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Beach

Summerleaze Beach

Cornwall

Directions
Type
Beach
Area
Cornwall
Grid ref
SS 2032 0658
Lat, long
50.83084, -4.55275
  • Café
  • Drinks
  • Easy access
  • Food
  • Lifeguards
  • River
  • Rock pools
  • Rocky
  • Sand
  • Toilets

The Wild Days guide

Summerleaze is Bude’s town beach, a wide spread of golden sand where the River Neet and the old Bude Canal meet the sea. Tucked into the rocks at its northern end is the Sea Pool, a tidal swimming pool the sea refills on every tide.

Why it’s worth the trip

It is a proper all-day beach, usable at any state of the tide, with lifeguards in season, a big car park right behind it and the town a few minutes away. It is also where two very different walks begin: the coast path north over the cliffs, and the canal towpath inland.

Make a wild day of it

The Sea Pool

Built in the 1930s, with the Thynne family putting up half the money, the pool is about 88 m by 43 m, partly natural and partly walled. It is free, open all year and looked after by a volunteer charity, the Friends of Bude Sea Pool, so a donation helps. On a day when the open sea is too rough it is the best swim in town.

North along the coast path

Climb past the pool on to Summerleaze Down and follow the South West Coast Path past Crooklets and the low cliffs of Maer to Northcott Mouth, about 2.3 km, where the wreck of the SS Belem shows at low tide. It is easy going with no stiles.

The Bude Canal

The canal opened in 1823 to carry the shell-rich sand from this beach inland as fertiliser. Its 35 miles used inclined planes to haul wheeled tub boats up into the hills, but the first stretch from the sea lock was a broad canal for barges. Walk its towpath past Bude Marshes, where herons and egrets fish, to Helebridge Basin, about 3.5 km of level, peaceful walking each way.

The rocks

Bude’s cliffs are the only ones in Cornwall made of Carboniferous sandstone, folded and faulted into zigzags you can see from the coast path. After big winter storms the sand sometimes drops enough to show the rails of the old tramway that carried sand off the beach.

Tides and safety

RNLI lifeguards patrol from 10am to 6pm: in 2026 over Easter, daily from 2 May to 27 September, then at weekends in October and over half-term. Swim and bodyboard between the red and yellow flags, and stay well away from the canal sea lock, where the current is strong. At low tide you can walk to Crooklets on the sand, but the rocks between can cut you off as the tide rises. Check a Bude tide table, and in an emergency call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.

When to go

June and September give warm water, lifeguards and fewer people than August. Come at low tide for the widest beach and the walk north. In winter the beach is empty and the Sea Pool is still open for the brave.

Good to know

  • Parking: Summerleaze council car park, 421 spaces right behind the beach. Summer 2026: £2.70 for an hour to £11.70 for 24 hours; winter from £1.50. Pay by card or app.
  • Toilets: free public toilets by the beach.
  • Food: cafes, pubs and shops in Bude, a few minutes’ walk.
  • Dogs: allowed, but on a lead from 10am to 6pm between 21 May and 30 September.
  • Buses: Go Cornwall 95 from Boscastle, Tintagel and Wadebridge, and Stagecoach 6 from Okehampton.

Getting there and parking

  1. Summerleaze car park

    EX23 8HJ Cornwall Council 1 April to 31 October, 9am to 6pm: £2.70 up to 1 hour, £5.30 up to 2 hours, £7.70 up to 4 hours, £11.70 for 24 hours; evening £2.50. 1 November to 31 March, 9am to 4pm: £1.50 for 1 hour to £7.20 for 24 hours. Pay by card or the JustPark app (location 8211)

    Council long stay car park, 421 spaces, beside the river right behind the beach. No motorhomes or campers 11pm to 8am.

    Directions

  2. Wharf car park, Bude

    EX23 8LG Cornwall Council Council pay and display; check the board

    Beside the canal basin at the Lower Wharf, handy for the towpath walk.

    Directions

The walk in. From Summerleaze car park walk straight across on to the sand.

By bus. Go Cornwall Bus 95 runs daily to Bude (The Strand) from Wadebridge, Camelford, Tintagel, Boscastle and Crackington Haven, and Stagecoach 6 runs between Bude and Okehampton. Check times before you travel.

Walks from here

Routes and trail data by Ghrups

Traced on the paths with Ghrups trail data. Dashed: along the beach or over open ground.

Summerleaze to Crooklets and Northcott Mouth (South West Coast Path)

Easy

1.4 mi (2.3 km) 0h45 50 m up linear

Start: Summerleaze Beach

A short, easy taste of the coast path, ideal with children. From the beach climb past the Sea Pool on to the grassy top of Summerleaze Down, with views back over the breakwater and the canal entrance, then drop down to Crooklets beach and its beach huts. Beyond Wrangle Point the path runs along the low cliffs of Maer, above a string of small rocky coves, to Northcott Mouth, a quieter beach where the wreck of the SS Belem shows at low tide. There are no stiles, though some edges are unfenced, so keep small children close. Return the same way for a walk of under 5 km, or keep going along the coast path to Sandymouth, about 1.5 km further, for a bigger day out on the cliffs. Take care if you are tempted back along the sand at low tide: check the tide first.

7 mtop 44 m
  • Path 53%
  • Grass 31%
  • Paved 8%
  • Earth 5%
  • Gravel 3%
  • 45 min at a steady pace (33 min brisk, 57 min relaxed)
  • Steep in places
  • 1 flight of steps
  • Permissive, pedestrian access may be revoked

Trail data by Ghrups

Bude Canal towpath to Helebridge

Easy

4.2 mi (6.8 km) 2h 15 m up out and back

Start: Bude Sea Lock

A flat, peaceful walk beside the water, good on a windy day. Start at the sea lock where the canal meets the sea at the end of Summerleaze beach, walk past the Lower Wharf, where the tub boats were loaded, and follow the towpath south out of town beside Bude Marshes. Herons and egrets fish along the canal and the River Neet, with swans, moorhens and damselflies in summer. Beyond Rodd's Bridge the towpath carries on through quiet farmland to Helebridge Basin, about 3.5 km from the sea, as far as the coastal barges could come; from here only the small tub boats went on inland. Turn round here and come back the same way. It is level all the way, with a short section on town pavements near the start.

5 mtop 11 m
  • Path 98%
  • Paved 2%
  • 2h at a steady pace (1h26 brisk, 2h41 relaxed)
  • Steep in places (up to 34%)

Trail data by Ghrups

Routes are traced from open map data. Check the tide times before you set off, and carry a proper map.

The lie of the land

Drag to look around · two fingers to tilt

Nearby

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