Sharrow Beach

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.