Nearest Seaside Award Beaches Vale of Glamorgan
Seaside Award beaches in , Vale of Glamorgan, United Kingdom. Unlike the Blue Flag beach award, each country also has its own seaside award to signify a good standard of beach and facilities. The awards evaluate a beach on water quality, information displays, environmental management, safety and services.
Below we list the current Vale of Glamorgan beaches that hold a Seaside Award.
- Whitmore Bay is huge sandy beach that lies between the two peninsulas of Friar’s Point and Nell’s Point. As the tide goes out you get more sand to play on. Whitmore Bay is the main Barry Island beach and is between the smaller Jackson’s Bay around Nell’s Point and the Little Island or Old Harbour beach around Friar’s Point. Whitmore Bay is the heart of Barry island and you have a wide selection of facilities on hand day and night: toilets, cafes, restaurants, pubs, amusements and shops.
- Jacksons Bay beach is a secluded bay, backed by cliffs with one end being formed by the breakwater at the entrance to Barry Docks. Often overlooked by most people who stay on the larger beaches next door. Take the concrete footpath running from the east end of Whitmore Bay along the cliff top and you will eventually come to Jackson’s Bay. Beware in stormy weather or high tide as the path descends to the foot of the cliffs to reach the beach.
- The Knap beach is a wide steeply sloping pebble beach popular with surfers. At low tide you do get some sand. As you head along the coast the beach is backed by cliffs and there are good coastal walks near by. Parking is behind the beach and toilets available.
- Dunraven Bay beach, also known as Southerndown Beach after the small village nearby, is a sand and pebble beach popular with families and watersports (windsurfing, surfing and kayaks). The beach here is a west facing beach on the Atlantic coast, off-shore winds from the East generate some good surf. When the tide is out you have a great expanse of sand and there are many rock pools, a good place to look for fossils amongst the rocks. You have a second beach to the South just over the headland that rarely has anyone on it, partly due to the steep steps down the cliffs. This second beach is one of the largest in Glamorgan but be careful as tide conditions can cut you off from the steps. The headland is Witches Point, designated under SSSI for geological importance. The beach due to it’s unspoilt scenery and remoteness has been used in films and TV series that include Doctor Who and Merlin. Facilities include car parking, toilets and cafe and lifeguards in the summer.
