Why the quieter months suit these coasts best

There is a particular pleasure in arriving at a seaside town in late May or early October, when the car parks have space, the cafés have time to talk to you, and the beach is shared with a few dog walkers and a scattering of hardy swimmers. Rates drop noticeably outside school holidays, and the light on the east coast in September is superb. If you can travel Sunday to Tuesday rather than Friday to Sunday, you will often have the place almost to yourself.

The towns below are all small enough to explore on foot in a day, but each has enough nearby to fill a long weekend. They share a few qualities: a working harbour or a decent stretch of sand, a handful of independent shops that open beyond the season, and a pub within walking distance of the water.

Northumberland: big skies and small villages

The stretch between Amble and Berwick has some of the emptiest coastline in England. Alnmouth is the obvious base, a cluster of colour-washed houses around a wide estuary where the river meets the sea. It is a fine spot for gentle walking: the footpath north to Warkworth takes about an hour and a half and ends at a castle and a good tea shop. Warkworth itself has a quieter, lived-in feel than many coastal villages, with a bakery and a couple of small galleries.

Further north, Craster is worth a morning for its smoked fish and the flat walk out to the ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle, roughly a mile and a half each way across grass and sheep fields. Bamburgh gives you the grandest sand in the county, but stay in one of the smaller villages nearby and drive over early. The wind here is rarely still, so pack a layer you don't mind wearing twice.

Suffolk and north Norfolk

This is the best region in England for a weekend that mixes walking with messing about in boats. Aldeburgh has a shingle beach, a high street of proper shops and a long, level path south towards the nature reserve at the river mouth. Walkers can continue along the sea wall to Thorpeness, a strange and rather charming planned village with a boating lake.

For sailing, base yourself at Wells-next-the-Sea or Blakeney. Both have tidal creeks where dinghies and small cruisers dry out at low water, and both run harbour moorings that can be booked for short stays. The creeks at Morston and Blakeney are best explored by small boat at half tide, and you will need a current tide table rather than a guess. If you would rather watch than sail, the harbour wall at Wells at sunset is hard to beat.

• Aldeburgh: good for a car-free weekend, with the beach, shops and pubs all within a few minutes of each other.
• Walberswick: quieter, with a foot ferry across the river and a lovely walk through the marshes to Southwold.
• Wells-next-the-Sea: a proper working harbour, a long pine-backed beach and easy access to the creeks.

Pembrokeshire and Cardigan Bay

West Wales is at its best in June and September, when the coastal path is quiet and the water has had a summer to warm. Newport, in the north of the county, sits under a lumpy little hill with a beach that is good for bodyboarding and a high street with a butcher, a grocer and a couple of excellent cafés. The walk up Carningli takes about an hour and gives you the whole coastline in one view.

Further up the coast, Aberaeron is a neat Georgian harbour town where you can hire a dinghy or join a short sail in the bay, and New Quay has a sheltered harbour and a reputation for bottlenose dolphins, which are seen most reliably from the pier in calm weather. Cardigan Bay is shallow and tidal, so plan sailing around the tide rather than against it.

Scotland's east coast fishing villages

The East Neuk of Fife is a string of small harbours — Crail, Cellardyke, Pittenweem, St Monans — each with narrow lanes, crow-stepped gables and a working creel boat or two. Crail has the best beach of the group and a harbour you can sit beside for an hour without seeing another soul in November. From Pittenweem you can walk the coast path west to St Monans in under an hour.

Further north, Cullen and Findhorn offer a different mood: wide, pale beaches, low dunes and a brisk swim if you are brave. Findhorn's bay is popular with dinghy sailors and windsurfers because the wind is reliable and the water is sheltered by the spit. Roads here are often single-track with passing places, so allow more time than the map suggests.

Practical notes for a quiet weekend

• Tides: check a local tide table before any beach walk or harbour plan. Flat sand in Norfolk and estuaries in Wales flood quickly and cut off routes.
• Book early for boats: moorings, dinghy hire and short sailing trips are limited in small harbours, so ring ahead a week or two before you travel.
• Parking: many villages have free on-street parking but a strict attitude to obstructions; use the main car park and walk in.
• Food: kitchens close early out of season. If you arrive after eight, you may be cooking for yourself.
• Clothing: waterproofs and a warm hat beat an umbrella on every coast in this list.

Pick one town, resist the urge to tick off four, and let the weather set the plan. The reward for travelling slightly out of season is not just empty sand — it is the feeling that the place has briefly become yours.