To think we can find a seaside town to suit us all?

[redrise]

I feel I'm going around in circles trying to find a UK holiday destination both children will like. It should be easy but it isn't. Can anyone help?

1. Needs a sandy beach with a small stream running across it (or water outlet/pipe will do!). My 15 year old son is autistic and loves to create canals and divert water and would happily spend all day doing this.

2. Needs to be near a proper seaside town with lots of amusement arcades for my daughter. She loves places like Great Yarmouth but a little smaller would be okay.

The beach for my son and arcades for my daughter don't need to be in the same place, just within driving distance. I can Google seaside towns but I get nothing when googling "beach with stream" so hoping someone with local knowledge can help. Thank you!

I think Perranporth beach and Maenporth beach in Cornwall both have some sort of streams running across them.

Primrose valley

Tynemouth Long Sands beach has a good water inlet bit next to the cafe (Crusoes). For arcades etc There is the rest of that bit of coastline (Cullercoats/Whitley Bay).

Sandsend is a small place on North Yorkshire coast has a large inlet pipe in the middle of it and is a 20 min walk on beach to whitby

My children have had fun playing in/damming/mucking about in the streams at several beaches near Newquay (Mawgan Porth, Crantock, Perranporth, but I imagine most of them have something similar given the geography).

Fraisethorpe beach near Bridlington has a stream running through it, Bridlington has arcades and a beautiful Sandy south shore and a more rocky north shore.

Plenty of little cafes etc round and about, very much a traditional sea side resort.

Sorry, I should have mentioned location as travelling long distance with two ASD kids is difficult. We are in the South and Yorkshire is as far north as we could go. Would love to visit Cornwall but summer traffic puts me off. Thanks to those who replied though

Saundersfoot has it all.

Nearby Freshwater East for a day trip has your exact beach requirements. There is a small arcade at the back of the pub.

Robin Hood's Bay has lots of water running across it including a small river, and is within walking distance of Whitby.

Ah, of course! I remember Peranporth from when I was little and loved it! Definitely one to do if we can go out of season when traffic isn't so bad

Cornish beach dweller here...

The thing about streams on beaches is that they are weather dependent. If it hasn’t rained for a while there is no run off and therefore no stream.

So you need to find a beach that sits at the mouth of a small river to guarantee it will be flowing, no matter how wet or dry the weather has been, e.g. Seaton in Cornwall. There’s a couple of small arcades in Looe, nearby.

Crantock in Cornwall is sort of a river and beach in one. Depends on tide times as to what you get when you are there It’s absolutely lovely. And near Newquay for entertainments without being actually in Newquay itself, which is a bit tacky.

We stayed in Towen valley in porth towen, 5 seconds away from the beach. No arcade but close enough to perranporth etc was lovely

Bowleaze cove in Weymouth has a stream running across the beach. It's got amusements and it's right next to a couple of caravan parks.

Sorry just spotted u cant go that far south!

Looe in Cornwall. Lovely place, fantastic beach for playing in streams, (we live nearby so it’s saying something we come here so often) great little town for food, coffee and a mooch around. You can crab fish off the harbour and take boats to see dolphins or go fishing. The arcade is further into the town. There is also a lovely park.
Nearby is Eden, Helligan etc, and other great beaches and villages, some with caves, masted ships etc. Lots of accommodation, cheaper if you go slightly inland.

I second fraisethorpe near bridlington! It's got loads of little adventure areas and is ten minutes from Bridlington seafront.. lots of dogs though so that's something to be aware of!


Swanage, Dorset

West Wittering in Sussex is brilliant. It's sandy and you get streams and pools when the tide is right. It's not far from Bognor, which has the usual seaside attractions.

Since they widened the A30, the driving into/across Cornwall is so much easier - not to say there’s never a problem but has made a huge difference. If you’re in the south anyway that’s got to be an easier journey than going up to Yorkshire (though agree there’s some great places there that will meet your criteria). But avoid Newquay area when Boardmasters festival is on.

Looe in Cornwall will give you all that and more. It's only 15-20(mins) into Cornwall so traffic not so bad!

Ok. Just read your subsequent post. Sorry.
What Scarborough like? (We were booked to go there this summer, who knows if that will happen)! I know it has a splash pad and play park, and the image I got when you google is of a kid in a ‘beach stream’. Maybe worth looking at?
Good luck!

Sandown and Shanklin on the IOW.

Dymchurch might work. I made a canal last week! It doesn't have a permanent stream, but pools form next to the groynes. Lots of arcades, a funfair and a miniature light railway.

It does get very busy in the summer though. You'd need to be quick to get a space next to a large pool, and keep an eye out for where they form so it's not guaranteed in the way a stream would be. Another issue is it gets so busy that a very extensive canal network might not be possible, and I suppose a very determined canal builder might be able to drain a pool if it was on the smaller side.

Otoh, if you are in the south, maybe you could come out of season for a day trip to check it out? We had it to ourselves last week. It was very cold though, so maybe we were the only ones mad enough....

Tenby for the arcades, Manorbier for the stream. Manorbier also has a castle.

Wow! Thanks for such great suggestions everyone. Maybe Cornwall isn't such a bad idea, especially if Looe isn't far over the border. Tenby is sounding good too. Swanage and Bridlington too. Hmm, lots to look at now - thank you!