Whitstable, Kent: Tankerton Beach and The Street
The Street is a 750-meter-long stretch of shingle that sticks out from Whitstable’s Tankerton beach at low tide. It has beautiful views back to the beach, lined with groins, and beyond it, to the colorful houses and beach huts of nearby Whitstable. After you’ve spent enough time at the beach, it’s time to eat some of the town’s native oysters. Harbour Street and High Street have a lot of great places to do so.
East Beach, Littlehampton, West Sussex
A run-down promenade and an old-fashioned funfair give Littlehampton a shabby look that has kept it from becoming too cool, even though architecture fans and foodies flock to Thomas Heatherwick’s sculptural East Beach Café, which looks like a weird giant piece of driftwood that washed up on the beautiful sand beach. It’s a great swimming place, especially if you go past the groins. Nearby West Beach, which Asif Khan designed, has great homemade ice cream and gourmet fish and chips at the West Beach café.
Minnis Bay, Kent, and Birchington
This long and beautiful Blue Flag sand beach on the north Kent coast is a popular place for families. It has lots of free parking, an outdoor play area for kids, and a paddling pool where you can find crabs and other sea creatures. Windsurfing, kiteboarding, sailing, and a restaurant with a bar and great views of the sea should keep older daytrippers happy. Walkers and cyclists will enjoy the 32-mile Viking Coastal Trail that runs along the Thanet coast.
Leigh-on-Sea, in Essex
Leigh-on-Sea, older and more charming than Southend-on-Sea, is close by. If you like beaches with cobblestone streets, boats swaying in the wind, and signs of a place’s historic fishing past, like old world cockle sheds, then this is the place for you. It’s a bit of a photographer’s gift. Even though the beach is small, it is sandy, and you are close to some great places to eat seafood. Try Osborne’s cafe and Seafood Hall. Their cooked cockles won the Fish & Seafood category of the 2021 British Food Awards.
Eastbourne, East Sussex, Holywell Retreat
Eastbourne’s long, zigzag-shaped shingle beach at Grand Parade is a natural draw, but Holywell Retreat is also worth looking for. It is on the edge of town, at the end of the promenade, past the Italian Gardens and Holywell Tea Chalet. It’s a small, quiet, shingle beach with some pretty blue and white beach chalets. Beachy Head’s white cliffs are in the background. Two more reasons to go are the South Downs coastal path and Rick Mathers’s elegant Towner Gallery of Contemporary Art.
Kent’s Botany Bay, close to Broadstairs
This stretch of coast between Margate and Ramsgate is both quiet and hidden. There are no amusement parks or slot machines here, just a 600-foot-long strip of Blue Flag-awarded sand and a kiosk in a pretty little cove, which is one of seven along this part of the Kent coast and is backed by the longest stretch of chalk cliffs in Britain. If you need more than a sandwich or ice cream, you can get to Broadstairs in an hour by walking along the beach when the tide is low.
Mersea Island, in Essex
There aren’t many beaches near London that require a tide schedule, but Britain’s most easterly inhabited island does. It’s an estuary island connected to the mainland by the Strood, an old Roman causeway. Foodies flock to the oyster bars in West Mersea, while fossil hunters and nature lovers head to East Mersea’s quiet beaches, which are backed by cliffs where shark teeth and animal bones from 300,000 years ago have been found. The Mersea Island Vineyard and Brewery is a good place for wine lovers to pick up a local gift.
East Sussex, Fairlight Glen
If you want to be a bit more naked on the beach, you might want to go to Fairlight Glen, about two miles east of Hastings. Some of the shingle shore is given over to a naturist beach, but not all of it. Be aware that it’s not the easiest beach to get to because it has a steep drop-off, and the views (of the sea and people) aren’t the best. However, this makes it wild and secluded for people who like beach time to be free of candyfloss. As part of a project to make the area more like the wild, Exmoor ponies have been brought there.
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Ramsgate, Pegwell Bay, Kent
When you get off the train in Ramsgate, you might decide there’s nothing wrong with staying there and getting to know its popular sandy beach. You’re right. It’s great for kids and has sailing, jet skiing, and windsurfing. The architecture is a fun mix of Edwardian seaside details and Georgian neoclassicism, and it even has its tide pool. Taking you away from the beaten path, Pegwell Bay is not only a nature reserve with many wildfowl but also full of history. Archaeologists have found evidence of the first Roman landings and Viking longships.
Cuckmere Haven, Seaford, Sussex
Cuckmere Haven is one of the best places to go to the beach if you want to see famous sights. Pack your painting supplies because the famous Seven Sisters white chalk cliffs to the east of the pebbled beach are a beautiful sight that has drawn many artists over the years. It’s a quiet place used to film scenes from movies like Harry Potter and Robin Hood. You can also bring your dog, and it’s a good place to fish if you want a reason to sit still for hours and look out to sea. To eat, you should stay in Seaford, where you can get great seafood and gelato.