Devon Seacret Seasides: Whitsand Bay

Secret Seaside Near Plymouth: Whitsand Bay and Cornwall’s Forgotten Peninsula

Discover Cornwall’s Hidden Coastal Gem Just Minutes from Plymouth

As the 15th biggest city in England you wouldn’t think Plymouth could boast such a thing as a secret seaside – but the old maritime community knows a thing or two about the sea and, rather cleverly, keeps a beautiful stretch of coast very much to itself.

It’s not that secrtet as most Plymouthians have some kind of relationship with Whitsand Bay – even though it’s across the border in Cornwall, they pop over on the Torpoint Ferry and head for their very own salty backyard.

And very lovely it is too. But the great sweep of shoreline that bends west from Rame Head to Looe Island is, for the rest of us, one of the least known bits of the Cornish littoral.

Chapel tops Rame Head

Cornwall’s “Forgotten Peninsula” and Its Secluded Coastline

I say that because despite its proximity to Plymouth, Cornwall’s extreme south-east corner is often described as the county’s “forgotten peninsula”. That’s partly because it is a bit of a fiddle to get to – most tourists just drive on by once they’ve crossed the Tamar Bridge and don’t think of turning left down the serpentine roads that wiggle and wind in order to avoid massive St Germans Creek and its attendant tributaries.

Next comes a high ridge, crowned at one point by the oddly named village of Crafthole – and then there’s the sea. The big, wide, sparkling, blue expanse of sea that is Whitsand Bay.

A Coastline of Fortresses, Chalets, and Maritime History

Fortresses, old and not so old, are a feature of this coast – though none could fire a shot in anger nowadays. The only bang you’ll hear, apart from the ones resounding from a small arms firing range, is the knock of the auctioneer’s gavel as yet another luxury apartment with sea views goes under the hammer.

The same property auctioneer might also sell the occasional chalet that comes onto the market – for this is a coast of chalets. They began to appear along the slopes of Treninnow Cliff between the two world wars and originally were modest little hand-built holiday homes for working-class Plymouthians who couldn’t afford to go further afield.

Sheep above Whitsand Bay

The Unique Charm of Treninnow Cliff Chalets

“Who would want to?” That’s what you’d ask if you’d been there on the fresh, sparkling, sunlit day last week when I passed by. Indeed, today these modest home-built “huts” swap hands for in excess of £500,000.

Treninnow Cliff Chalets

Out of my league but worth every penny, I’d say – although this fabulous, scattered community of wooden chalets has been threatened in the past by local authorities wishing to “clean the coast up”. I’ve also heard rumours of ground rents becoming so expensive that some of the older families who’ve held onto their wondrous maritime legacy could be priced out.

Treninnow Cliff Chalets

Which would be a shame. I think the shanty-town feel of this community adds wonderfully to this big empty stretch of coast – indeed it is the nearest thing England has to certain sections of the Californian littoral. If you’re ever in San Francisco, go 30 miles north to Stinson Beach and you’ll see what I mean.

Secret Beaches Beyond Portwrinkle and Eglarooze Cliff

Anyway, given all this human attention you might be inclined to agree with a Plymouth-born colleague of mine who said: “There aren’t any secret seasides along that bit of coast.”

Apart from the fact that this entire bay is unknown to most Westcountry folk, I know what he means. To an extent. But even beach-loving Plymouthians don’t reach the parts that this Secret Seasides series manages to find.

I’ve tried to avoid using the phrase “where gulls go to be lonely” in this series – so in this case will adapt it to “where sheep go to be lonely” – for that is the only land-based mammal you’ll find if you go on west past the Treninnow Cliff chalet community, beyond Crafthole and the tiny harbour hamlet of Portwrinkle, and find your way out along Eglarooze Cliff.

Secret beaches of Whitsand Bay

The sheep are being used to graze off the steep slopes above the sea-cliffs – and the herbage does need a bit of a seeing-to, for sure. I nearly ruined a perfectly good suit as I clambered down the slopes this week (don’t ask why I was wearing a suit on such an unlikely adventure) – but I did manage to descend to what must be some of the most unvisited beaches within 40 miles of Plymouth.

Remote Beaches Under Cargloth Cliffs

And there, under Cargloth Cliffs – just inland from a remarkable rock stack called The Brawn, near a place known as Beaks Horn – I lolled for half an hour eating my midday sandwiches on a beach that no one except for kayakers can have visited for years.

There are a series of four beaches between Britain Point (just west of Portwrinkle) and the bigger headland at Cargloth and I cannot, in the interests of health and safety, recommend that you visit any of them.

There are a series of four beaches between Britain Point just west of Portwrinkle and the bigger headland at Cargloth

But if you do, I will promise you this: in no way will you be able to imagine you are just five miles as the seagull flies from the region’s largest city.

Coast west of Portwrinkle