An interactive map shows the country's best-managed beaches with the cleanest water, perfect places for a dip ahead of the start of the summer.
After a fairly miserable April and relatively cool May, it seems the late spring weather is finally readying the country for the start of summer next month.
Long spells of sunshine are forecast this Bank Holiday weekend, while the mercury will creep up towards the mid-20s in parts of the country during half term.
If you are brave enough to be among the millions of Brits hitting the roads over the coming week, or fancy a train or bicycle ride to the coast, then finding a good place for a dip is a priority.
While many of the UK's beaches are regularly deluged with disgusting overflow from the nation's creaking sewage system, there are some coastal spots that are both beautiful and clean.
If you fancy getting some sand between your toes, then why not head to one of the 77 beaches in England, or 25 in Wales which have been awarded the coveted Blue Flag this year.
Blue Flag is an international award presented to well-managed beaches with excellent water quality that serves as a good guide for coastal destinations with clean water.
You can use our interactive map to find the nearest ones near you, or to see if the beach you’re planning to head to has won the award.
One particularly nice Blue Flag beach is West Wittering in Sussex, which is hidden halfway between Portsmouth and Bognor Regis on the famously sunny south coast of England.
The beach is known in certain circles for its clean waters and sands, as well the the 20-acre expanse of grasses and waterbeds which sits behind it.
Nature enthusiasts can see all manner of colourful butterflies and birds resting in and and flying between the wetlands' plants, while also taking a minute to rest on the dramatic sand dunes.
Once you've found the right beach for you but before you've put your swimmers on in preparation, it is definitely worth checking whether there have been any sewage dumps in the nearby area.
Campaign group Surfers Against Sewage has a great tool on its website which highlights live pollution warnings across 400 river and coastal spots.
Unfortunately the water quality situation has become so bad in the UK that even some beaches handed the prestigious Blue Flag award have seen their waters swamped with human waste in recent years.
In 2022 water companies in England dumped sewage into England’s Blue Flag beaches 1,504 times, lasting 8,497 hours, the Mirror reported in April.
The worst incident was on Blackpool Sands beach in Stoke Fleming, Devon, where sewage was discharged for 1,014 hours last year during 63 separate sewage dumps onto the beach.
Devon’s Meadfoot beach in Torquay, Sidmouth town and Exmouth were also in the top five worst places for spills per hour.
You can also check out the Mirror's other interactive beach map, which lets you type in your postcode to find beaches near you where pollution levels have reached the point where swimming could become dangerous.
Not only does it tell you if getting in the water in those spots is advised against, it lets you know if it has lost its Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs designated swimming zone status.
There are are a number of beaches highlighted which people should look to avoid as the water quality was so poor, including popular spots such as Blackpool North and Weston-super-Mare, as well as the River Wharfe in Ilkley.
