SAUNTON SANDS, DEVON

Saunton Sands has many claims to fame: its soft, golden sand, the beautiful River Taw estuary at the south end of the beach, and the many film and music connections – it’s here that David Niven’s Peter Carter wakes up after jumping out of his burning plane without a parachute in A Matter of Life and Death. What makes it really special, however, is Braunton Burrows, a sequence of rolling dunes that edge the beach. One of the largest sand-dune systems in England, more than 400 different species of wild flowers have been recorded here. The dunes are also home to rabbits, hedgehogs and butterflies.