Pulley Ridge

Low tide at Pulley Ridge reveals a stretch of sandy beach backed by modest cliffs - the sort of place locals know and visitors often miss entirely. It's a proper working beach rather than a showpiece: rock pools to poke about in, decent sand for spreading a towel, and enough space that even in summer you're not fighting for elbow room like you would at Westward Ho! down the coast.

The real appeal here is simplicity. There's no amusement arcade, no beach huts hired out at daft prices, no rows of deckchairs. Families with young children do well - the pools are shallow and enclosed, the sand is fine, and there's something satisfying about watching kids hunt for crabs without the usual seaside circus. Walkers will appreciate the cliff path that runs along here; it's not dramatic stuff but it's genuine, and you get real views across the Taw estuary towards Instow.

Stay during winter or spring and you'll have it nearly to yourself. Summer weekends draw more faces, but nothing that'll put you off. Bideford is your nearest proper town - about three miles inland - which means shops, fish and chips, and somewhere to grab a coffee if the wind picks up.

If you're based at one of the holiday parks nearby - Braddicks is closest at 2.5 miles - Pulley Ridge makes for a low-key half-day stop rather than an all-day mission. Combine it with a walk to Instow or a poke around Bideford's quay, and you've got a decent coastal morning sorted. Free to access, naturally.