Quiet Sandy beach <2hrs from SW London - and what are your essentials to take?

[Fargoer]

Not much of a beach fan but my kids are. Usually they get their beach fix in a resort on holiday but that's not happening this year.
For a total UK beach newbie:

1. Where should we go that's fairly quiet (summer holidays midweek) but still has somewhere to wee/get an ice cream?
2. What should we take? Opinions seem divided about pop up tents/windbreaks/umbrellas

I've searched but most threads seemed pretty old and I'm sure the last 16 months has changed everything. Driving or train from Richmond.

Thanks very much!

West wittering.
Parking is pre booked- so numbers on the beach are managed.

Greatstone beach

Dymchurch, Minnis Bay or Frensham Beach
I’ll also say Bournemouth because it’s so long and never feels really crammed.

Witterings or Camber, if you get decent traffic. Otherwise Worthing with more pebbles and less privacy. How vital is the timescale?

Don’t think there is such a thing as a Sandy beach with facilities that is quiet??? Cafes will only operate on relatively popular beaches?
Joss bay is really quite lovely and old fashioned.

Littlehampton. One side of the harbour is a pebble beach with a funfair, cafes, toilets, ice cream vendors, fish 'n' chip shops and so on. The other side is sand dunes with a car park and a cafe. I assume there are toilets but can't remember. Good for crabbing off the harbour wall too!

Definitely take drinks and snacks, towels, pop up sun shelters are good for changing in. Loose change for car parking or the funfair. Sun screen, something to put your rubbish in, something to sit on (I have a couple of those inflatable sofa/chair things that you run around with looking like an idiot until its filled with air).

Littlehampton also has a train station within walking distance of the beach if you want to leave the car at home.

Littlehampton has toilets by the main car park. We are going there this week so please do whatever you do for good weather for us!

West wittering. At the very least

• a large windbreak,
• folding chair
• massive bag for all essentials like one of those market/laundry bags with a zip on top.

We have a pop up. Tent which has proved useful in the past too, but isn’t strictly necessary.

i undestand you need to book west wittering in advance

why dont you go somewhere less sandy but with the tide out there is sand,
Littlehampton Beach apparently,
or Hastings

My beach list:

• sachets of saline solution for washing sand out of eyes (if dc are small)
• large bag with mesh bottom (sand strains through)
• Picnic blanket
• water
• swim proof sunblock
• wet suits
• mini surf boards
• as many spades as people
• one bucket
• poncho/ wearable towels
• plastic bag for wet gear
• snacks

Southbourne/ hengistbury head. Beautiful soft sand, toilets, ice creams. Never to busy.

Minnis or Botany Bay

Minnis Bay has a few parking spaces, a little cafe and toilets and huge sandy beach that is always quiet

Also has has a restaurant that is often busy

Botany Bay is lovely and quiet a place you can get snacks and ice creams and a sandy beach

Both on the Kent coast

West Wittering is usually booked well in advance and there is absolutely nowhere else to park nearby. Please check if you plan to go.

Isn't East Wittering famously emptier than West Wittering because it has no facilities?

Take:
Beach towels
Spare towels
swimsuits
armbands/rings/bodyboards for DC
Beach ball
Sun cream
Savlon
antihistamine cream or spray
Lots of still water
Picnic
hand/babywipes & tissues
Maybe a sunshade/windbreaker/mini tent for changing in depending on weather
swim shoes or crocs for paddling
bucket and spade
fishing nets if there are rock pools

West Wittering is good if you can book a parking space. If you go along to the far end of the car park - East Head end - it is generally quieter, although you can't swim there because of the currents.
We went during half term, and I wildly underestimated how long it would take to get out - took us an hour from the beach car park to get up to the A27, which is about 4 miles. So factor that in!

Oh wow. Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.

@RickiTarr do you mean the travelling time? Don't think kids will tolerate more than 4 hours round trip, no matter how much they want to go! And am planning day trips rather than holidays.

@TheBlessedCheesemaker, that's why I'm asking, as I said am a newbie. I was hoping that some places are not heaving despite being pleasant. Don't need cafe, just loos as a minimum! Maybe that's too much to ask but there seem to be lots of helpful suggestions here.

@OldTinHat which inflatable seats please? I look like an idiot anyway.

Do I need an umbrella? I'm so clueless.

Lots of votes for west wittering. My worry is that parking restrictions end with lockdown easing and then it will be very busy... or is it always book in advance with limited capacity? I only ask as it's the only one I've heard of and seems popular!

Thanks everyone.

West Wittering is always ticketed parking in a very odd old school system.

I used to drive from the Balham area for day trips and the problem is that if the roads get busy (which they do when everyone gets the same idea at once) 2 hours for the quiet Sandy dunes places I mentioned becomes ambitious. This summer, coming out of lockdown I would worry about that on warm days.

So on really warm/busy days with small children I would head due south down A24 or alternatively the M23/A23 towards Worthing or Littlehampton. I haven’t done it for a couple of years, though, so maybe the roads are better.

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This kind of thing that you have to run about to fill with air! Not this price though, Aldi and Lidl have them sometimes as do Wowcher and Groupon. They're great fun and very comfy.

Please not those massive pop up tents. They spoil everyone's view and are completely unnecessary.

Ditto those minging huge air beds. It's not your front room. I'm mentally scarred by seeing a family with four of them all plop down on the beach and set up an ioad on a stand so they could watch the football. Bloody awful

*ipad

Bloody hell what happened to a beach towel or a deck chair?

@RickiTarr

Bloody hell what happened to a beach towel or a deck chair?

Quite.