Domestic staycations will likely be on the cards for many British holidaymakers this year as international travel remains limited due to the coronavirus pandemic.
And – as the bank holiday weekend proved – there is nothing quite like flocking to the beach on a sunny day.
But some coastal trips can be marred by smelly seawater that leads you to question what might be in it.
Researchers for comparison company Save on Energy have analysed government water quality data for 546 beaches across England, Wales and Scotland to draw up a list of the cleanest and dirtiest beaches in Britain.
Their rankings are based on levels of E. Coli and Intestinal Enterococci – both faecal indicators – detected in the seawater during routine government testing in 2019.
Analysts found that Britain's joint best beaches for clean water were Sharrow and Gyllyngvase in Cornwall, which both scored the lowest for levels of the bacteria.
In second place was Silver Bay Rhoscolyn on the Isle of Anglesey, with two more Cornish beaches – Gwynver and Fistral South – coming in at joint third.
At the other end of the scale was the harbour beach at Kinghorn in Fife, which ranked in last place for seawater quality out of the 546 beaches sampled.
Scotland was also home to the second and third dirtiest beaches for E. Coli and Intestinal Enterococci detected in the ocean, with Strathclyde's Heads of Ayr and the south beach at Ayr respectively.
Beaches in Northern Ireland were omitted from the study as no comparable data was available.
Best beaches in England, Wales and Scotland for clean water
1=) Sharrow, Cornwall
1=) Gyllyngvase, Cornwall
2) Silver Bay Rhoscolyn, Anglesey
3=) Gwynver, Cornwall
3=) Fistral South, Cornwall
4) Booby's Bay, Cornwall
5) Poole Shore Road Beach, Dorset
6) Warkworth, Northumberland
7=) Shell Bay North, Dorset
7=) Widemouth Sand, Cornwall
8) Marloes Sands, Pembrokeshire
9) Poole Sandbanks Peninsular, Dorset
10) Porthcurno, Cornwall
Worst beaches in England, Wales and Scotland for clean water
1) Kinghorn (harbour beach), Fife
2) Heads of Ayr, Strathclyde
3) Ayr (south beach), Strathclyde
4) Fisherrow Sands, East Lothian
5) Rhyl, Denbighshire
6) Eyemouth, Berwickshire
7) Troon (south beach), Strathclyde
8) Southwold The Denes, East Suffolk
9) Combe Martin, Devon
10) Rockcliffe, Dumfries and Galloway
The full findings can be found on the Save on Energy website.
