Hallsands

The shingle beach at Hallsands is essentially what remains after the sea took most of it back. A century ago this was a proper seaside village with houses right up to the shore. Then dredging for aggregate in the early 1900s destabilised the seabed, waves came in, and within a few years most of Hallsands had vanished into the water. You can still see the ruins of old buildings poking through on stormy days - genuinely haunting stuff.

Nowadays it's a pebble beach backed by high cliffs, about two miles south of Kingsbridge. The walk down is steep and takes a good ten minutes, so bring proper shoes. The beach itself is narrow and rocky underfoot, nothing like the sandy affairs further along the coast. It's not a place to come expecting deckchairs and paddling pools.

What you actually get is solitude and a real sense of place - there's something quite powerful about standing on a beach where an entire community once lived. History buffs will find it genuinely moving; families with young kids might find the walk tiring and the shingle uninviting. Walkers, though, absolutely should make the effort. The coastal path through here is outstanding, and the cliffs above offer proper dramatic views across Start Bay.

It's free to visit, and you can spend as little as an hour or half a day if you're combining it with cliff-top walks. If you're staying at Start Bay Caravan and Motorhome Club Campsite or Wilton Farm Camping just up the road, it's well worth the short drive. Go on a clear day - miserable weather makes it feel properly bleak.