Short answer: Budleigh's beach is large smooth pebbles, and in a swell the sound of them moving is the thing people remember. Watch from the paved promenade — wet pebbles underfoot are treacherous.
The sound. Budleigh's beach is a steep bank of large smooth pebbles, and when a swell drags them back the noise is extraordinary — a deep grinding roar you feel as much as hear. It is a different experience from watching water hit sand.
Not a formality here. Wet pebbles are treacherous underfoot at the best of times, the beach shelves steeply, and in a swell the stones move under you. There is a paved promenade behind the beach and that is where to stand.
Paved, level, set back from the water, running the length of the beach.
Faces west and takes the weather most directly. The best of it on a big day.
Quieter, with the river meeting the sea — a different kind of show.
The red cliffs along this coast are actively unstable and winter rain makes rock falls more likely, not less. Keep well away from the cliff base wherever it is signed.
L'image Cafe & Bazaar is in an old building with a fireplace, which is the right idea after an hour in the wind. The Salterton Arms is the town pub, tucked off the main street and properly sheltered.
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