Bigbury-on-Sea is a village in the

South Hams South Hams is a non-metropolitan district, local government district on the south coast of Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Totnes, although the largest town is Ivybridge. The district also contains the towns of Dartmouth, ...

district on the south coast of

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England. It is part of the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Bigbury which is centred on a small village of that name about a mile inland. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 564, which was slightly more than the 500 recorded at the 2011 census. Bigbury-on-Sea village is on the coast above the largest sandy beach in South Devon facing south to Bigbury Bay. The tidal island of

Burgh Island Burgh Island is a tidal island on the coast of South Devon in England near the small seaside village of Bigbury-on-Sea. There are several buildings on the island, the largest being the Art Deco Burgh Island Hotel. The other buildings are thre ...

lies about offshore. At the start of the 20th century Bigbury-on-Sea consisted of a few fishermen's cottages with fish cellars. The village grew with the growth in holidaymaking and now has a beach cafe, and by the mainland side of causeway is the Burgh Island Causeway resort built in 1998 replacing the burnt out fishermen's cottages after a controversial planning application. The resort is made up of privately owned and holiday let flats and a private leisure club with indoor pool and gym. The Devon Coastal Path runs behind the resort. The large sandy beach is very popular for wave and wind based water sports, but it lost its

Blue Flag beach The Blue Flag is a certification by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) that a beach, marina, or sustainable boating tourism operator meets its standards. The Blue Flag is a trademark owned by FEE, which is a Not-for-profit organi ...

status in 2012 due to water quality issues. There are two large car parks with easy access to the beaches and the walk across the sand bar to Burgh Island with its Art Deco Hotel and Pilchard Inn. When the tide covers the sand bar access is by the sea tractor. As of March 2020, 63% of properties in the village were holiday-lets or second homes.

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{{commons category-inline, Bigbury-on-Sea Villages in South Hams Beaches of Devon Populated coastal places in Devon Seaside resorts in England