Burnham on sea

The seafront at Burnham-on-Sea is a proper old-fashioned seaside affair - all pebbled beach, Victorian pretensions, and the sort of place where a bucket-and-spade holiday still feels achievable on a modest budget. The pier takes centre stage, a cast-iron structure that's been drawing crowds since the 1830s and still cuts a decent silhouette against the Somerset coast. Walk out along it and you get decent views across the Bristol Channel, though on grey days - which is most days here - the appeal is largely sentimental rather than spectacular.

The town itself is low-key and unpretentious, which is either its greatest strength or its biggest weakness depending on your tolerance for faded grandeur. There's a seafront promenade with the usual arcades and chip shops, a lifeboat station worth a look, and stretches of sand that are genuinely quiet outside peak weeks. Families with young kids will find the beach manageable and the infrastructure straightforward. Walkers get decent coastal paths heading north toward Brean Down if you fancy something with a bit more grit.

Staying at Haven Burnham-on-Sea Holiday Village or Lakeside Holiday Park puts you within spitting distance of the seafront, which means you can pop down for a chippy tea without the faff of relocating. Allow an afternoon for a proper explore - the pier takes twenty minutes, the beach as long as you've got. It's not dramatic, but it's genuine, and that counts for something.