Burnham-on-Sea

Burnham-on-Sea is a seaside town on Bridgwater Bay, where the River Parrett flows into the Bristol Channel. The built-up area had 16,320 people at the 2021 census, large enough to feel like a proper town and small enough that the sea is never far from any street.

The beach is the reason to come. The town is known for its beach and mudflats, and the seafront has a short pier. This is not a shoreline of clear water and rock pools: the Bristol Channel has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world, up to about 11 m, so the sea comes and goes a long way each day. Check the tide before planning a beach afternoon, and treat the mudflats with respect.

The town’s best-known landmark is the Low Lighthouse, which stands on nine wooden piers on the beach. It was built two years after the High Lighthouse, and the pair are an easy first walk from the seafront. On the Esplanade there are also listed buildings to look at, including number 44, known as Steart House.

In the south-west of the town, north of the River Brue, is Apex Park, a lakeside park with a woodland walk and a play area. Bridgwater Bay and the Parrett estuary are on the doorstep. In November the town hosts the Burnham-on-Sea Carnival, the second procession of the Somerset Guy Fawkes carnival circuit, provisionally on Monday 9 November 2026 from 7.30pm.