A small cove that the tide governs
The one thing to know about Counsellors’ Strand is the tide. This is a small, sheltered sandy cove on the eastern side of Dunmore East, and at high water the sea comes right in and covers most of the sand. Time a visit for a falling tide and you get the full beach, plus the bonus that it joins Lawlor’s Beach, the village’s other cove, into one continuous run of sand. Arrive at high tide and there is barely a beach to sit on. Check the tide tables before you load the car.
It is a proper sun-trap when conditions suit: the cove is ringed by red sandstone cliffs, folded and tilted in a way that is easy to read in the rock, and those cliffs both shelter the water and hold seabird colonies. The water is sheltered enough for swimming and clear enough for snorkelling around the rocks. It carries a Blue Flag, An Taisce’s mark for water quality and beach management, one of five in County Waterford.
Getting down to the sand
Access is the catch. The free car park sits up on the cliff top, and the only way down is a steep slipway. There is no wheelchair or buggy route to the beach, and the slope is slick when it is wet or sanded over, so take it carefully. The upside of that cliff-top position is the view: you get the whole cove and the harbour laid out before you start down.
Lifeguards patrol through the bathing season, from June to the end of August. Outside those months there is no cover, and the tide deserves the same respect either way. If the strand has filled at high water, there is a knock-on option: at low tide it can also be reached from the adjacent Dunmore Strand.
Walk, dogs and facilities
A cliff-top path runs from near the beach along the headland, with open sea views, and links into the wider Dunmore East coastal walk. It is the obvious thing to do when the tide is in and the sand is under water. The path runs close to the cliff edge in places, so keep children and dogs in hand.
There are toilets by the car park and a bar with a terrace looking over the cove. On dogs: as a Blue Flag beach, they are not allowed on the sand during the bathing season, June to August, but are fine outside those months; keep them on the lead around the car park and slipway.
Around Dunmore East
The strand is a short walk from Dunmore East’s working harbour, still busy with fishing and leisure boats, where the pubs and restaurants along the front trade on the local catch. The village sits about 15km south-east of Waterford city and is signposted on the approach, so it is an easy half-day from the city or a stop on a longer run down the Waterford coast.