is improving a lot (the restaurant at the top of the marina tower has stunning views on a nice day), and the beach is nice if you have dogs, as long as it's not heaving you're allowed on the whole thing. Mumbles is nice for an afternoon, but it's sadly suffered a bit over the past few years, and once you've wandered to the end of the promenade, had an ice cream at the Italian place, and seen the castle, that's pretty much it. The Gower's lovely, but there's no real towns there- definitely one for the hikers/surfers/explorers amongst you.

Slightly off topic, but if you are over that way and the weather's not good enough/you don't feel like walking, driving up through the valleys is its own reward for those of you who love a great drive- look at a road map, pick a wiggly bit, and then go for it. I'd suggest the A4107 from Port Talbot to Treorchy, and then come back to the M4 through the Ogmore Vale. Some of the best driving roads in the country. Don't go to Pendine Sands though, they don't let you on the beach anymore. Wasted trip...

Whitstable,Whitstable,
Apart from oysters,
They've got f*** all.

Gonna have to explore Wales this year. Tenby looks promising

Port Talbot's quite nice, make sure you check it out.

yeah good one.

The Old Cream Shop specialised in these, they'd smother them in clotted cream or dip them in melted chocolate. They really were the best ice creams in the world. They stopped doing them a few years ago, and now its not even called the old cream shop any more  :cry:

Theres another ice cream parlour a couple of doors up that took over the cream & chocolate tradition and although the ice cream is good, it just doesn't have that magic for me that conjures up memories of being 10 years old and given a special treat after a day at the beach.

without doubt my favourite seaside town, great beaches, lots of history and lacks the tackiness you find most places

Anyone else been to Skagen in Denmark? Feels just like Padstow for some reason!

Honourary mention for Southend after tonight :pint:

Fair point Red Squirell, I was being stupidly dismissive, i'm looking into having a seaside holiday soon, regardless of the inclement weather, and i've learnt that a place called Robins Hood Place near Whitby is unsurpassed for coastal splendour.

The Scottish Isles are a delight, Mull is just stupendously beautiful, and the Isle of Arran is Scotland in miniature without the buckfast weegies.

The uniniatiated can keep their Med package holidays ;)

Thanks for that one ! Great choice!
You have reminded me one year while in south wales pendine beach  / barry / tenby / larne i made one in to port talbot  ;D
I was working for corus steel at the time and so a trip to port talbot just felt right - not every beach can boast its own steelworks! Happy days
Cudnt understand why other half didnt like it though no pleasing some

Blimey, Rick Stein's reach has extended hasn't it!

Por perro not sure if thats how its spelt but i went there for a few days and i felt like i was abroad. The water was actually clear

Polperro, if that's the place your talking about was once the most painted village/harbour in Cornwall. Great for couples but not a great deal for children unless the tide is out and then there's a cave you can explore that's supposed to be haunted by a smuggler ( Willy Wilcox) It was a popular choice for smugglers and was used as recent as the 1970's. Polperro has managed to keep its roots pretty much intact and is a great example of a proper Cornish fishing village. Floods did horrendous damage similar to Boscastle a few years back but measures were put in place to prevent a repeat.

Heard on the news earlier that a rare sighting was made just off the Pembrokeshire Coast by those aboard the Pembroke Dock to Rosslare ferry. They spotted a super-pod of Dolphins, numbering an estimated 500 of the creatures close by the vessell. That must have been quite a sight.

There was a couple of Dolphins swimming amongst the surfers down in the cove at St Agnes last summer, we were watching from a viewing area and watching them gracefully twist and turn without a care in the world was amazing and something you don't really expect to see so close in to the beach.

Would love to have seen that. I did spot a seal in St Ives harbour and informed every passer by tourist, all of whom were equally enchanted by the sight, though talking to a local fisherman it turns out to be an everyday occurence there.

seals getting washed up onto the Cornish beaches is common, the seal sanctuary down there  do a great job of saving and fixing up dozens of them and then release them back to the sea for another chance. if you've never been out on a boat trip along the coast line it's well worth it and there's a good chance you'll see a seal of two.

Yes that's the place, the cave was pretty cool but mainly went for the fishing, we stayed near Mullion.

They do boat trips out just to see the seals and you get to feed them too. As you say, well worth it.

I once saw a basking shark while i was fishing in Deal on the old concrete harbour wall.

Apparently not to much of an uncommon appearance.

Is there a big clubbing scene down there as well?

 :eek: :eek:

Most of the younger seals head into Newquay on the weekends for the bigger clubs  ;)
Have you been out on a boat from Looe Leefer? You get a lot of sharks up close when your out in the bay. It used to be the shark fishing HQ for England, I'll have to ( fish ) out a photo I've got taken with a 420lb shark they landed a few years ago, that's now not allowed and they are I think tagged and released. Looe had its own resident Seal named Nelson, it had been coming into the harbour for 20 odd years and my little uns used to feed him by hand. He died a few years ago but they now have a bronze life size statue of him set on a big rock in the harbour/river.

:clap:

No i havn't but i have seen the statue....the road into Looe following the river and railway is a brilliant drive in the lorry!
If you like your birdlife it is also a mecca with the river harbour attracting all sorts.

Up where the river splits there are a few herons or cranes nesting on the far bank, I've spent hours attempting to catch mullet etc up there and they come along taking the piss catching them with ease  :) we walk are mad springer up through the woods following the river to get away from the crowds if we're down there during school holidays.

Going to spend tomorrow afternoon on the north Wales coast prior to the Tranny game.

Planning to check out the sea front at Rhyl but any other recommendations for that area of the world are welcomed