Beer - Beer is one of our favourite places to visit, whether for the day or just for the evening. It is a great beach for swimming, pebbly so you might want to bring beach shoes, but it is steeply shelved so easy to get in and swim straight away and the water is beautiful. Beer has great food options including fish & chips, restaurants and pubs and cafes on the beach itself. Also fresh fish on sale at the bottom of the ramp. Pecorama and Beer Quarry Caves are also worth a visit. (40 mins)
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Branscombe - West of Beer and wilder is Branscombe. The pretty National Trust village is set back from the sea but there is a car park and cafe The Sea Shanty right on the beach. See the anchor of the container ship Napoli which ran aground in Branscombe in 2007. (35 mins)
We often walk from Branscombe to Beer and back along a glorious stretch of the South West Coast Path. Read about the walk here. |
Sidmouth - A more urban beach, but in a nice way, there are some lovely shops to browse in a semi-pedestrian area and some great eateries on the seafront, for example Dukes, Mocha and the Pea Green Boat. You can hire paddle boards on the beach. A huge car park at the western edge of the town gives onto Connaught Gardens and the Jacobs Ladder end of the beach where you will find the Clock Tower Cafe which is also excellent. The beach is mainly pebbly but there is some red sand at the Jacobs Ladder end at low tide. Take care if walking along the beach either way out of the town as there have been cliff falls in recent years. (40 mins)
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Budleigh Salterton - another beautiful pebble beach a bit like Beer and Branscombe at the end of the Otter Estuary. Budleigh is a sweet little town.
You can also walk inland up the Otter to pretty Otterton Mill where there is a cafe, shop and farm shop. You might spot beavers or at least evidence of their presence. (45 mins) |
Exmouth - Exmouth boasts a huge sandy beach with parking all along marine drive and in several car parks. Shallow water and little pools left by the tide make it fun for little ones, but do beware of using inflatables here as there are some strong currents and tides due to the River Exe estuary and it can also be very windy. Great beach-front services including playground, food outlets and public toilets at the Queen's Drive Space, indoor softplay and ten pin bowling at the nearby Ocean centre. Up near the new lifeboat station is a new complex with Edge Watersports, where you can hire paddle boards, shop and cafe concessions and Mickey's Beach Bar and Restaurant a new enterprise in 2021 by celebrity chef Michael Caines. Exmouth's Sandy Bay is also home to World of Country Life, a great place to visit for all the family with animals, vintage vehicles and plenty of play areas. (35 mins)
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Seaton - Seaton's seafront has a slightly retired feel, however you may want to ride the Seaton Tramway, visit the Seaton Jurassic museum to learn about the history of this fantastic coastline, or go for a wander through the Seaton Wetlands nature reserve. (40 mins)
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Lyme Regis and Charmouth - just into Dorset, Lyme and Charmouth are a must visit if you have a young dinosaur enthusiast with you. Excellent museums in both places and you can join a fossil hunting tour of the beach. Lyme has an area of sand near the Cobb but otherwise the beaches are pebbly/rocky. Lyme has some lovely shops and eateries too. (45 mins)
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