Beaches in County Down

Six stretches of sand, and they sit at opposite ends of the county. Three of them face the Mournes from the south. Cranfield is the most southerly beach in Northern Ireland, a Blue Flag arc of sand and shingle at the mouth of Carlingford Lough with the 1824 Haulbowline Lighthouse offshore. Tyrella is two flat kilometres at the head of Dundrum Bay, backed by 25 hectares of protected dunes, with St John’s Point lighthouse coming into view if you walk west to east. Ballykinler, further along the Lecale coast, is really a walk rather than a beach day: the Lecale Way is the reason to go.

The other three belong to Belfast Lough and the Ards shore, and they are the easy ones. Helen’s Bay is backed by the woods and meadows of Crawfordsburn Country Park, with the coastal path running on to the Edwardian guns of Grey Point Fort. Ballyholme gives 1.3 km of sand and promenade on the eastern edge of Bangor, with the yacht club at the western end. Millisle Beach Park has the tidal lagoon that refills with clean seawater on every high tide, which is why it is the one to pick with toddlers.

Two practical notes. Cranfield lends all-terrain wheelchairs and mobility aids free through the Mae Murray Foundation. Tyrella is the only beach here with summer lifeguards, and Millisle has none at all.