Salcombe With a Toddler: What Actually Works

Short answer: Take the foot ferry to Mill Bay. It has golden sand, sheltered shallow water and a stream running beside it that keeps toddlers busy for hours, and it skips forty-five minutes of lanes and a full car park. The Victoria Inn is the pram-friendly pub.

The hills are the problem and the ferry is the answer

Salcombe is built up the side of an estuary. The streets run down to the water at a real gradient, the car parks sit above the beaches, and pushing a buggy around town is hard work. The single best decision you can make here is to park once and get on the ferry.

Mill Bay is the toddler beach

The passenger ferry from town takes a few minutes and drops you on golden sand at Mill Bay on the East Portlemouth side. It is sheltered estuary water — calm, shallow and comparatively warm, with no surf at all.

The stream running down beside the beach is the real attraction. Reviewers describe it as very child friendly and note the stream is sure to entertain children for a while, which understates it — running water and a bucket will occupy a two-year-old longer than the sea will.

Driving round instead means about forty-five minutes of single-track lanes and a National Trust car park that fills by eleven. The ferry is faster, cheaper and vastly less stressful.

On the town side

North Sands is the closest beach by road with a good café opposite and rock pools. It is small at high tide, so time it for a falling one. Remember the parking machine takes cash only and the signal for the app is poor — this catches people out constantly.

South Sands has clear shallow water that reviewers describe as great for all ages, plus the sea tractor and ferry link back into town. The lane down is very narrow and the car park fills before three.

Eating with a pram

The Victoria Inn on Fore Street is the one. Reviewers describe arriving with a young baby in a pram and their request to have it beside the table accommodated without problem, plus a spacious beer garden and children's meals. It is the family choice in Salcombe.

The Pantry Coffee House allows dogs and does gluten-free, but seats about seven people — treat it as a takeaway. The Ferry Inn's beer garden is down steps from street level.

What to skip

• Overbecks — steps-only in parts and the overflow parking is a mile and a half away.
• The coast path to Gara Rock — a five-mile loop and not pram ground.
• Coasteering, obviously, though the entry-level session suits ages eight and up later on.

Timing

Time the beach around a falling tide. Firm wet sand is far easier to push a buggy across than soft dry sand, and shallow pools left behind by the receding water are safer and warmer than the sea itself.