Priory Bay
Priory Bay
Priory Bay is a long sweeping bay on the North Eastern Corner of the Island, to the South is St. Helens and the North Seaview. The Beach is privately owned belonging to the Priory Bay Hotel which is currently undergoing redevelopment, however public access is allowed. It can be a difficult location to access as at high tide it can be cut off rom both the south and north due to the headlands between it and the neighbouring bays. It is always possible to access the bay via a public footpath that runs through the woods behind the bay, and there are steps down onto the beach.
A Summer morning at Priory Bay
Getting there:
A Summer Morning at Priory Bay.
There is no direct access to the bay so you need to access it from either St. Helens where there is parking on the esplanade, or from Seagrove Bay. St. Helens is the easier access and allows access to the Southern end of the bay.
From Ryde take the A3055 towards Sandown, past the roundabout with the large Tesco superstore on the road enters a wooded area, on exiting the wooded area there is a set of traffic lights. Turn left onto the B3330 Carpenters Road which takes you into the village of St. Helens. Once in the village stay on the same road by going straight on at the mini roundabout, and passing the village green. Just past the village green the road bends round sharply to the left and there is a road on your right. Turn right into this road and once past the traffic lights the road drops down hill. At the bottom of the hill turn left and there is pay and display parking on the seafront. If you are a National Trust member there is a National Trust car park on The Duver. Don’t turn left at the bottom of the hill, instead stay on the first road until you see the sign for the NT car park.
Once parked you need to walk along the beach to the right of the car park until you round a headland and enter Priory Bay. Beach access is only possible at low tide, otherwise you will need to follow the public footpath through the woods and use the steps to access the beach.
What to Shoot:
Ripples in the sand at low tide at Priory Bay
The Bay itself is a lovely sandy beach with a wooded backdrop. At low tide there can be interesting ripples and shapes in the beach left by the receding tide. On a low Springs Tide there will also be sand bars revealed which can offer interesting perspectives looking back to the main beach across large pools of water, just be careful to keep an eye on the tide times as it can come in quite quickly once it turns.
On the beach itself there are several options, on the northern end of the beach before the headland round to Seagrove Bay there is an area of large rocks which can form interesting subjects for images, especially if there is water moving around the rocks for some seascape photography, or they can provide interesting foreground to the view along the bay.
There are two wooden boat houses on the edge of the beach with the woods behind which can be used as a foreground subject with the bay falling away in either direction.
It is also possible to get an interesting perspective of the bay from climbing the steps up into the woods and shooting back across the bay from the steps, in summer there are nice wild flowers on either side of the stairs too. Once in the woods it is possible to find openings in the tree line that can be used to frame the bay.
Other Options:
Heading north its possible to walk round to Seagrove Bay and on to Seaview. Passing back round the southern headland you are on St. Helens Beach with many rocky ledges and views across to St. Helens Fort which can be linked to form an interesting image. Once back at the car park on St. Helens Seafront it is possible to walk on to the St. Helens Duver which has a range of photo options.