Polzeath Beach

I grew up on this beach in the summer — and I still return when I can get there. Last year we had lunch at a restaurant opposite the bay which overlooks the bay with a sort of marquee attached to the side of it. The food there was to die for! Again another great place to watch the world go by, but extremely busy in the summer months. This beach is great you can park on it in the Summer and then the beach goes on for miles when the tides out. Either side are a large amount of rock pools. They run a surf school on the beach to adn hair braiding, refreshments. Its a great atmosphere. There are a few shops nearby too.

Every time we holiday in Cornwall we spend at least one afternoon on Polzeath. It’s not as good as Holywell Bay (see review) overall but it has many decent features. I’m glad HB hasn’t got bustling surfwear shops and coffee shops and hippies that’ll fleece you £5 to braid you kids hair, but I quite like that here. I suppose it’s the contrast that I like.
We park in the cliff top car park which has amazing views. A gentle walk round to the town or an impatient hop down the cliff face to the beach.
The beach is great apart from the car park on it which is annoying unless I’m lucky to get a space there, then it’s brilliant!
In low tide the sea goes out quite a way and your left with a totally flat beach for footy, cricket etc. There is a bit of a stream sweeping across the beach — we caught hundreds of tiny tiny fish in it in the summer.
On both sides there are loads of rock pools and there’s one that’s quite deep where you can jump off highish rocks into the water.
The sea has quite a fast swell so it’s not very safe for little ones and inflateables.
The poet John Betjemen loved it here apparently and is buried nearby.
In the ‘town’ there are a handful of beach tat shops, some surf wear shops, pubs and a decent coffe/​ice cream shop.
There’s also a surf school place there where you can give it a go.
A nice place to spend an afternoon — preferably at low tide as the beach all but disappears at high tide.