Britain's best dog beaches: where to go this summer

The tide is going out at Bamburgh, and a golden retriever is already chest-deep in the water before her owner has finished rolling up his jeans. It is the picture every dog owner carries into summer, and Britain, blessed with some of the finest coastline in Europe and long light evenings made for walking it, is generous with the opportunity. There is a catch, and it is a real one. Many of the best beaches carry seasonal dog restrictions, and the difference between a glorious day and a dispiriting one usually comes down to whether you checked before you set off. Turn up unprepared and you can find yourself driving home with a bewildered dog who cannot understand why the sea, so plainly right there, was suddenly forbidden.

Happily, the country rewards a little planning handsomely, and the rules, once you understand the shape of them, are not hard to work with.

England: head north

If you want the surest bet in England, go north. Northumberland is in a class of its own: of the forty-one beaches listed on thebeachguide.co.uk, thirty-seven welcome dogs the whole year round, which makes it comfortably the most dog-accessible stretch of coast in the country. Bamburgh, Seahouses, Alnmouth and Druridge Bay are wide, frequently startling in their emptiness, and framed by the kind of scenery, castles on the skyline, dunes rolling back inland, that justifies the drive before your dog has so much as got his feet wet.

Elsewhere the picture is patchier, though there are gems worth travelling for precisely because they are exceptions. Holkham in Norfolk, all pale sand and pine-backed dunes, keeps its welcome year-round, as does Perranporth in Cornwall, a rarity on a heavily restricted county coast. The pattern to keep in mind is simply that England imposes the most seasonal bans in the UK, so the beaches that stay open all year are the ones to build a day around.

Wales and Scotland: the coast opens up

Cross into Wales and the mood loosens. Rhossili Bay on the Gower, regularly voted among the most beautiful beaches in Britain, offers three uninterrupted miles where dogs are welcome all year, and the wild sweep of Freshwater West in Pembrokeshire does the same. Barafundle Bay, reached only by a short walk from the nearest car park and all the lovelier for it, is another that keeps its gates open through the seasons.

It is Scotland, though, that treats dog owners best of all, and the reason is written into law. The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 grants a statutory right of responsible access to most land and inland water, the coast included, which in practice means far fewer formal bans than south of the border and a genuine culture of welcome. The scenery does the rest. Luskentyre on the Isle of Harris, turquoise water over white sand that looks tropical until you dip a toe, is routinely named one of the most beautiful beaches in the country. Yellowcraig in East Lothian is sheltered, sandy and an easy escape from Edinburgh, while the Silver Sands of Morar unfurl their long white stretches beneath the Highlands with the Small Isles riding the horizon. The single word that matters is "responsibly": keep your dog close around ground-nesting birds, livestock and other people, and the coast is effectively yours.

Reading the rules, and the beach

Wherever you are heading, a little homework saves the day. The commonest English pattern is a restriction running from the first of May to the end of September, applied to marked zones of a beach rather than the whole of it, and, crucially, many of those same beaches still welcome dogs before nine in the morning and after six in the evening. Since those happen to be the coolest, quietest and loveliest hours of a summer day in any case, it is worth working with the restriction rather than against it; do so and you often get the better beach into the bargain. Just remember that these rules shift from one year to the next, so check thebeachguide.co.uk or the local council page before you book rather than on the morning you leave, and read the signage at the entrance when you arrive, because the posted zones and dates are the ones that actually count.

None of what follows should put you off, but a great beach day can turn quickly if you do not know what experienced coastal owners quietly watch for. On a genuinely hot afternoon, dry sand can scorch a dog's pads, so trust the back of your own hand: if you cannot hold it against the sand for seven seconds, it is too hot for paws, and you are better off on the cool, damp margin near the water or going early and late. Watch the drinking, too, because a dog gulping seawater between fetches can take on enough salt to make him sick, and in serious cases far worse, so carry fresh water and offer it often enough that the sea never looks tempting. Keep half an eye on the tide and on any current strong enough to pull a swimmer, human or canine, off their feet, and give a wide berth to the scummy, still freshwater of lagoons and pools behind some beaches, where blue-green algae blooms in warm weather and can be fatal to dogs. Beyond that it is the small, occasional hazards, a stranded jellyfish that can still sting, a weever fish buried in the shallows, a discarded fishing hook, so a glance at where your dog is nosing goes a long way.

Pack for it and the day looks after itself. Take a lead even if your dog's recall is flawless, both for the restricted zones and for the moments a beach throws up something you did not expect, and bring fresh water, a bowl, poo bags in more pockets than you think you need, a towel, and shade if the beach offers none of its own. A rinse afterwards is kinder than it sounds, since dried salt and grit left in the coat can irritate skin and ears on the drive home.

The truth of it is that the best dog beach in Britain is usually the one whose rules you checked before you left. Do that one unglamorous thing, throw the water and the lead in the boot, and everything else, the running and the swimming and the exhausted, salt-stiff sleep all the way home, tends to take care of itself. For the full W&W guide to dog-friendly beaches across the UK, including restrictions by beach and what to pack, visit woofandwoofer.co.uk/dog-friendly-uk/beaches.