Forelands Beach

Right on your doorstep is Forelands Beach. Just walk down the steps and you are on a stony beach with a rocky platform (the Ledge) which appears at low tide, with some sandy areas for paddling when the tide is out.

It is characterised by various beach huts plus a beach cafe and a coast guard lookout. In the sea are the reefs of Bembridge Ledge which is rich in edible crabs, lobsters and spider crabs and shoals of mackerel.

Bembridge Ledge, is an area formerly popular with shipwrecks and smuggling, but also for crab and lobster fishing; The channel through the interior of the Bembridge Ledges is known as “Dickie Dawes Gut” after a notorious local smuggler (and father of the courtesan Sophie Dawes) due to his feat of escaping the excise men by superior local navigational knowledge. There was a pillbox built in the Second World War, now subsumed in the sea defences.

Priory Bay Beach

Priory Bay is on the eastern coast of the Isle of Wight just east of Nettlestone. It takes its name from a small priory that was once connected to St Helen’s Old Church nearby.

The bay runs from Horestone Point to Nodes Point and is edged by 7.5 acres of National Trust woodland known as Priory Woods. The only access is by walking from either of these points along the coastal footpath.

Stretching 1/2 mile in length, the bay looks across the Solent to Selsey Bill on the mainland. The beach is sandy with some pebbles and is bordered by rocks and the remains of coastal defences. These were intended to protect the cliffs from the constant erosion by the sea.

The shallow bay slopes gently towards the Gull Bank, a sandbar that creates a lagoon of water at low tide. It’s too shallow for swimming but ideal for paddling.

Ryde Sands

Ryde Sands and Wootton Creek is a 424.2-hectare (1,048-acre) Site of special scientific interest which stretches along the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight, from Wootton Bridge past Ryde and Seaview to Seagrove Bay. The majority of the area consists of intertidal sand and mud flats exposed at low water, a large proportion of this being Ryde Sands. Also within the site is Wootton Creek itself and the Alan Hersey Nature Reserve at Seaview Duver. The site was notified in 1993 for its biological features

Seaview

Seaview is known as one of the Island’s more upmarket villages and is the playground to politicians and celebrities during the summer months. With its interesting beaches and great views across the Solent to Portsmouth and West Sussex, its quirky shops, restaurants and pubs, there is plenty to Say Yes to in this little village.

There is a great adjoining beach at Seagrove Bay and at low tide you can walk round to St Helens.