[Even when it’s raining and the flood gates are opened, because you can get a warning to stay away! – Owl]

Devon is known for it’s stunning coastlines and beautiful beaches. Many of those beaches are now proud owners of the prestigious Blue Flag, an internationally recognised award for beaches and marinas.

www.devonlive.com (Extract)

The Blue Flag is only presented to well-managed beaches with high standards of cleanliness, safety and environmental management. Oddicombe in Torbay has scooped the award every year for 36 years, making it one of the best beaches in the world.

Elsewhere Seaton has retained the Blue Flag it won for the first time last year. Exmouth has now won the accolade for the fifth year in a row, while this is the fourth year for Sidmouth.

Beer features in the list this year, having not made the cut in 2022.

[Budleigh only gets the “seaside award” – see below]

 Blue Flag Water Quality criteria

• The beach must fully comply with the water quality sampling and frequency requirements
• The beach must fully comply with the standards and requirements for water quality analysis
• No industrial, waste-water or sewage-related discharges should affect the beach area
• The beach must achieve ‘excellent’ water quality as set out in the Bathing Water Directive.  

Seaside Award Water Quality criteria

• The beach must fully comply with the water quality sampling and frequency requirements 
• The beach must fully comply with the standards and requirements for water quality analysis  
• No industrial, waste-water or sewage-related discharges should affect the beach area 
• At designated bathing waters from 2016 the water quality should be graded as ‘sufficient’ as set out in the Bathing Water Directive. (In 2015, bathing beaches should of mandatory standard.) 

So the difference lies in water quality: “excellent” versus “sufficient”.