Instow Beach

gteat beach for dogs to run and play not sutable for bathing ,

We use Instow beach all year round. Yes I’m a dog walker,  but when my grandchildren come to stay they love to play on the beach and in the water. Paddle boarding be there favourite activity with their parents.
Great icecream from the van on the
beach,which is locally made . Great all round
beach.

Yesterday, was taking my regular stroll along Instow beach. Usual flurry of dogs etc(some poo around). But what got my goat was 2 women and a small child, sat behind the roped off area opposite the pub and the child was merrily digging away. Surely they must know it is roped off for a reason.

Lovely place and beautiful. A great place for families to let their children play on the sand, providing your little ones don’t mind dogs running around freely. Which is odd as it seems to say on the internet that they are not allowed on the main section of beach there from May through to September. I guess the owners know best.

Lots of misinformation about instow beach reference water quality based on the fact that it used to fail it’s eu water quality directive testing as at low tide it is primarily river water where any agricultural run off would potentially make it less than desirable to drink. Which is why it was delisted as a bathing each so it wouldn’t keep being tested and failing… However, in reality the water quality is absolutely fine when it is sea water on an incoming tide and for approx an hour afterwards and is as clean as it would be at blue flag westward ho and Saunton. So please do not write off instow as purely a dog walking beach, it is a wonderful beach for everyone including families and those wishing to use for paddle sports and sailing.

The issue relates only to the fact that this is an estuary beach with a river running into it, as such when it used to be tested as part of the eu water quality monitoring, it failed which is why the parish council petitioned to the environment agency to declassify as a bathing beach so instow stopped being mentioned as failing.

Now however, unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding, sadly backed by a group of dog walkers who want instow to be exclusively used for dog walking. As mentioned on an incoming tide and when we are salt water, which is for the 3-4 hrs we operate it is as clean as blue flag beaches of westward ho and Saunton sands, it’s effectively the same water.

However, on the occasions where we have farmers may put crap into the fields a few time a year normally in spring and autumn, after heavy rain, then I would advise against drinking it at low tide.