Trebarwith is, in rightbeach‘s opinion, the jewel of the North Cornish Coast. It’s a tidal beach – completely covered by the sea three hours before and after high tide, meaning that you have to time your visits right to get the maximum time to explore and enjoy the fab surroundings. It does have a tricky slipway entrance to the beach so take it easy and wear appropriate footwear!

Here’s a round up of its many attractions: golden sandcastle sand; decent surf; fabulous kid-friendly paddling pools of sea water with sandy bottoms; beautiful sheltering surrounding cliffs; cute gift shops and nice cafe choices. In past years, rightbeach has turned ‘beach left’ to set up camp by the freshwater stream flowing onto the beach, and also ‘beach right’ to find the more secluded and very safe sandy pools. rightbeach also likes to go climbing and see how high we can get (maybe not with the small children!)

rightbeach recommends Trebarwith Strand for families with young and/or older children (and the family dog!). Oh, and great for surfing if you manage to find a safe place to leave the children! Do check the tide times first though or there may be no beach at all.

Beach blurb

• Tide and weather »
• Lifeguards: RNLI Lifeguard service May 21st – September 25th
• Water quality: Recommended »
• Dogs: Allowed on this beach

See Trebarwith Strand beach on a map …

Things to note to ensure your trip goes well:

• There are two car parks. If you’ve got young ones, you may want to get to the beach early in the day (tide permitting) and pay the extra charge for the closer car park to spare yourself the walk down to the beach.
• To make a day of it, take plenty of supplies and head onto the rocks to sit out high tide; alternatively retire to the Port William pub (up on the cliffs) or cafes and munch through sandwiches and ice creams.
• Seek out the secret tidal pools and explore the rocky protrusions – guaranteed to keep kids and grown ups occupied for at least an hour.
• TIDE TIDE TIDE-check it out before you leave home!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Area	Rating	Observation
Beach		Awesome when the tide times fit with your holiday dates but sadly that’s out of our control.
Crowded (1=deserted)		Lots of mini camps of groups of families together.
Surf		Pretty reliable rollers. Popular with body boarders and surfers alike.
Sand		Coarsish but good for digging and epic sandcastles.
Toilets		Pretty average – bit of a bind having to walk up the slipway from the beach.
Parking		Two car parks. The closest one is quite expensive (£6-ish for all day – price drops as tide comes in) and fills up quickly. Get their for 10am to ensure a space.
Food		Nice selection of hot, cold and ice cream vendors.
Shopping		A couple of art galleries and the usual beach shop offerings. We like the Crazy Mermaid for wacky prints and paintings.

review by The rightbeach Team