A British beach day is never one weather event. It is four, one after another, and you will stand in all of them between the car park and the sea. Pack for the forecast you left the house in and you will spend the afternoon under a towel, pretending to enjoy the view. Pack for the lot and even a grey Tuesday at Filey or Saundersfoot turns into a decent day out. Here is what earns its place in the boot, and what is better left on the hall floor.
Fifteen things worth carrying to the sand
- A windbreak with pegs and a mallet. Heavy canvas or wooden slats stay up; flimsy pop-up ones end up in the next county.
- One more layer than you think you need, per person. Including the teenager who insists she won't be cold.
- A waterproof jacket or cagoule. Folded flat it takes up almost nothing and rescues a two-hour shower.
- Footwear for sand and rock. Old trainers or beach shoes. Flip-flops are for the promenade, not wet pebbles.
- A large blanket or mat, plus one spare towel. The spare is for whoever sits in the wet patch. It is usually you.
- Sun cream, a hat and sunglasses. Overcast days still burn. Reapply after every swim, especially on children.
- A flask. Hot tea, coffee or squash. It transforms the last cold hour before the drive home.
- Water bottles, frozen overnight. They keep the sandwiches cool and thaw into cold water by lunchtime.
- Food in sealed boxes. Pasties, sandwiches, fruit, pork pies. Avoid chocolate, and anything you would miss if a gull took it.
- A cloth, wet wipes and a rubbish bag. Mostly the rubbish bag. If the bins are full, take it all home.
- A small first aid kit. Plasters, antiseptic wipes, tweezers, and any medicine you know your own family needs.
- A full change of clothes for small children, kept in the car. Plus a bag for wet costumes.
- Cash and a charged phone. Parking machines and kiosks still prefer coins, and signal on the coast is patchy. A power bank is cheap insurance.
- A spade, a bucket and a kite or ball. One of each is plenty. The child with the only spade becomes very popular.
- Dog kit. Lead, poo bags, water bowl, old towel. Check seasonal dog restrictions on that beach before you set off.
Where you sit decides the rest of the day
Pitch your windbreak facing away from the wind, with the open side towards the sea so you keep the view. Dig the poles in properly, angling them away from the canvas, and pile sand back over the base. If the wind is strong enough to bend the poles, you have chosen the wrong spot: move behind the dunes or accept a walk to a more sheltered bay.
Position matters for safety too. Sit above the line of seaweed and damp sand that marks the last high tide, and look at where the water is now. On gentle, flat beaches the tide can move across sand faster than it looks, quietly cutting off the route back to the steps. Leave gaps between your shelter and the next family so people can still walk past with buggies and dogs.
Layers, feet and the sea breeze
The temperature on the sand is often several degrees lower than the car park, and a breeze off the water makes it feel colder again. That is why the fleece you nearly left behind is the most-used item in the bag. Dress in thin layers rather than one thick jumper, so you can adjust as the cloud comes and goes, and keep a dry top for the journey home.
Feet need more thought than most people give them. Hot sand burns, pebbles bruise, and rock pools are slippery with weed. Old trainers that can get soaked are ideal, with a dry pair and a plastic bag waiting in the boot. Keys, phones and car fobs live in a zipped pocket or a small dry bag, never in an open beach bag where damp towels go to die.
Food, drink and the sand problem
Sand gets into everything, but it targets food with real enthusiasm. Sit upwind of your picnic, keep lids on boxes between servings, and never leave food unattended: gulls on busy beaches have learned exactly what an open bag means. A flask and a bag of fruit will carry you further than a complicated spread, and a bin bag inside a second bin bag stops the car smelling of wet seaweed for a fortnight.
Children, dogs and the water
Check the tide times before you leave the house, not when you arrive. An incoming tide can fill a cove or cover a sandbank behind you, and children digging channels near the waterline will not notice. Where lifeguards are on duty, swim between the red and yellow flags. If you are caught in a rip current, do not fight it head-on: swim parallel to the shore until you are out of it, then head in and raise a hand if you need help. Inflatables belong in a pool, not in an offshore breeze.
For dogs, the practicalities are simple. Take fresh water and shade, avoid the hottest sand in the middle of the day, and check the council's rules, as many beaches restrict dogs in summer. The same goes for fires and barbecues, so read the signs at the entrance rather than assuming.
Three things to leave at home
Glass bottles and glasses
Broken glass in soft sand is a genuine hazard for bare feet and paws, and many beaches ban glass outright. Decant drinks into reusable plastic or steel bottles before you go.
Disposable barbecues
They are banned on a growing number of beaches for good reason. The foil trays get buried in sand while still hot, the coals stay warm for hours, and there is rarely anywhere sensible to put them afterwards. Take a flask and cold food instead, or use a designated barbecue area if the site has one.
The giant inflatable and the pop-up gazebo
Both are trouble in a coastal breeze. Gazebos take off across the sand or block the path for everyone else, and big inflatables drift offshore with alarming speed once the wind gets behind them. A windbreak does the same job and stays where you put it.
The five-minute pack the night before
Most beach-day misery is solved in advance. Keep a permanent box in the boot with the windbreak, blanket, first aid kit, bin bags and spare towel, so it is always ready. The night before, stage the rest by the door: layers, sun cream, food, water, and a change of clothes for each child. Check the tide table, the parking situation and the local rules on dogs and barbecues, then charge the phone.
If the forecast looks grim, go anyway, with waterproofs and a flask. Empty beaches in soft rain, with the tide coming in and nobody queuing for the car park, are some of the best the coast has to offer.
