The full guide
Read straight through, or use the planning notes above to shape an easier coastal day.
Lifeguard cover changes by beach and season. Check the RNLI's current patrol dates before travelling, then follow local signs, flags and lifeguard advice on the day. Do not rely on a previous year's timetable.
Sharrow is one of the string of sandy coves that make up Whitsand Bay, the long, cliff-backed sweep on Cornwall’s south-east coast between Looe and Plymouth. Reached by steep paths down from the clifftop, it sits beneath Sharrow Point, and at low tide its sand merges with the neighbouring coves to form a near-continuous run of beach below the cliffs.
What sets Sharrow apart is the Sharrow Grot, a curious chamber cut by hand into the soft rock of the headland by a retired seafarer in the late eighteenth century, complete with a stone bench and inscriptions carved into the walls. Now in the care of the National Trust, it is one of the bay’s most intriguing features and a destination in its own right for walkers exploring this stretch of coast.
The cove rewards those who make the effort of the descent with a quieter, wilder feel than the better-known beaches further west. It is a place for walking the tideline, poking about the rocks and grot, and taking in the wide sweep of Whitsand Bay, rather than for easy amenities.
Common questions
- Where is Sharrow Beach?
- Sharrow Beach is on Whitsand Bay on the south-east Cornwall coast, set among the bay's chain of sandy coves below steep cliffs, between Looe and Plymouth.
- What is Sharrow Beach known for?
- It is known as one of Whitsand Bay's sandy coves and for the Sharrow Grot, a cave hewn into the cliff in 1784 (by James Lugger, a retired naval purser); at low tide its sands link up with neighbouring beaches.
- What's the nearest town to Sharrow Beach?
- It lies in south-east Cornwall between Looe and Plymouth; Torpoint and Looe are the nearest towns, reached by the lanes that wind down to Whitsand Bay.
