The best British seaside breaks for foodies

Best for a chic and quiet beach retreat

Gara Rock is home to one of South Devon’s most spectacular sea views. The hotel’s remote location at East Portlemouth means the only passing traffic is on foot, so peace and quiet is guaranteed. Simple, seasonal and sustainable is the food mantra. There’s a commitment to sourcing the majority of ingredients within 100 miles or an hour’s drive of the hotel; Pipers Farm near Dartmouth supplies all meat, veg comes from Springfield organic farm in Kingsbridge or is grown in Gara’s own kitchen garden.A crab salad, big bowl of mussels or grilled sardines with a Salcombe Brewery Shingle Bay beer make for a perfect coastal lunch (dishes £7.50-£18.50). Dinner is smarter: there’s côte de boeuf, 13-hour pork belly, or the signature light ricotta and chard ravioli, and a chocolate ganache with sea salt harvested by the chefs (mains £14.50-£60). Breakfast shows imagination, too – tomatoes and nduja on sourdough, local cheeses and Rusty Pig vanilla coppa with poached eggs and hollandaise are on offer along with the full English (dishes £4.50-£9.50).

Rooms are modern, comfortable and Scandinavian in feel, some with freestanding baths and/or wet rooms; and many with a balcony or garden with sun loungers. There are cottages, apartments and ‘out of the ordinary’ suites to rent too, with hot tubs, direct beach access, and such quirky architectural features as a lighthouse-like conical eaves room. Should you tire (unlikely) of the pool, spa, or screening room, then head to the beach or take the coastal path to Salcombe, hopping on the tiny ferry across the estuary for the last leg. It’s a lovely spot for a pint by the water. How to do it: Gara Rock has double rooms from £200 per night, room only.Christine Hayes

Gullane, Scotland

Best for beach walks and low-key luxe Scottish hospitality

Golfers and birdwatchers have long known the pretty Scottish coastal village of Gullane as a cracking place to take a break with 22 courses in the local area, and the Scottish Seabird Centre in nearby North Berwick. Thanks to the arrival of chef Tom Kitchin and his wife Michaela, and their revival of the village hotel, this East Lothian seaside spot is now a fine foodie retreat, too. Tom and Michaela took on the 19th-century inn last year and have transformed it into The Bonnie Badger, a welcoming establishment full of thoughtful detail. The Stables Dining Room has a menu that’s approachable-yet-special: grass-fed Highland Wagyu burger, fish and chips, and steak & bone marrow pie (mains £13.50-£24). The starter of haggis, neeps and tatties was presented beautifully as a deep-fried bonbon of haggis on a base of creamy mash with tender slivers of swede draped on top (£8.50). The blood orange panna cotta was a standout (£8). Wonderful Scottish produce is found throughout the dishes – the pea soup with crowdie cheese dumplings was really satisfying – and it doesn’t stop at the food. Try the sea buckthorn & apple mocktail, made with locally grown sea buckthorn (£6).
Breakfast at The Bonnie Badger is really special. It starts with a pot of fruit compote, yogurt and granola, followed by a thoughtful platter of continental breakfast-style items; a wedge of cheese, some cured ham, a couple of pieces of avocado, and some fresh tomatoes, managing to leave room for a proper full Scottish breakfast complete with sausage, black pudding, bacon and tattie scone. It’s excellent fuel for a long walk. Turn left out of the hotel and walk along the road until you reach the Archerfield Estate, with its walled gardens, microbrewery, café and shop. Alternatively, take a pleasant stroll through the beer garden, across the village green and you’ll hit a path to the coast taking you through sea buckthorn bushes and onto a shell-filled sandy beach complete with rock pools to explore.How to do it: Overnight stays at The Bonnie Badger from £295 including b&b accommodation in a double room, a welcome drink and sweet treats, a three-course meal, and bottle of house wine.Miriam Nice

North Norfolk

Best for a summer crab crawl

Celebrate those long sunny days in East Anglia with some of Britain’s best seaside fare: crab. Norfolk country house hotel Congham Hall has pioneered some inventive tourist trails, with free self-guided tours. The World Crabbing Competition takes place on Cromer’s esplanade every August, but the sea wall is populated with have-a-go crabbers all year round. You can eat fish and chips with gusto at No 1 Cromer – chef Galton Blackiston’s affordable gaff.On the clifftop between Cromer and Sheringham, walk the Norfolk Coast Path to Rocky Bottoms. Take a table on the terrace to sample Weybourn king crab salad (£17.50), or buy dressed crab from the seafood counter (from £3.50), and picnic on the enclosed grass area, a winner with fidgety children (BYO for £2.50pp corkage). In the old fishing village of Sheringham, Whelk Coppers Tea Rooms is set in former fisherman’s cottages and serves a classic crab sandwich, while a hearty doorstop sarnie is on offer at Cookie’s Crab Shop in Salthouse.

The Crab Hut, in the port of Brancaster Staithe, does a sort-of-Gallic take: baguettes stuffed with crab and salad. Sandwiches £3.90-£4.50. Buy tackle at Wells-next-the-Sea for crabbing off the quay. Or at Wells Crab House, Frary’s Wells dressed crab (£14) is a refined local variant. For rainy day fun, try the old malt house Wells Maltings with its revamped arts centre.

How to do it: Rooms at Congham Hall start at £140 per night. Sarah Barrell/Lulu Grimes

Symondsbury Estate, Dorset

Best for a refined, foodie family getaway

Just inland from the Jurassic Coast, privately owned Symondsbury Village has golden sandstone cottages available as classy holiday rentals. Our four-bedroom retreat (Crepe Cottage) came with a terrace, hot tub, BBQ, gardens, plus a kiddie-pleasing trampoline, and a warm welcome for dogs. Manor Yard, a five-minute walk away, has the Kitchen café where quiches, crustaceans, pâtés, salads and cream teas (£5-10) were simple but perfectly executed, often accompanied by produce from the organic kitchen garden.The village’s thatched boozer, The Ilchester Arms, is less than staggering distance, serving Palmer’s beers and classic pub fare: halfpints of whitebait, West Country steak burgers (mains from £10) and a decent kids’ menu (mains from £6). Explore Symondsbury’s 8km of cycle trails (bike rental on site), or head to the beach. Of the vast Jurassic Coast choice, the wild, cliff-backed Eype beach is a quiet, shingly retreat sandwiched between crazy-busy West Bay (where Broadchurch is filmed) and Lyme Regis.

Fossil hunts and cliff walks stretch 15 miles south towards the Seaton Jurassic centre, which brings the world of 200 million years ago to life. Starry local food options include Hix Oyster & Fish House in Lyme Regis, the inland River Cottage Kitchen, Deli & Cookery School, and the lovely, laidback Hive Beach Café.

How to do it: Symondsbury Estate’s nine properties sleep from two to 21 people and cost from £525 (seven nights) or £325 (three-night weekend stays).  Sarah Barrell

Wadebridge, Cornwall

Best for outdoor family fun

Get the family to work up a proper appetite on the picturesque 18-mile Camel Trail. Base yourself in the pretty riverside town of Wadebridge to walk a manageable, coast-hugging six-mile segment of this disused railway line to Padstow, where all manner of Paul Ainsworth and Rick Stein fare awaits as reward. This greenway is entirely flat, so easy going on little legs. Alternatively, you could hire bikes and attempt a longer stretch.Back in Wadebridge, indulge foodie needs at The Ship Inn, a gastropub run by former protégées of Stein, or enjoy a cosy evening meal at The Maltster’s Arms, a 300-year-old restaurant in the outlying Chapel Amble village, which serves classics like grilled Cornish sole and salmon fillet on samphire.

How to do it: The Olde House is a collection of self-catering cottages (sleeping two to 10, from £473.00 per week) on Penpont Farm. It’s a five-minute drive from the beach and activities include a surf club.

Sarah Barrell

Padstow, Cornwall

Best for beer and harbour views

You’ll find vineyards, distilleries and breweries, as well as places to eat, around Padstow’s sheltered bay. Daily catches supply local eateries, including Prawn on the Lawn. Try a plate piled high with Porthilly mussels and clams or a whole red mullet.Visit the cosy Harbour Inn for a glass of delicate Camel Valley Pilsner, the brainchild of two Cornish drinks giants: Camel Valley wines and Sharp’s Brewery. Or try Seven Souls ale, a perfect balance of bitter and sweet. Indulge in dry-aged rib-eye and roasted pumpkin with plump burrata and romesco sauce at Nathan Outlaw’s The Mariners, and end with Crackler cheddar alongside fruitcake infused with Doom Bar – an almost porty beer.

For Padstow’s most fuss-free food experience, get a takeaway from Stein’s Fish & Chips, which requires no booking or sitting still. Draw the short straw to queue (and there will be one) while the others cool weary feet in the waters of the Camel Estuary. Specials include battered St Ives squid or chilli fish burgers (plus the usual perfectly fried fresh catch of the day with chunky chips).Just down the road, you can visit the National Lobster Hatchery, which teaches kids about sustainable fishing and the crustacean’s life cycle, and offers the chance to see baby lobsters.

How to do it: Stay at The St Moritz Hotel near Rock and Padstow. Family garden suites are available from £280 a night with breakfast included.

Georgina Kiely

Plockton, West Highlands

Best for getting away from it all

It might take some time to get here, but once you do, put your phone away and slip into a slower rhythm of things. Plockton is a settlement with fewer than 400 inhabitants, a shop, a couple of hotels and an artists’ colony, in a sheltered bay overlooking Loch Carron. Here, nature is king. Enjoy solitary walks with just the wind and life affirming views for company, take a boat tour to watch seals, or kayak on the still waters.A highlight is the fresh and very local food. The three Ps come highly recommended. Plockton Shores serves hand-dived scallops, local langoustines and venison from Fort William. The Plockton Inn has its own smoker — try the smoked haddock and salmon fishcakes — and offers a changing smoked seafood platter assortment of mussels, clams, oysters and salmon, served with wasabi mayo and crusty bread. Overlooking Loch Carron, The Plockton Hotel has its own smoked fish soup, just-caught langoustines and local fresh salmon fillet, which is baked with spring onion, lime & chilli, as well as some gluten-free and vegetarian choices.

How to do it: To get to Plockton from London, you can take the overnight Caledonian Sleeper to Inverness (excitement in itself for children). From there, it’s a two-and-a-half hour journey to Plockton, along one of Scotland’s most scenic rail lines. For more information, visit plockton.com

Olivia Greenway

Isle of Wight

Best for local food and long beaches

Once known for Victorian grandeur, traditional seaside fun and the yachties who descend on Cowes for its sailing regatta in August, the Isle of Wight has reinvented itself to attract a foodier crowd. Across the island chefs are getting creative with local produce, from seafood to garlic and tomatoes, craft beer is on offer and the first distillery to be opened supplies local gin and vodka. The Little Gloster, near Cowes, is a chic beachside restaurant with rooms that puts a Nordic spin on seafood dishes.For a long, sandy beach visit Ryde, walk the length of it and where it rounds the headland at Puckpool Park you’ll find the Dell Café, here you can eat excellent crab sandwiches for lunch or tapas, burgers and crisp fried fish platters for an early dinner. Take the bus to Bembridge and visit the lifeboat station stuck out on its own little pier, have a quick dip at Lane End beach then lunch on seafood at the Lifeboat View café or take walk round to The Beach Hut on Foreland Road for a tiny kiosk serving excellent food between May and October – weather permitting.

How to do it: The Red Funnel ferry from Southampton to East Cowes or the Red Jet Hi Speed service to West Cowes, or WightLink ferries run Portsmouth to Fishbourne and Lymington to Yarmouth with a high speed to Ryde, or there’s the hover which takes 10 minutes but is best without too much luggage. For more info, visit the Isle of Wight’s tourism website.

Lily Barclay

Suffolk

Best for wildlife and smoked seafood

With Orford Ness National Nature Reserve and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Minsmere and Havergate Island within a 30-minute drive of each other, this stretch of the Suffolk coast is a blessing for wildlife lovers. Sometime home of the BBC’s Springwatch, Minsmere is one of the UK’s most impressive bird-watching centres, with woodland and wetland walks and marshy coastal scenery.This is also a superb area to delve into smoky British seafood. Here, every day is smoked kipper, smoked mackerel and smoked salmon day. The Butley Orford Oysterage is the place to come for no nonsense platters of seafood, smoked or otherwise. Don’t miss the skate with brown butter sauce and the richest of fish pies.

The Trinity Crown and Castle hotel has kitchens led by food writer Ruth Watson. Book for Sunday lunch and get there early for the best fish selection, including Orford landed skate with sautéed grapes, almonds & nut brown butter, or Suffolk lamb rump with Sicilian caponata for seafood naysayers.

How to do it: Choose from two smartly decorated cottages, both sleeping four, on a working farm in Orford. Week-long breaks starting from £465.

Sarah Barrell

Anglesey

Best for an island getaway

This Welsh island comes with a royal seal of approval — the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge lived here as newlyweds. So it’s not surprising that the Oyster Catcher restaurant, amid the dunes on Rhosneigr beach, has a Will’s Bar that serves super fresh fish and seafood, including oysters from the Menai Strait.Anglesey is dotted with beautiful beaches, including Newborough in the south, with views of Snowdonia. Nearby The Marram Grass does a brilliant Welsh breakfast (including homemade brown sauce), plus impressive lunch and dinner dishes starring local produce: Menai mussels, Newborough lamb and Rhoscolyn beef.

With spectacular views over Benllech Beach and Red Wharf Bay, The Tavern on the Bay is a great family gastropub with a menu full of crowd pleasers. The two-course Sunday lunch (£17.95) offers beef and lamb from Benllech. Go crabbing on the pier at Beaumaris, then cycle or drive for tea at the Pilot House Café at Penmon Point, overlooking the lighthouse and Puffin Island. Scones and a pot of tea is what a day beside the sea is all about. Menai Bridge also hosts an annual seafood festival on 20th August.

How to do it: Visit Anglesey has a family trail featuring ‘the stinky old bits’ and there are plenty of ideas for fun days out with the family.

Barney Desmazery

Northumberland

Best for bracing walks and fresh fish

The underexplored coast of Northumberland runs north of Newcastle up to Berwick-upon-Tweed: a 100-mile stretch with lots of beautifully wild and often deserted beaches. This region is made for walking, rich in birdlife and flora. Take a boat trip to the Farne Islands, which have some of the UK’s largest seabird colonies. The fishing village of Seahouses, which has a good choice of accommodation, is a good base for exploration. Read a kid’s guide to Seahouses, by all accounts it’s worth taking a wetsuit!

The best walk is from Craster to Low Newton-by-the-Sea (six miles), with castle ruins and superb sea views. Don’t miss Low Newton’s The Ship Inn — right next to the beach, it brews its own beer. Sate that sea air fuelled appetite on kipper paté with oatcakes, or crab salad. In Craster, try The Jolly Fishermen’s special — crab soup with local bread.

In Seahouses, visit Swallow Fish, which has the village’s original smokery, established in 1843. Owner Patrick Wilkin, one of Rick Stein’s ‘food heroes’, produces award-winning kippers, using oak sawdust and no colouring. He also sells dressed crab and salmon.

Fresh crab sandwiches don’t come better than at The Olde Ship Inn overlooking the harbour, which are best accompanied by one of its well kept cask ales.

How to do it: The Bakehouse B&B in Seahouses, with an open fire in the lounge and a hearty cooked breakfast, has rooms starting from £75.

Olivia Greenway

Do you have any seaside recommendations? We’d love to hear from you below…

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Photography credits: GETTY
Assistance for the Padstow feature was provided by sharpsbrewery.co.uk; Isle of Wight, Red Funnel, and Isle of Wight Tourism; in Anglesey, Visit Anglesey; Gara Rock and The Bonnie Badger.