Well we have a Blue Flag beach approximately 25 mins from us, and another 45 mins away. They're lovely & clean & still have the traditional ice cream & bucket & spade stalls One of my hates is fag stumps on beaches & I must say I've seen many beaches abroad with more than their fair share.

Some great beaches in our part of the world (Wales) - The sand is much cleaner than those abroad but the water is quite murky. Would be great if we could get the mediterranean climate!

One of the best beaches I have been to is Rhossili beach on Gower in Wales. Huge beach, lovely golden sand and no matter how many people are there it never seems crowded.. Bondi beach in Sydney, Australia was a big disappointment.

Britain has some of the most beautiful, and interesting, beaches in the world. My two childhood favourites, are Lannacombe beach and Ivy Cove, in South Devon.
I hate the European beaches where, you are packed in like sardines,and can't see the sand for sunbeds.
x lassi

Bondi beach in Sydney, Australia was a big disappointment.

Hurray, at long last someone agrees with us! Perhaps we were expecting too much, but we were surprised how small it was, a bit like a down at heel, out-of-season, slightly grotty small resort in the UK (I'm not saying where!!). There were no strapping hulks riding the waves, just a few posers ostentatiously stretching their calf muscles on the railings. They certainly didn't look as though they would be going in the sea.

But back to the topic in hand. We love the fabulous beaches in North Devon and Cornwall (Woolacombe/Putsborough, Polzeath and Sennen are probably our favourites). I think they can hold their own with beaches anywhere in the world. In fact we are always searching for "The Perfect Beach" wherever we go. We nearly found it in the Seychelles, but we had to wear those horrible orange jelly sandals because of weaver fish or jellyfish! Still looking - it's a hard job but somebody's gotta do it ......

In Europe, the Algarve has the best beaches we've found - beautifully clean, lovely sand, and not at all crowded! But then we are lucky enough to be able to go outside school holidays.

The beaches in the Western Isles of Scotland are amazing. Pure white sand as far as the eye can see, almost empty of people and spotlessly clean.

I shall be on one of those beaches next week digby, on a trip to North Uist. I agree, they are spectacular.

Meercat2505. Enjoy your holiday. Hope the weather will be nice for you.

If we had the weather, then our beaches would be fine

Kynance Cove in Cornwall, beautiful!

Check out our beach at Mablethorpe Lincs, mile upon mile of lovely soft sand, never crowded even at the height of summer.
Every year it gets awarded Blue Flag status & deserves it.

http://www.blueflag.org.uk/beach2007.asp?beachid=53

We also have lovely weather along this part of the coast.

Yes ive travelled the world, Bali, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, most of Europe & the Med.
Out of all these i would say Bali (Nusa Dua) had lovely beaches, also Corsica rates highly.
Much of the Med though is heavily poluted & i wouldn't want to swim in the sea.

Edited due to my spull chucker being on manual!!

It's difficult to fault with the beach at Great Yarmouth. I take sly pop shots at the place all the time and it may be because it really is too close to us here in Norwich and is therefore accessible all year round but the beach is lovely. The resort itself has dramatically improved over the past few years and I can now see why some people travel from all over the country to visit. Still far too many arcades, and restaurants selling Cod & Chips for £3.95, plus a distinct lack of "quality" drinking establishments but all in all, a brave try.

Holkham is absolutely stunning as well. No services, but if you have a dog or just fancy a walk it has to be the place to go in North Norfolk.

As for the comments on Bondi, I do agree. It is nothing special really and I preferred Manly. I was also disappointed with the beaches in Phuket as well.

We're just back from a fortnight's holiday at Burghead on the Moray Firth and the beaches in that area are gorgeous. We were on beaches at Burghead, Findhorn, Roseisle, Hopeman and Cullen and my only complaint was the dog poo on a couple of them.

We're also regulars on beaches in Fife (Anstruther, Pittenweem, St Andrews and occasionally Elie) and the only time they are messy is after stormy weather when all the rubbish gets carried in from the sea.

There are some beautiful beaches on the Moray Firth coast - we're lucky to know about one wee one which is fairly inaccessible, so usually lovely and quiet. Gorgeous sand - never seen any dog poo on that particular one - and if you're lucky, you might even catch a glimpse of the famous dolphins!
Scotland has some fabulous beaches - the west coast too - it's just a shame we don't always get the weather to make the most of them.

Druridge Bay and Bamburgh on the Northumberland coast, fantastic, shame we don't get decent weather when I'm on holiday.

Bigbury-on-Sea in South Devon is lovely, also Treyarnon Bay and Sennen Cove in Cornwall.
The West coast of Scotland takes some beating as well. We love Muasdale in Kintyre, a long, narrow beach, but lovely sand, and it`s littered with rocks and bits of tree, but I like a natural looking beach, it`s also quite shallow, making it ideal for children to play in the water, under supervision of course.

If only we could combine the beaches of Northumberland with the weather of the South of France!

I think tidal beaches are almost bound to be more interesting than tideless beaches. At least they get cleaned twice a day! Tidal beaches are more likely to have rock pools and other weathered attractions. many Med. beaches are artificial, sand is imported or scraped back from the sea at the start of the season.