St Helens Beach
St Helens beach is located on the North side of the entrance to Bembridge Harbour. It is a fine, sandy beach popular with families as it is ideal for children with a mixture of soft sand and rock pools for crabbing. The shallow water has little tidal flow but watch should be kept for the boats coming in and out of Bembridge Harbour.
The beach has a cafe and toilets and many permanent beach huts and some old converted railway carriages used as bases for local families when they come to the beach for the day.
Behind the beach is a large grassy area known as the Duver, which are the remain of an old golf club. This is the home of lots of interesting plants and wildlife and is ideal for quiet relaxation.
Just offshore lies St Helens Fort, which was build as a defence against the French. Once a year, on a very low tide, locals walk out around the fort and back again.
At the northern end of the beach are the remains of St Helens Church, most of which fell into the sea in 1550. The remaining wall has been whitewashed and is used as a sea mark.
