There’s nothing wrong with miles of glorious sand— and there’s lots of that in the UK. But there are also plenty of unusual seaside spots for those who want more than just the bucket- and-spade experience.

We've sent our intrepid reporter Lola Borg to bring you some of Britain's best beaches, but have we left your favourite beach off our list? Email your recommendations of hidden coves, coastline and stretches of shingle to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .uk

Barra Airport, Traigh Mhor Beach
Barra, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

Arriving at Barra in the Outer Hebrides is about the most extraordinary landing you could hope for. The island's runway is, in fact, Traigh Mhor Beach, a two-mile cockle strand at the top of the island. Just opposite is a perfect surfing beach popular with campers, but also good for seal spotting. Or visitors can pick and cook the freshest cockles they'll ever eat (as long as they don't stray onto the runway).

Clovely Beach
Bideford, North Devon

Clovelly is a pretty village that grips onto the rocks of the north Devon coast and is probably so unspoilt because—unusually—the entire village is owned by one family and has been since 1738, when it was bought by a lawyer. Also unusualy, cars are banned—to get to the beach from the car park, visitors must schlep 400 feet down the cobbled main street and then later haul themselves up again. Entrance: £5.95 per person (under-sevens go free), family tickets £15.90

Crosby Beach
Near Sefton, Liverpool

Anthony Gormley is the most famous sculptor in the UK today and he's made a career out of casting his own wiry frame. At Crosby, just outside Liverpool city centre, you can view Another Place—100 cast-iron, full-size replicas of his body placed on the sand. View at low tide to see the full bodies (some are half a mile out to sea), although it's equally moving when they're half-submerged by the water.

Reader's Digest Team: our favourite beaches

Holy Island, Editorial Assistant Rachel Smith

 

Sure, this is more of a causeway than a golden strip of sand but it’s got beachy credentials, and was one of best times I’ve ever had on the British coastline. The photograph was taken during a summer spent in a VW campervan. My boyfriend and I tried to make it to Holy Island, but we were a bit late with the tides and crossing times. As you can see, the van did us proud, and we managed to get from the mainland to Lindisfarne without being washed away.

Brighton Beach, Simon Hemelryk, features editor

Brighton beach is everthing that is best about the British seaside. Ageing arcades with the origianl 1981 version of Pac-Man, booths staffed by Polish students where you can have the secrets of your signature analysed by what looks like a Commodore 64, enormous bags of candy floss that no man could eat without falling to diabetes and a view that stretches tantalisingly towards, but not quite all the way, to France.

This is me relaxing on Shell Beach in Herm, a tiny island off the coast of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It gets so hot in the summer and is the perfect place to go on a minibreak - there are no cars, just bikes and dust tracks. I've been going to Herm ever since I was a child growing up in Guernsey. The sand on Shell Beach is so yellow, made up of thousands and thousands of tiny pieces of shell.

Readers' favourite beaches

Applecross beach, sent in by reader Nicola

If you have kids, and are heading to Applecross beach on the west coast of Scotland, then pack a sledge!

The beach at Sand has a big dune with a perfectly-angled slope for sledging.—you can see my son standing up on the sledge in the photograph, while his other friends cling on as they whiz down the hill...they all slept so well that night!

The beach is great for kite-flying too, and you can walk or cycle to Coral beach, (west of Applecross) There’s great food in the area, and so much history, it’s even been visited by Time Team!

There really is something magical about the place though —it’s somewhere that you’ve really got to visit on your tour of the best British beaches.

Croyde Bay, North Devon sent in by reader Andrea Dalziel

It's my youngest daughter Grace in the picture at the top-she loves Croyde Bay, as do my other children as it is such an interesting beach. They love the rock pools and often come back to me to show me a crab or shrimp they have found with their Dad while exploring. They like watching the surfers, although none of them have been brave enough to join them so far!

I have never seen the beach 'too busy' - I can always find a nice spot on the beach or on a sand dune to settle down with a book. We stay at Croyde Bay Holiday Resort which has a lovely restaurant, great indoor pool and lots of things to keep children occupied- crazy golf, tennis courts, pool, table tennis & a games room.

Croyde is a lovely little village with a couple of pubs, surfing shops a post office. It's really only one road but there's parking and the pubs and restaurants do lovely food. We found a fantastic little shop in nearby Braunton called Devon Made, which does wonderful cream teas, sells local produce and makes up beautiful hampers to give as gifts. I had a trunk filled with treats as a thank you for my mum and dad-and they were thrilled.

Saunton Sands sent in by reader Mike Hill

Sandhaven beach, South Shields sent in by reader Greg

Guernsey beaches, (Port Soif and Port Grat) sent in by reader Georgina Burrows

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