Sandy beach hoiiday on direct train from London - where?

[Wiifitmama]

We have been to north Devon (Croude) a couple of times and love love love it, but it is such a pain for us to get to. Two trains and then a half hour taxi ride.

I was wondering where else we could go that has a sandy beach and lovely walks that is on a direct train from London so easier for us to get to. Anywhere is fine!

Suggestions please?

I went to broadstairs at spring bank and it was lovely. Great sandy beach and good amenities.

Excellent local transport too.

You could go to other bits of Devon that have stations, so still need a change at Exeter St David but no taxi and frequent connections. I'm thinking of Dawlish, Teignmouth, Exmouth etc.

My first thought was Barcelona - I believe you can change in Paris

After reading your post I suspect this is little help. Sorry!

Tenby?

It's not direct, one change at Swansea. But station is in the town so no taxi ride after.

Lowestoft is one change and has a beautiful golden beach.

Weymouth or Penzance.

We've done both!

Bournemouth or Weymouth both have nice sandy beaches

Thank you! So many ideas! I had to laugh at Barcelona - if only!

margate - really lovely beach and wonderful art gallery with tonnes of activities on the school holidays.

Ok, I am seriously leaning towards Penzance. I have always wanted to go to Cornwall. It would not be school holidays when we go. Probably mid September. Any thoughts?

penzance is lovely, it's a long journey - about 6hrs I think. We did it 5 years ago then got the ferry to the scilly isles. There is a sleeper to penzance at certain times.

I would looooooove to do the sleeper to penzance, though having done the sleeper to aberdeen, i doubt there would be a whole lot of sleeping involved...

Hoburne Naish, train from Waterloo to New Milton under 2 hours

Wow! Hoburne Naish looks lovely! Thanks!

There is a path directly from park onto beach, also you can walk into Highcliffe which has a Tesco and Coop etc. We have been a couple of times so ask any questions. Also you can sometimes find private rentals at a lower price than with Hoburne.

Well... If you don't mind changing for a ferry... Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour, jump on ferry, then from Ryde Esplanade there's a direct train to Sandown on Isle of Wight!

St Ives!! Much prettier than Penzance (imho) and you can get the little branch line from St Erth (on the main Paddington - Penzance line) straight there. It's Cornwall, so there is a reasonably high chance of rain, but the weather in September can be lovely down there. It's the St Ives art festival in mid-September (not sure how much that impacts on accommodation availability or is a pro / con for you!)

Hi seb1 - thanks so much!

My questions about it (and anywhere we go) would all relate to how easy it is to get there by public transport (how far is it from The station? I don't mind a taxi ride). And what we can walk to once there.

Our perfect holiday would involve sandy beach less than 10 minutes slow walk from property, indoor pool for rainy days, good scenic cliff walks, woods or forest within walkable distance for the boys to explore, walk to a shop for milk, bread etc (we normally get a supermarket delivery straight to where we stay and top up locally). This place seems to tick most boxes - am I right?

There is a path straight to beach but there are steps down, there is an indoor pool, a kids pool, an outdoor pool, minigolf (very reasonable), play areas, soft play area, pub style restaurant, kids entertainment at night (and they don't seen to be out to get every penny off parents like other places) Costcutter, snack bar. Tesco is a small one, as is Coop, other shops also in town centre which is easy to walk to from beach. We have driven there both times as we stay 500 miles away but after the drive haven't used the car much (not at all one week), just used beach and local shops etc.

Also found this on their website

"Hoburne Naish is about 2 miles from New Milton Town Centre the railway station and about 1 mile from the village of Highcliffe. The railway station is on the main London to Waterloo line so trains are very frequent.

There is a Request Bus Stop by the Park main entrance and the X1 Wilts Dorset bus goes between Lymington Bournemouth hourly.

The beach is a short walk away from the Park either from the beach path, which opens this year around Easter, or through the Chewton Bunny Nature Reserve which is close to the Park main entrance."

This info might also be useful

and New forest Tour HTH

Excellent thanks!