Sandyhills
Sandyhills has a large sandy beach which gently slopes so the water is always shallow. It is a great favourite with families. The Sandyhills Bay Caravan park has a shop open during the season and operates a large car park. There is a proposal to enlarge the Caravan Site at Sandyhills which is creating some controversy. Those opposed to this development have created a website and you can view it here.
Barend Holiday Village is only a few hundred yards from the beach and has lodges to rent, and within the complex, the family owned and dog friendly Beagle Country Pub. Just up the road from Sandyhills towards Colvend is the Colvend Golf Club where visitors are always welcome.
Sandyhills is served by the 372 bus from Dumfries or Dalbeattie. Click here for all the local bus timetables and scroll down for the 372 service.
At low tide, the base of the towering cliffs further west can be explored and include the tall narrow rock arch known as Needles Eye after its distinctive shape. Next to it is Piper’s Cave, a natural cave extended by copper mining and reputed to be haunted by a man who entered playing bagpipes and has never returned. Taking note of the tides, you can walk as far as Portling. There is a magnificent walk from Sandyhills right along the coast to Kippford. It is possible to walk one way and catch the bus back. There is a description of the walk on a blog by a lady who gives a full description of this walk done in April 2017.
You cannot fail to notice the wooden structure out in the bay. This was a practice target for training aimers and air gunners based at the Dumfries airfield during World War II. There were spotting cabins built on the top of the cliffs at the side of the coast road where the accuracy of the bombing run could be observed by staff from the training school. The target was never destroyed as all the bombs dropped were small practice bombs which broke open and emitted smoke when they struck – there were no explosions. This information is taken from the Solway Military trail website. You are strongly advised not to walk out to the target due to the tides.
