10 of the best English beaches

Ice creams, fish 'n' chips, rock, donkey rides and deckchairs - Blackpool beach is the essence of the traditional British seaside. Apart from miles of sand you'll find slot machines, shows and some of the biggest and scariest rollercoasters in the UK!

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Bournemouth Beach is an 11km stretch of sand and a fantastic playground for families. It was the first beach to introduce the family-friendly Kidzone scheme, where your children wear a coloured wristband to help keep them within coloured beach zones – and make it easier to identify them if they wander off.

Queen Victoria’s private beach at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight is now open to the public, meaning you can splash about on a beach fit for royalty!

With a Blue Flag award for its clean swimming waters, Ainsdale Beach is the ideal place for a relaxing family day out. The beach offers lots of activities to keep your children entertained, including fabulous sand dunes that form part of a Local Nature Reserve. There are also donkeys in the nearby village, which children love.

With vast stretches of unspoilt sands, Camber Sands is one of Sussex’s best-kept secrets – and a star in it’s own right. It made a cameo in Carry On film Follow That Camel; was the backdrop for that iconic fashion shoot with Kate Moss; and more recently stood in as an alien planet in Dr Who. 

Draped in dunes, Holkham is a deliciously secluded beach backed by a scented pine forest. Sunbathe, horseride or explore three miles of seemingly measureless, creamy sands. The Queen likes to walk her corgis here, and Gwyneth Paltrow strode across the sands for the final scene of Shakespeare In Love.

One of the most haunting and beautiful places in Britain, Holy Island was an early centre of Christianity in the UK. These days it’s a sanctuary for wildlife. During July you’ll see thousands of nesting puffins and guillemots circling, feeding – and what is reported to be Europe’s largest colony of grey seals, too.

Great Bay is the best beach in the Scillys. It’s only a 20-minute walk from the quay and the journey’s certainly worth it. Offshore, kelp forests sheltering colourful fish wave lazily in a cobalt sea and the arcing white sands are distinctly tropical. The warmer temperatures around the Isles of Scilly make it a hotspot for playful dolphins passing through in the summer.

Wedged between Morvah and Pendeen Points, Portheras Cove is a well-kept secret in the South West, and still a baby in comparison with other famous Cornish beaches. Its springy beige sands were only opened to the public in 2004 after a shipwreck was cleared from the bay.

The North East will spoil you for choice when it comes to dramatic sand dunes and miles of remote coastline. And you won’t find a sweeter spot than Sugar Sands, a small but perfectly formed beach with pale peach sands. It’s quite hard to access but definitely a hidden gem, and worth the idyllic walk from the village of Longhoughton.

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