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Shetland Beach Wins National Award

Earlier this year, Keep Scotland Beautiful called for beach users to review the nation’s 56 Seaside Award beaches online so that other visitors knew what to expect when they arrived. Now, the environmental charity has announced the public’s three favourite award beaches, revealing that St Ninian’s Ayre, a beach on the south western coast of mainland Shetland, has topped the poll.

St Ninian’s Ayre is in fact the UK’s largest active sand tombolo. It links the Shetland mainland with St Ninian’s Isle, where a treasure trove, believed to have been buried by priests at the time of the Viking invasion, was discovered in 1958. The beach received a third of the reviews submitted across Scotland and had an average rating of four out of five.

The runner-up was Coldingham Bay, in Berwickshire, but another Shetland beach – the beautiful Sands of Breckon in the north of the island of Yell – came in third, again scoring an average of four out of five and with over 20 reviews.

Donna Hegarty of Keep Scotland Beautiful explained that more than 150 people had reviewed beaches this year. She said: "It is clear that the Shetland beaches have this year captured the hearts of Scottish beach-goers and congratulations should be offered to the local communities and Shetland Islands Council, who both help to maintain these beaches."

Shetland’s coastline, which extends to a remarkable 1,697 miles, is hugely varied. Many sections feature dramatic cliffs, sometimes with caves, stacks, arches and blowholes. Elsewhere, though, there is a wide range of beaches, including a number of very beautiful stretches of sand. However, there’s great variety: at one cove (or geo, in Shetland dialect) on the island of Unst, the shore has a unique covering of smooth black, grey or green serpentine pebbles.

Published: 06/10/2010

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