A seaswim, or a rooftop tipple – this summer in and around London

As the UK plunges on through an uncharacteristic heatwave, we thought now might be a good time to point to a piece outlining all the great beaches within a couple of hours’ drive of London.

We spotted this over on Condé Nast Traveller – it lists a host of them. Here we highlight just a few.

That’s for if you tire of the capital – if not, we saw another cool article, also on Condé Nast Traveller, lining up the best rooftop bars in London…

Something for everyone. Or something for you on different days.

Beautiful beaches

‘We don’t usually associate Britain’s south-east shores with beautiful beaches – but they can be found, if you know where to look’, starts the Condé Nast Traveller piece.

In Sussex, among others, it picks out: Fairlight Glen, Covehurst, Hastings – ‘a secret rock-and-sand cove’ – and Cuckmere Haven, Seaford – ‘one of the wildest beaches on the south coast, with superb views of the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs’.

Or West Dunes, at Camber Sands – ‘great expanses of soft sand and dunes’ – and East Head at West Wittering, Chichester – ‘one of the most beautiful beaches on the south coast’.

In Kent, it selects Botany Bay at Broadstairs – ‘a splendid, undeveloped sandy beach with white cliffs and sea caves’ – and Lydden Spout, Dover – a ‘remote beach’ hidden beneath cliffs.

Or Mersea Stone, East Mersea, in Essex – ‘where some of the world’s finest oysters have been harvested since Roman times’ – or the atmospheric St Peter on the Wall, Bradwell – home to ‘one of England’s most remote and ancient churches’, and where ‘sky melts to sea, the sea to salthings, and the saltings into shingly shores’.

Even closer to London, what about Pangbourne Meadows, River Thames, Berkshire: ‘heart of Wind in the Willows land’?

Rooftop refreshments

There are plenty more suggestions – see the piece in full over on Condé Nast Traveller.

And when you’re not beachfaring, how about a refreshing tipple on a London rooftop – be that Alto by San Carlo st Selfridges, Netil360, Hackney, or Frank’s Cafe, Peckham.

Check them all out – and many more – over here, in Condé Nast Traveller.

Have a great, sizzling, summer stay in London…