Winter beach fun at Trebarwith Strand, Cornwall

On Boxing Day, after all the fun of the Christmas day, we decided we wanted to get out of the house and go for a bracing walk.

We asked Fiona from Coombe Mill for her recommendation and she advised that her secret beach, Tregardock would be perfect, as the tides were perfect and it can only be accessed at low tide.

Lets just say we didn’t actually find how to get there thanks to a slightly wilful satnav that thought it knew better and we ended up at Trebarwith Strand instead, where we pulled up to the car park to find it free of charge in the winter months (Bonus!).

Trebarwith Strand is located around two miles south of Tintagel and is one of the few easily accessible beaches along this stretch of North Cornwall coast, which is probably why our satnav directed us to it and we walked the short walk down the road to find one of the most breathtaking beaches I have seen.

What makes the beach at Trebarwith Strand so special, is that is the beach completely disappears a high tide and the mile long golden sands, backed by flat rocks and towering cliffs, only appears at low tide.

It is a bit of a tricky walk down to the sands, as the rocks can be quite uneven and slippery in places, but the kids loved watching the water raging past and spotting wildlife in the rocks pools and along the rocks as we walked.

Once down on the sands, however, it gave them access to the cliffs and high set caves that they were just itching to explore.

If you are nervous of the kids climbing, then this isn’t the beach for you, as mine loved climbing up the side of the cliffs – it was Hubby that nearly slipped a couple of times on the damp seaweed!!

It is a very popular beach with locals and dog walkers in particular, especially on a mild winters day, so don’t expect a quiet stroll.

If climbing isn’t for you, but you enjoy exploring caves, there is a huge one to the left of the beach which is accessible from the sand and very deep, perfect for recreating scenes from The Goonies – all I could hear was the kids shouting “Hey you Guys”.

It was so mild that some of the braver members of the family decided to go for a paddle in the sea!

Whilst others preferred to see just how waterproof their boots were as they looked across to Gull Rock, a slate stack that stands proudly about a quarter of a mile off shore.

We spent a good couple of hours exploring the beach as the tide went out and as we were preparing to leave, we witnessed the local Boxing Day Swim which saw about a hundred brave souls taking a dip in the sea in just their swimming costumes. (Rather them than me!).

We may not have got to the beach we were aiming for, but we had a brilliant time nonetheless, despite someone getting much wetter than planned…….next time we are taking a towel!

Next stop Tintagel…………..

• beach
• bodmin
• boxing day
• North Cornwall
• seaside
• Tintagel
• Trebarwith Strand