Praa Sands

Praa Sands (pronounced 'pray') is about a mile of fine, shell-based sand on Cornwall's south coast, just off the A394 between Penzance and Helston. It faces south into Mount's Bay, sits inside the Cornwall National Landscape, and is backed by grass-topped dunes with headlands at each end. Because it faces the opposite way to the north coast, it's the beach many surfers head for when northerly winds have blown the north-coast breaks out.

Most people arrive at the western end, where the car parks, a café, a general store and a slipway give an easy, level route onto the sand. Walk east towards Hendra and it gets noticeably quieter. Erosion has exposed a thin layer of peat around 2,000 years old that was once buried under the dunes, which is why the beach is listed as a regionally important geological site. A wartime pillbox has slipped from the cliff onto the sand.

There's history behind the beach too. A memorial on the green remembers the damaged Sunderland flying boat beached here in 1943, when villagers helped its crew ashore. The South West Coast Path runs along the back of the beach, east to Rinsey Head and west towards Marazion and St Michael's Mount, so it's easy to mix a surf with a walk. Basking sharks, seals and dolphins are occasionally seen offshore.