Naturist / Nudist Beaches in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland
St. Osyth - near Clacton-on-Sea
Essex
Shingle. Not the prettiest beach, but very popular due to location. See trip reports.
Located a little to the west of Clacton in Essex, St. Osyth derives its name from the dedication of a local priory to a 7th century princess - Osgyth - who was martryed there. The St. Osyth naturist beach is on the North Sea coast (but south facing) and is just to the east of the Colne estuary.
Getting There
Satnav: CO16 8SB, Google Map
St. Osyth lies south of the B1027 road from Colchester to Clacton-on-Sea. Proceeding from Clacton, go west on the B1027 from its junction with the A133 for just over two miles and take a minor road on the left signposted 'St. Osyth'. Head due south from St Osyth - Beach Road and to the end of the road in Hutley's Caravan Park. This reaches a dead end at the seawall with a car park pub and cafe just on the left.
From there go over sea wall on to the beach (or through gate in wall during day time), turn right (west) and walk one mile to reach the naturist beach - slow and rather difficult walking on the small shingle.
The dirt road which used to give access to the beach is no longer in existence, having been destroyed by storms in the winter of 2003-4.
In reply to an enquiry about the future of the road Alan Hutley [from the nearby caravan park] said: " To rebuild the road we would have to retreat further back on to the saltings, this we are not allowed to touch, as it is an area of S.S.S.I. [Site of Special Scientific Interest]. To replace the road in its original place would only be temporary until the next rough high tide takes it away again. We would love to have the road again, but we have known for along time that one day we would lose the road, the only surprise was, that it did not occur sooner ."
Public Transport - Rail
The nearest station is Clacton on Sea served by an hourly service form London Liverpool Street
Public Transport - Buses
'First' service number 19 operates Mondays to Saturdays from Clacton on Sea (Pier Ave.) to St Osyth Beach starting in early July and running to late September.
Services 10, 11 and 12 from Clacton on Sea (Pier Ave.) to Jaywick (Tower Camp) operate all year round. It's then a 15 min walk along the sea wall. "This can be quicker that service 19 - and cheaper!"
Services 10 and 11 stop adjacent to the railway station.
Bus timetables can be found HERE
Description
St Osyth beach is on the north shore of the Colne branch of the Blackwater estuary. The shoreline is sand or shingle in some parts, tending to estuary mud in others. Bathing at nearby Brightlingsea is said to be dangerous - as is the case in many estuaries, so caution is required. The far end of the naturist beach is fenced off and is a "Nature Reserve" and "Private Property". To the north of the beach lie marshes and dykes.
The coastal erosion which destroyed the approach road is also reducing the beach.
The first part of the naturist area you come to tends to be used by families, the next part by males, and the final part is best avoided.
Be Aware
In recent years, there have been increasing reports of inappropriate behaviour by some beach users at St Osyth - see comments below. Naturists are advised to take care when deciding which section of the beach to use, some regular beach users recommend staying away from the further end of the beach.
[Inappropriate] activity threatens the continued existence of naturist beaches, please help to maintain proper standards of behaviour.
Facilities
None on the beach itself - but St Osyth Beach has a parade of shops on Beach Road (about 400 yards before the entrance to the beach) including cafe, grocery, newsagent, off-licence, bookmakers and toilets. This is also the bus terminus.
Toilets are located at the entrance to the beach between the amusements and the Sailor Boy public house. There are also shops and amusements in Seaview Road.
This Page Compiled With Help From Hughie S.
Map
Comments
Please leave a comment via the email address below. (Facebook comments no longer work in Europe, incl. the UK)
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Jun-18
Love going there.
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Jun-16
Does anybody know if the naturist beach is it either to the left of the shops or to the right where the wall is.
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May-16
The Walk from St Osyth Beach Grd 130 090, Sandy Point, Is Great,But "Watch The Tide" The Wild Life is Cool!!!
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Aug-15
I called in the other day whilst in the area on business, iniially just for a recce, given previous adverse comments about unsavoury behaviour, but also because it was raining.
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Jul-14
Wouldn't it be great if the council employed a warden to patrol the beach to make sure inappropriate behaviour is eradicated such as people wearing wigs, dresses etc and brought it back in line as what it is supposed to be a naturist beach .use it properly or lose it .
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George & SueJul-12
sadly this beach has been taken over by [redacted] our visit this weekend was probably our last. [redacted] aboslutly disgusting behaviour,i just wondered what made him think it was acceptable to behave in such a manner.
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alMay-12
Quoting Richard: Not the best beach the wife and I have been to but still worth while visiting if you're in the area. Take a beach-tent or wind-break [for privacy]. I will always remember the funniest sight ever on a nuddy beach - a blond lady with a good figure, plodding her way through the shallow dunes trying not to spill any of the refreshments on her t-tray. She was totally nude, wearing nothing but bright red high heels! thats dedication Rich. The thing about the [redacted] is that people like myself are mistaken for them when alone. A friendly smile and a "Hi" is usually met with a frosty glance. But ya,ignore them
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RichardMay-12
Not the best beach the wife and I have been to but still worth while visiting if you're in the area. Take a beach-tent or wind-break [for privacy]. I will always remember the funniest sight ever on a nuddy beach - a blond lady with a good figure, plodding her way through the shallow dunes trying not to spill any of the refreshments on her t-tray. She was totally nude, wearing nothing but bright red high heels!
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alMay-12
i love going there but [redacted] Out of the wind you can catch a great colour there.Lovely. Perhaps some form of police patrols would deter the [redacted]. Also,the jet skiers need to be reigned in before someone get killed. Way too close to the shore.
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John HAug-11
We stayed at the Hurleys caravan site with our own tourer - very nice facilities and peaceful but wonder what it will be like in school holidays. Visited the naturist beach most days (pleanty to do in the area on cloudy ones) and got stripped off not too far from the car park. A few couples and single guys, none of which were a nuicance and we made several new friends. On exploring the atmosphere does change with obvious signs of [redacted] but nothing intrusive and confined to the further end of the beach. Maybe we were just lucky but given that we went most days I think not. My wife at no time felt uncomfortable and we will certainly be back.
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BeachcomberJul-11
Quoting Hughie S:To add to the updated info can anyone who has been down this year advise if Alan's shop is back at the beach entrance. When I took the photos in March most of the area it stood on had been washed away. As at 01/07/2011, there are a couple of shops there, selling beach paraphenalia and ice cream.
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Tom SawyerJun-11
After clambering over the rocks and pebbles we started walking towards the naturist section. After stripping off we went all the way to the end of the beach where it becomes a no entry nature reserve. Turning back we walked along the beach passing a guy in the dunes with a ladies wig on, venturing on further still we came across a elderly gentleman sporting a rather fetching flowery frock, we later when leaving saw another guy wearing a ballet tu tu. Being opened minded it didnt bother us..but for gawd sake the temperature was hitting 80 degrees in the shade. Anyway we ventured on found a spot and settled down. Around 1pm the beach tends to fill up with the wrong sort of people and luckily we had to leave anyway. We thought naturist beaches were for taking everything off rather than dressing up and putting everything on. We had a good chuckle and despite all this we will still be going again
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ShaunCJun-11
Visited St Osyth 27th June late afternoon and 28th midday, lovely weather, well at least for a short while. Plenty of mixed nudists all enjoying the best of British summer between the showers. No problems evident at all, very pleasant.
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big boyJun-11
went to the beach today there was only about 5 other people there all male has everyone been scared off by the actions of some [redacted] such a shame as i had a really nice day
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Inappropriate behaviour
The beach descriptions originally came from the closed NUFF website.
Thanks to its authors.