10 Best Family Friendly UK Beaches

The UK is adorned with an amazing array of sandy and pebble beaches, many of which allow pets with most safe for kids to run free and enjoy their favourite activities and hobbies. From North to South and East to West, there are wonderful beaches ideal for surfing, rock pooling, beachcombing, and birdwatching. Here is a list of ten beaches all with their own unique qualities.

Sandbanks Beach, Poole Dorset

Sandbanks beach has been a blue flag beach for decades not just because of its excellent water quality, pristine sand and safe shallows but because of its fabulous beach facilities, including a lifeguard service all through the summer. To add to that there are fabulous restaurants, a nature reserve, all kinds of family activities and a promenade leading to the delightful Haven Point. Sandbanks luxury holiday homes are renowned for being some of the best places to stay in the UK. Those visiting with their dogs will be glad to know that there is a dog friendly stretch of sand at the western end of the beach.

Woolacombe Sands, North Devon

Thanks to two and a half miles of golden sand with dunes and the very best Atlantic waves, Woolacombe Sands in Devon is paradise for families with children. This blue flag beach offers fantastic wave conditions for kids to practice safe surfing and is perfect for endless fun and frolicking. It’s ideal for tiring out the feistiest of children and has a Lifeguard service during the summer.  The beach offers all the facilities and amenities that a family needs including parking, toilets, shops, cafes, restaurants and a surf centre. Parts of Woolacombe beach are dog-friendly all year round but there may be restrictions in certain areas during the summer.

Sennen Cove, Cornwall

Sennen Cove is one of the cleanest beaches in Europe and certainly one of the most picturesque. Thanks to white sands and turquoise waters it has a Caribbean feel about it. It is a perfect beach for kids to swim and surf safely and lifeguards are on duty all summer as an extra safeguard. Sennen Beach in Cornwall has all the best family beach facilities including toilets, a surf shop, a café, a restaurant and an ice-cream shop, not to mention all the shops and restaurants in the nearby village. If you bring your pup, there is plenty of space to walk and exercise on Gwynver Beach close by.

Watergate Bay, Cornwall

For those of you who love outdoor adventure Watergate Bay is your ideal beach. You and your kids can choose from surfing to Thundercat racing and everything in-between. All under the watchful eye of the lifeguard service during the summer. The beach boasts all the facilities and amenities you could need plus a few stylish restaurants and cafes. Dogs are allowed on the beach all year round.

Filey Beach, Yorkshire

Filey’s huge expansive beach in Yorkshire is the perfect space for families to stretch their legs and explore. It has a sculpture trail, a roman signal station, cliffs and plenty of creature filled rock pools to delve into, plus there is a lifeguard services during the summer. Behind the beach you’ll find parking, toilets and a great selection of cafes and shops. Filey is a dog friendly beach so your four-legged friend can join in the fun.

New Quay – North Beach Wales

The beautiful harbour beach of New Quay in Wales makes for a perfect family day out playing on the sand, paddling and picnicking. It is a stone’s throw away from local shops, cafes and pubs and there are some amazing nature trails that lead further down this gorgeous coastline perfect for wildlife watching. You might even spot dolphins playing in the harbour. Dogs are welcome on this beach any time of year.

Ainsdale Beach, Merseyside

Ainsdale Beach is by far the best seaside resort on the Northwest coast. This gem not only flies a blue flag, with all the family friendly facilities that promises, but also boasts a fabulous Discovery centre. It provides all you need to know about the surrounding nature and even hires out free cycling gear during the summer so that visitors can explore the surrounding natural beauty, including the Ainsdale Boardwalk Lake and the Pinewoods Nature Reserve. There is also a lifeguard service during the summer months that covers the whole of this enormous beach. Ainsdale is such a big beach that it also affords a generous area to your beloved dog all year round.

South Pier Beach, Suffolk

South Pier Beach is one of Suffolk’s most classic beach resorts with its pastel-coloured row of beach huts, its quaint pier that juts out into the sea and its shingle shores. This is such a fabulous family friendly seaside resort and offers all that a family could need for a fun beach holiday. There are toilets, an entertainment arcade, a boating lake and plenty of cafes. There is a lifeguard service to keep your loved ones safe and you can bring your dog, as there are designated dog friendly areas all year round.

Bamburgh Castle Beach, Northumberland

Bamburgh Beach is said to be the most beautiful beach in Britain, but it is at least the most beautiful beach in Northumberland thanks to its exquisite natural beauty and historic landmark. It boasts a huge expanse of soft golden sand, towering dunes and a majestic castle that overlooks a nature reserve.  This is a wild beach so there are no beach facilities or lifeguard services. That said, Bamburgh Castle has its own café, toilets and offers visitors a thrilling tour experience. Dogs are welcome all year round and there is a three-mile stunning coastal walk that leads to Seahouses, another nature reserve and seal sanctuary.

Sanna Bay and Ardtoe Beach, Scotland.

Sanna Bay is another wild beach that is totally off the beaten track so you should take a picnic, but it is totally worth it for its soft white sands and turquoise waters. There are in fact three beaches here, all of which are equally stunning, but the best of them is perhaps Ardtoe Beach. This beautiful piece of paradise is all about wild natural beauty and tranquillity as it is never crowded, not even on a summer’s day. There are no facilities other than a car park but there is a camp site not far from the beach. As with most Scottish beaches it is completely dog friendly all year round.