Crackington Haven is on the north coast of Cornwall, at the bottom of a steep sided, gorse-clad valley, the hamlet grew up round a small bathing cove. Crackington Haven is protecrted by the towering cliffs, so the beach could be used to launch fishing boats. Much of the area is owned by the National Trust who own most of the cliff and adjacent farm land.
Happily Crackington Haven bay has not been developed over the years. The beach is entirely pebble, well more large stones rounded by the Atlantic breakers. Probably the fact that beach was not sand has saved it from masses of houses.
There are couple of beach shops, a public house with excellent restaurant and a hotel, and a few houses. In recent years TV gardening programmes extoling the virtues of the wonderfully shaped rounded stones on the beach, have resulted in a local bye-law now forbidding the removal of stones.
Strangles Beach is overlooked by High Cliff, at 731 feet the highest sea cliff in Cornwall. These cliffs are covered in loose stones and can be very dangerous. Thomas Hardy and his first wife Emma used to walk here.