Castles on the sand
Ready to splash out? Our experts open the doors to Britain’s most stylish beach houses
In a world that has stopped, shrunk, shut down, the sea remains irrepressibly free. Its infinite expanse and everchanging drama is the antidote to confinement, a plunge into its breathtaking surf a tonic to reawaken the senses.
As we emerge from lockdown, a great many of us find ourselves drawn to Britain’s wild coasts. You could travel the world and not find such soul-stirring beauty. Never has the British beach holiday been so appealing.
So, find a beach house with nothing between you and the sea, your own little bubble to take over with people who make you laugh. Simple is fine, though the best houses are designed to delight, and throw in luxuries and grown-up games – a hot tub or an outdoor kitchen, table tennis or a cinema room to keep everyone happy in all seasons.
Space is the ultimate luxury – space together with location, the more remote the better, with an empty beach just a hop, skip and a jump away, across the dunes or down a path through wild flowers.
Here are 20 brilliant beach houses on some of Britain’s most beautiful beaches for those first steps down to the sea.
LITTLE COTTAGE, PRAA SANDS, CORNWALL
Set apart at the empty end of Praa Sands, where wild white horses crash to shore on thundering hooves, Little Cottage seems suspended above the sea.
It is neither little nor a cottage, but a modernist masterpiece that is part Cornwall, part Big Sur, designed by owner Alex Michaelis (the architect behind Soho Farmhouse).
Walls of glass bring the Atlantic inside. The stairs curve around a midcentury-style tower. Free-flowing open living spaces are filled with local art and the light that has for generations brought artists to St Ives, a few miles away on the north coast beside calmer, bluer bays such as Carbis. A glass wall slides open for indoor-outdoor living the moment the sun comes out. Upstairs, in each of its three double en-suite rooms, you wake up looking at the sea, bathe in rolltop baths with views of the horizon, and fall asleep listening to the hush and boom of the breakers.
It is kitted out like someone’s home with thoughtful extras, from Bamford bathroom products to the piles of beach towels in the utility rooms, bodyboards, and a wellstocked kitchen with prosecco in the fridge. The kids’ bunkroom has boxes of Lego and board games, and there are games for grown-ups too: a library of DVDs, table football, a Yamaha keyboard, a Sonos sound system – and in the garden, a trampoline, fire pits and a hot tub, hidden by trees so you feel you have this wild spot all to yourselves.
A footpath from the gate leads through the bracken and brambles along the coast path or down to the beach. And what a beach! Wild surf, golden sand and rock pools.
“I wish we lived here all the time,” says one of the children on our last day, voicing what everyone is thinking. On a whim we stay one more night, to put off leaving this kind of beach life for as long as possible, and extend the dream another day.
Sleeps 10. From £281 per night (three-night minimum stay) with Sand & Stone (020 8740 3097; sandandstoneescapes.com)
THE BEACH HUT, MILLOOK, WIDEMOUTH BAY CORNWALL
It’s almost 30 years since it opened, but this pale-grey clapboard shack on a secret surf beach in North Cornwall is still the ultimate hideaway for two. Accessed via a single-file rollercoaster road from the golden sands of Widemouth Bay, it’s wildly romantic, set on a grassy bank above a blackpebble beach in a 52-acre Site of Special Scientific Interest. Seabirds circle the cliffs, beachcombers drift past and champion surfers emerge from the left-hand point break. There’s a surf shed, a battered boathouse and an upturned boat. Otherwise, it’s just you and the elements.
The former 1920s tea room was bought in 1992 by Roger Barker and Irene Douglas, who stripped the floors, whitewashed the walls and added fairy lights, a log burner, a DVD player and a wet room. Both worked in film and advertising, and in the early days, starry names such as Kate Winslet (who stayed there) and Tori Amos (who did a shoot there) helped to put it on the map. In recent years, it has been upgraded to include a super king-size bed, a Sonos Five, and luxury shower products by Noble Isle.
Its real appeal, though, lies in its simplicity and its seclusion. There’s a magical circular walk right outside, along a clear-running stream, through woods and windswept fields and back along the coast; for a night out, the Farmer’s Arms in Woolsery, a 17th-century pub with food by Ian Webber, is a 40-minute drive away. For the most part, though, you’ll be happy to hunker down, tuck into your hamper of goodies (scones with jam and Cornish clotted cream) and sit on your veranda, gazing at the waves as they crash on the shore. Sleeps two. From £1,350 for a short break (uniquehomestays.com) Lisa Johnson
BAREFOOT, CAMBER SANDS EAST SUSSEX
Camber Sands is one of the UK’s most glorious beaches, with five miles of shifting sand, sea and sky stretching from medieval Rye towards Dungeness. This classic white weatherboard house is right on it – unless you have a four-wheel drive, you have to walk the final 150 yards on foot.
Owner Mark Leversedge used to “stare at it” covetously as a child – and no wonder: the last of only five beach houses on this stretch, the pitched-roof house is embedded in the dunes, with a mezzanine bedroom overlooking the sea as the sun rises and sets and the stars twinkle over the water. The openplan set-up isn’t ideal for light sleepers (there’s a walk-in shower and children’s beds curtained off); then again, who wants to sleep with views like this?
Leversedge finally got the opportunity to buy the house 12 years ago, initially using it as a family bolt-hole, and it still has a personal feel, with its photographs of ecstatic kids in the dunes. Downstairs, there’s a more private double and a twin, a bigger bathroom, and an open-plan living area with a fully equipped kitchen, a large dining table, and comfy chairs and sofas around a wood-burning stove. This leads to a new improved deck and barbecue area and the place is perfect for hours of swimming in the sea, running on dunes and wandering over the beach, watching the sun glow on ripples in the sand.
If it clouds over, you can head to Rye to brunch at the Fig, shop for homewares and fabrics (try Crock & Cosy, Pale & Interesting and Merchant & Mills), climb the 12th-century church tower, and spy on wildlife in Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. Then go for dinner at the glamorous Gallivant hotel and wander home along the beach to a fire pit on your deck, musing on the numerous celebrities – including Emilia Clarke – who have also stayed here.
Sleeps eight. From about £1,250 for a two-night weekend; £2,000 for a week off-peak (barefootcamber.co.uk) LJ
ROCKSALT, MOUSEHOLE CORNWALL
This Grade II listed cottage is named after the rocks below, where the locals once salted mackerel – and it’s so close to the sea that, looking out through the second-floor dormer window, it can feel like you’re on it. The charming, vintage-feel interiors include a free-standing bath and a wood burner, and the garden terrace overlooks St Michael’s Mount. Sleeps four. From £739 for a short break (boutique-retreats.co.uk) LJ
THE SIGNAL STATION, THE LIZARD CORNWALL
In the late 19th century, signallers at this maritime communications hub flagged messages to 1,000 ships a month; with its beachy interiors, crenellated roof terrace and dizzying views to sea, it is now the kind of place you’d want to hole up in for weeks. Outside, the South West Coast Path leads to Kynance Cove past the National Trustowned Lizard Wireless Station. Sleeps six. From £1,395 for a short break (uniquehomestays.com) LJ
SEREN MOR, NEWPORT WALES
Winner of the 2013 Riba Welsh Architecture Award, this modern cliff-side house is arranged upside down to make the most of the knockout Newport estuary views. There are floor-toceiling windows in the beamed open-plan living space and kitchen at the top, deckchairs on the balcony, ideal for morning coffee, and a wildflower garden with kayaks in the shed so guests can get out on the water. Sleeps 10. From £1,995 for three nights (uniquehomestays.com) Emma Love
FERRING BEACH HOUSES, FERRING WEST SUSSEX
The star of the show at this neighbouring pair of properties – the Pink House and Yellow Sands – is the back garden with its heated pool and immaculate croquet lawn that meets the pebble beach at the end. Two spacious living rooms and big oak dining tables are made for gatherings; upstairs, the best of the clean-lined bedrooms come with a private veranda. For cooked breakfasts and club sandwiches, the Bluebird Cafe is a few minutes’ walk away. Sleeps 20. From £2,750 for a two-night weekend (kateandtoms.com) EL
THE VICTORY RESIDENCE, NR DEAL KENT
This is the last in a row of characterful fishermen’s cottages in the village of Kingsdown. There are maritime nods in the royal-blue kitchen and oceanthemed artwork; a sun room that looks on to the pebbly beach out front; Crittall-style doors and wood-panelled walls; and bunk beds for the kids. Borrow bicycles and pedal along the promenade to Deal and then afterwards, pop to the pub next door for supper. Sleeps 10. From £250 per night (kidandcoe.com) EL
MIDROCK HOUSE, ELIE SCOTLAND
Part of the East Neuk coastal stretch, the pretty village of Elie is known for its mile-long crescent of sand. Just above Ruby Bay, overlooking the Firth of
Forth, sits this contemporary, low-level eco house with an adjoining bothy (it has a TV room and chipboard-clad bedroom in the eaves – great for teenagers). When the sun is shining, gather around the huge larch dining table on the terrace; on chilly evenings hunker down by the wood burner in the sitting room.
Sleeps 12. From £4,063 for a week. A two-night weekend in low season costs £1,900, but during summer only week-long stays are available (elieselect.com)
SHANGRI-LA, WAXHAM NORFOLK
A smart timber chalet designed by Mole Architects is set in nearly an acre of private land behind the dunes at idyllic Waxham beach. Inside, paredback plywood walls are complemented by designer furniture (Louis Poulsen pendant lights, Eames dining chairs), and in the TV room, leather sofas and groovy reclaimed multicoloured beach hut cladding. Rise early and walk along the coast path to Horsey Gap, where seals slumber on the sand. Sleeps six. From £945 for three nights (coolstays.com) EL
HIVE BEACH HOUSE, CHESIL BEACH DORSET
It’s hard to beat the location of this wooden house, raised up on rocks just above the Jurassic Coast in Burton Bradstock and a stone’s throw from the popular Hive Beach Café. The look is Scandinavian-meets-nautical: striped duvet covers and deckchairs, and a lifebuoy hanging from a ladder that leads to a bedroom above the small kitchen.
Sleeps six. From £175 per night, minimum two-night stay (hivebeachhouse.com) EL
BEACHCOMBER’S, ANGLESEY WALES
Originally a bathing hut for the owners of the Carreglwyd Estate, now this clapboard cottage is a low-key bolt-hole on Borthwen Beach. Doors from the living room open to a deck at the front and a grassy verge that drops to the sand below. There’s a cosy nook for reading, reached via a ladder above the sitting room, a breakfast bar and barbecue.
Sleeps six. From £430 for three or four nights (boltholesand hideaways.co.uk) EL
CAPE COVE, ARGYLL AND BUTE SCOTLAND
Fans of the BBC drama series The Nest will be familiar with this phenomenal property, on the shore of Loch Long on the Rosneath peninsula. Built on the site of a former Second World War naval lookout post, the main social space is an open-plan living-dining room with slate-grey hues and glass walls facing the water; outside are several viewing decks with fire pits and a cedar hot tub, plus a private shingle beach and jetty. Sleeps 10. From £2,139 for seven nights (holidaycottages.co.uk) EL
BEADNELL BEACH HOUSE, BEADNELL NORTHUMBERLAND
Steep steps down from this buttermilkhued house lead to Smuggler’s Cove, a short stroll along the sand from the historic fishing village of Seahouses. It has two homely sitting rooms (one upstairs, with a balcony) adorned with abstract canvases by local artist Karen Willis, a well-equipped ebony-finish kitchen and a terrace for outdoor suppers, eaten to the sound of the waves. Sleeps 10. From £2,055 for a week (coastalretreats.co.uk) EL
POBBLE HOUSE, DUNGENESS KENT
Named after the old Kentish word for pebble, this Riba award-winning house suits the wild, stark desertscape of Dungeness. The midcentury furniture in the light-filled open-plan social space is arranged around a log burner and sea-facing corner windows while the dining area is distinguished by Hague Blue walls. A glass corridor connects to the restful bedrooms, and outside, the garden-beach boundary is marked by wooden sleepers. Sleeps 10. From £500 per night (airbnb.co.uk) EL
SAPHIR BEACH HOUSE, MAWGAN PORTH CORNWALL
Perched above Mawgan Porth’s white sand bay, this chic clapboard house combines a crisp white and subtle sea-inspired blue colour palette with appealing rustic furniture. But outdoors is where it really comes into its own, with a seriously cool open-air kitchen and festoon lights strung up over the dining area. Plus, a few steps down the grassy cliff, there’s a hot tub for sunset soaks.
Sleeps eight. From £1,995 for three nights (uniquehomestays.com)
EL
DUNE HOUSE, THORPENESS SUFFOLK
Part of the Living Architecture stable and designed by Nordic Jarmund/Vigsnaes Architects a decade ago, with a black-faceted upper story and a glasswalled ground floor. The place is all super high-spec and minimalist, from the polished concrete floors to the Arne Jacobsen lighting and the bespoke modular sofas. Bedrooms are timberclad and cosy, and there’s a first-floor library. Head north to spend days crabbing at Walberswick or walk south along the coast to Aldeburgh.
Sleeps nine. From £1,405 for four nights midweek (living-architecture.co.uk) EL
KIORA, WHITSTABLE KENT
This elegant clapboard beach house built in 1904 sits in the best spot in Whitstable – right next to the promenade overlooking The Street, a shingly sandbar that protrudes into the sea for half a mile at low tide. Just a 10-minute stroll up the beach from the centre of town, the house has four bedrooms, a well-equipped kitchen complete with wood-burning stove, a spacious, sofafilled drawing room with a baby grand piano and the most heavenly outdoor dining terrace overlooking the beach.
Sleeps eight. Two-night stays in low season cost from £995; summer weeks cost £2,940 (whitstable holidayhomes.co.uk/kiora).
THE MOULT, SALCOMBE DEVON
Even the Earl of Devon would be impressed with what the owners have done with this place since he sold up. The pink Victorian house has had an elegant contemporary makeover, including a home cinema, games room, Sonos system and baby grand piano. Each of the 12 fresh, light rooms is unique. Outside, the Mediterraneanstyle terrace has a 72ft heated pool and uplifting views across Salcombe Bay; follow the steps down through the tropical-planted gardens all the way to South Sands Beach below. Sleeps 24. From £5,950 for two nights (kateandtoms.com) LF
CARN MAR, POLZEATH CORNWALL
The only thing separating this dreamy house from Polzeath Beach below is the South West Coast Path, accessed through the garden gate. Inside, it is a haven of calm – all white, grey and dusky pink hues, and blond wood furniture. There’s a reading room with beanbags and binoculars; a sheltered terrace for windier days; and an outdoor fire pit for toasting marshmallows as the sun dips over the water.
Sleeps 14. From £2,796 for a three-night stay in low season (latitude50.co.uk) EL