Woodside Beach

A sweep of shingle and sand that faces north towards the Solent, Woodside Beach sits just outside Ryde and feels properly local - the sort of place where families have been coming for decades without it ever making the postcards. The beach itself is wide at low tide, backed by low cliffs with a scattering of beach huts that have seen better days. Water's cold year-round, naturally, but the sheltered position means it's calmer than the south coast beaches when the wind picks up.

It's the kind of spot that works well if you're staying at one of the nearby caravan parks - Comforts Farm and The Ark Park are within easy reach, both around four and a half miles away - rather than a destination in itself. Older kids might manage an afternoon here, hunting for fossils in the clay cliffs or building the inevitable sandcastle, but families with toddlers will find better facilities elsewhere around Ryde's seafront. The real appeal is the quietness. No arcades, no noise, just the Solent traffic to watch and the chance to feel like you've stumbled onto something the day-trippers missed.

Free to access, obviously. Go on a weekday out of season if you can - weekends see more families, and the car park fills up. Low tide is best for exploring the beach itself, particularly if you want to clamber about the foreshore looking for traces of the clay geology that made this corner of the island matter during the fossil-hunting mania of Victorian times.