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I’ve been wanting to visit Beer Head Bistro for ages – I caught sight of a photo of the bistro’s quite frankly ridiculously gorgeous views on Facebook and it’s been on my ‘I really want to go there’ list ever since.
I’d describe this place as Beer’s best kept secret in the way of a cool, family friendly place to eat - it's off the main drag away from the crowds yet benefits from one of the best views in town - but many may not realise it's open to the public as it's located on a caravan park.
Beer, if you haven’t been, is a beautiful little fishing village sandwiched between Seaton and Sidmouth – it has a little stream running down the side of the main street, lots of pubs, ice cream shops, cafes and shops, and a picture-perfect pebbly beach complete with working fishing boats on the shore.
There’s also a simple playground just at the top of the steep, short hill that takes you down to the beach, which has to occupy one of the best spots for a play area in the whole of the UK. It’s somewhere you could push your kids on the swings while you look out to sea and enjoy the view – only a few swings and a slide though so not much for older kids.
Anyway, back to today’s topic – we ventured out in the afternoon to have a quick swim in the sea (translation, I spent the whole half an hour with my heart in my mouth because Beer beach shelves steeply, my kids can’t swim (but like to think they can) and it was quite wavy so I was on strict lifeguard watch), and seeing as it was a warm August Friday it seemed only fitting to finish the week off with pizza for tea.
I rang Beer Head Bistro, which by the way is situated on Beer Head caravan and camping site just up the road from the large field car park on the cliff edge (I’ll drop a map at the bottom of this post if you don’t know the area) and was advised that the dinner menu is available from 5pm. Perfect – I don’t like having to wait until 6pm with the kids as by that time they’re often past it.
You can’t book tables outside the bistro, it’s first come first served, so we were first in for first orders at 5pm – there were plenty of outdoor tables (with parasols for shade) available. The kids ran around the little garden area high on sugar (we may have bribed them away from the beach with a couple of Maoams), disturbing the peace but enjoying the fresh air until our food arrived.
Thankfully the pizzas came out super quickly and were bloody lovely (sorry, can’t think of a better description), freshly cooked to order from the pizza oven (hence ‘proper pizza’ in the title!) and big enough to share two between the four of us, which made the bill including drinks and obligatory pot of pork scratchings for Andy a very reasonable £26 – not bad for a family dinner out.
The menu is simple but tasty and they have a fully stocked bar too for grown-ups!
The bistro's appearance is deceiving when you approach it as it's built into the back of the site’s convenience shop, but when you walk around to the back of the shop (which faces out to sea) you can see the bistro’s recently had a stylish facelift inside and out.
It has casual, fun beach shack vibes complete with Hawaiian parasols and neon visors to be worn in place of an order number on a stick; with picnic bench style seating outside enjoying the amazing views and cosy, quirky décor inside – it’s bigger than it looks!
I was pleased to discover this is also a place to come for breakfast, lunch and cream teas – somewhere you can go to avoid the tourist crowds in the height of summer, and I bet it’d be a cool place to cosy up in autumn too (I can imagine storm watching here with a hot choc), somewhere a bit off the beaten track.
Inside there’s a good selection of board games and things to keep everyone entertained on not such a nice day, and as it’s situated on a family holiday park it’s very much a family-friendly venue.
There's ample free parking on-site though you could park elsewhere in the village (there's 2 hours free parking on the main high street if you're lucky enough to get a space) and walk up the hill and through the caravan site if you wanted to work up a bit of an appetite. The loos were in a separate block just a 30 second walk from the bistro garden.
Beer Head Bistro is open seven days a week throughout April – November serving breakfast, lunch, cream teas and dinner – check their Facebook page or give them a ring (contact details in pic below) to check current opening hours.
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