Lytham St Annes Beach

The beach at Lytham St Annes feels like someone's idea of what a proper English seaside should be - and they've got it mostly right. Wide, sandy shores backed by a proper promenade with Victorian piers and seafront gardens that don't look like they've been left to rot. It's about three miles south of Blackpool, but feels worlds away from the chaos up there.

You get a clean stretch of beach that's genuinely swimmable - the water's cold as you'd expect on the Lancashire coast, but families wade in without worrying about fairground detritus floating past. The sand's firm enough for a decent walk, and the tidal range means you get proper mud flats and rock pools when it's out. Kids will spend hours hunting for crabs if the tide's right.

The real draw is the promenade itself. The Victorian pier at the north end has that genuine end-of-pier amusement feel without being tacky, and the gardens along the front are maintained properly. There's a decent café culture here too - not the usual fried food chains you find elsewhere. On clear days you can see across the bay to Blackpool Tower, which rather ruins the escape factor if you're trying to get away from it all.

It's free to access and works well as a base if you're staying at one of the caravan parks nearby - Haven Marton Mere is the closest proper option at 4.3 miles. Allow a good half-day for a proper explore, longer if you've got kids. Best visited outside school holidays when the crowds thin out. Decent spot for a proper seaside afternoon without the tackiness.