I am particularly fond of a corner of Sandymouth I have come to call The Paddling Pool; because although the pool concerned is not really ideal for paddling, it does invoke in me a memory of paddling pools of my childhood. The pool is backed by a mixture of pebble beach and smoothed grey sandstone beds which drop into the pool. The pool itself sits on the cusp of a shallow anticline of such rocks, that are sometimes hidden by sand but are usually exposed by the receding tides to some extent at least. Further from the cliff line there is a strange collection of water smoothed plinths, sitting in a large pool that does not drain at low tides. And there is also a trace of iron red in some of the stones there, over and above the naturally occurring iron oxides in the sandstones. I am guessing but I think there may be residual iron staining from a long lost wreck, just one f the many that have come to grief on this stretch of shoreline.
I like this place as much to myself as I can get it, so tend to reserve my visits to the 'off-season' months. But sometimes I just want to be back there. I have put up a short album illustrating a typical winter visit and my fascination with those smooth sandstones and the natural aesthetics of sea-arranged stones and sands.
The flickr album is called : winter beach; another from the same area is called last day of autumn
The weather plays no small part in this place: in the sea edge squall line flickr album the experience of those squalls weather adjusted the focus . . . 
I had almost overlooked the July day I sat around the paddling pool before walking on to Bude. I recall being fascinated (once again) by the entirely natural placement of pebbles on the smoothed sandstone cliff stumps . . .
The flickr album of this experience is called summer paddling pool
I can't always wait patiently for autumn, winter or spring. As well as my July paddling pool interval, I tried to avoid summer holiday makers by taking myself off to Stanbury and Rane Point, on the theory that absence of immediate access from a car park and the steepness of the route onto the beach would give me the best chance of solitude. I got my wish; there was just one couple who turned up to swim and sunbathe and they stayed on the Stanbury end of these two adjoining coves. From the visit I found more examples of this very particular smooth grey sandstone . . . The short flickr albums associated with this visit are called point of rayne, and stanbury —pictures taken at very low tide levels . . .
So: this page introduces a few more flickr albums of ideas that are similar in subject and/or place, founded on this wonderful grey sandstone that the sea smooths so wonderfully. The albums are but lately loaded, here in France –where I can get reasonable internet connection!
