Is there anything more charming, more nostalgic or more fleeting than a day spent at the British seaside? Summer seems to have arrived – albeit in dribs and drabs – and with it city and country-dwellers alike are piling into their cars or onto trains and heading to the seaside, presumably following the scent of seaweed and vinegar-soaked chips. You may wonder why, when there is a wealth of Greek islands and rivieras (both French and Italian) just a couple of hours away by plane, would anyone choose to risk the rain and the litter which often go hand in hand with the coastal spots found in the UK? Even without the considerable financial and logistical savings made by not going abroad, we are firm believers that there is unrivalled joy to be found right here in Britain, which has plenty of seaside gems to offer.
Since I was a child, my entire family would cram into a car and make the seven hour drive down to Trebetherick, in Cornwall, where we would spend a week in a house perched on top of a hill overlooking Lundy Bay. Days were spent walking, bodyboarding, playing football and eating sand-laced pasties. When the rain came (which it often did), we’d pile inside and play Uno. We’d buy lobster and crab straight from the fisherman, and eat it an hour later as the sun went down. Yes, there were complaints about the more than occasional downpour, or the long, cramped journey to get there. But year after year, as soon as schools broke up for summer, there we’d be, cruising down the M5, raring to do it all again.
Perhaps it is the spectacular landscapes, starting from the salt marshes in Norfolk, past Suffolk and round to the white cliffs of Dover, along the south coast to the dramatic rocks in Cornwall and up to Wales, that have long inspired artists and creatives to lay down roots on the coast and use their surroundings as a muse. This has had the knock on effect of galleries popping up along the coast; from the Barbara Hepworth Museum in St. Ives, the Red House in Aldeburgh, Pallant House in Chichester or Hastings Contemporary, there is an endless amount of delightful maritime-inspired art to be enjoyed.
One of the UK’s best known beaches, Brighton, hardly needs an introduction. Its 13 kilometres of pebble coastline have long attracted visitors who enjoy the quaint cobblestone streets and independent shops. Once the go-to for all-night clubbing now seems to have a budding wellness side to it. ‘You can eat and booze and all the good stuff, but now there’s an accessible holistic side. Like in cities where you’re never more than six feet away from a rat, the same can be said for Brighton and yoga studios’, says Remy Mishon, House & Garden’s Decoration Editor. ‘Beachside saunas are rife all along the coast, and they do them so well. It used to be a place to let your hair down, now it’s a place to recuperate too’, she adds.
On trendy seaside spots, it would be remiss not to mention Margate, the formerly shunned east-coast fishing town which has recently seen a swift rise in popularity, spearheaded by the artist Tracy Emin’s move there in 2017. After this first domino fell, a crop of very delicious, and exceedingly charming restaurants opened in quick succession. Our favourite is Angela's, nestled on the parade, with its sister restaurant Dory’s sitting beachfront just a couple of minutes away.
Since sunbathing (or even extended bouts of sitting) on a rocky British beach is pretty impossible, much of the charm comes from what can be found on them. House & Garden’s Digital Director, Virginia Clark, nostalgically recalls summers spent ‘poking around on beaches looking for weird things. My dad had quite an intense fossil era when I was a kid, so there were several holidays on Dorset's Jurassic Coast, looking for ammonites and trilobites’. If Virginia were to visit today, she’d book into The Seaside Boarding House near Bridport – a welcome 2015 addition to the coastline.
Rocky beaches are not all Britain has to offer – far from it. There is something wonderfully endless about the sandy dunes which make up Camber Sands beach in Sussex. Remote and idyllic, Studland Bay is just a 30 minute drive beyond Bournemouth, and offers grassy dunes and pebble-free blonde sand that is easily mistaken for the Hamptons. ‘Just down the road is Shell Bay, an airy seafood restaurant right on the water serving delicious dishes like buttery scallops, lobster rolls and fire-roasted whole fish. The floor-to-ceiling windows look out across the water to Brownsea Island, a wildlife sanctuary that's only accessible by ferry and feels like stepping back in time. It's a reminder that not all British beaches come with a side of arcade games’, says our Senior Audience Development Manager, Tal Dekel Daks.
Head to Cley Next the Sea in North Norfolk for an unforgettable weekend spent trudging through the saltwater streams. While you’re there, Cley Pottery is up there with one of the loveliest pottery studios we’ve come across – and it’s celebrating its 40th anniversary this summer with a knock-out exhibition of beautiful, handmade ceramics. Far further north, the seaside fishing town of Crail in Fife, Scotland, has the brilliant Crail Pottery and a harbour-side shack where you can pick up your dressed crab or lobster rolls at a very reasonable price.
Undoubtedly, much of the value of the British seaside can be found in the glut of truly wonderful food. ‘I almost agreed to move to Mull because of the sandwich shack next to the ferry terminal in Oban, where I had the best lobster roll I have ever had’, says Art Editor Fiona McKenzie Johnson. ‘Now, living in Hastings, we have the fish huts on the beach, where I can buy a whole dressed crab for less than a Pret salad’, she delights.
Whether it’s a large portion of salty, vinegary chip shop chips washed down with a Coke (‘surely the British equivalent of aperitivo on the Amalfi coast’, says Virginia), or the rather fancier seafood offering of Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant in Padstow, Cornwall, you are never too far away from your next great meal – though our Deputy Digital Editor Charlotte McCaughan-Hawes favours the neighbouring, far more casual Stein's Seafood Bar and Fishmongers where you can sit at a bar with a pint of prawns, bowl of aioli and glass of wine next to the fish counter where you then choose your dinner to take home.
If you find yourself in Southwold, in Suffolk, you must heed the advice of Eve Delaney, House & Garden’s Digital Associate, who insists that ‘before you enter the bright lights of the town, you won't want to miss a cold beer, grilled lobster and beef-dripping-fried chips at Sole Bay’. At her suggestion, a day here must be spent pottering about this pastel-painted town, before ‘finishing up at the end of the pier show: a fever dream of surreal, handmade arcade games that will haunt and delight in equal measure’.
The seaside is, all things considered, one of the most special things about this rainy little island. It may not have tropical forests, exotic fish, white sand beaches or turquoise water. But it has charm by the bucket load. Enough, in fact, to fill several buckets and build a large sandcastle, before heading inside for a cup of tea and a newspaper filled with soggy chips.
