Short answer: Braunton works in winter because the Tarka Trail is surfaced and usable year round and Saunton Sands allows dogs all year on three miles of firm sand. Braunton Burrows is the one that changes — it floods in winter and has no facilities.
The Tarka Trail is surfaced, flat and traffic-free, which makes it one of the few north Devon walks that is as good in January as in July. Saunton Sands is three miles of firm sand with dogs allowed all year — in winter you will often have most of it.
Braunton Burrows is a UNESCO biosphere reserve and it is remarkable, but it floods in winter and there are no toilets or facilities. The D-Day training relics in the dunes are still there; getting to them in February is a wetter and less pleasant proposition than the guidebooks imply.
Saunton is fully exposed to the Atlantic and a winter swell here is worth seeing. Watch from the car park and the path above rather than from the sand, and do not turn your back on it. This coast gets the weather before the rest of Devon does.
The toll road is cash only, there are no toilets, and it is remote. In winter that combination is less charming than it sounds. The wrecks at low tide are the reason to go, so if you do, pick a settled day and a low tide.
Braunton's parking is cheaper than Croyde's, it is ten minutes from Saunton, and it is a working village rather than a holiday one — which means things stay open when the resort villages shut. That is the argument for it out of season.
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