Storm Watching in Brixham: Berry Head, Not the Breakwater

Short answer: Berry Head is the place: a free nature reserve on high ground behind Napoleonic fort walls, with the length of Tor Bay in front of you. The breakwater is the obvious-looking spot and the wrong one.

Why Berry Head, and not the breakwater

Brixham's half-mile breakwater is a wonderful flat walk on a calm day and precisely the place not to be in a storm. It is an exposed structure built out into the bay and the waves come over it.

Berry Head gives you the same sea from high ground behind Napoleonic fort walls, which is both safer and a better view.

Where to watch from

Berry Head

A free nature reserve on the headland with its own car park, looking along the whole of Tor Bay. High, set back, and with walls to stand behind.

The harbour, from back

The working port with the fleet in. Stay off the quay edge and the breakwater.

Staying safe

• Do not go onto the breakwater. It is the obvious spot and the wrong one — waves come over it.
• Watch from Berry Head, on high ground behind the fort walls.
• Stay off the quay edge in the harbour.
• Never turn your back on the sea.
• Keep dogs on leads on the headland; the cliffs there are high and unfenced in places.

Worth repeating for Brixham specifically: the breakwater is the single most tempting and least sensible place to stand here in heavy weather.

When to go

An easterly driving straight into Tor Bay on a spring tide is what lights Brixham up, and it is less common than the prevailing westerlies — so when one is forecast, it is worth the trip.

Afterwards

The Guardhouse Café at Berry Head is rated as highly as the reserve it sits in. Down in town, the Prince William on the harbour has views over the fleet, and the Old Market House has plenty of indoor space.