General - Wacker Quay is a lovely place to visit with plenty of birds and flowers to be seen, as well as a lovely meandering walk along the side of the Quay to Antony House. To get to Wacker Quay means a drive from Plymouth; across the Tamar Bridge and along the road leading to Torpoint, but it is a nice and easy ride, and is well worth it. Once there, there is a choice of where to park overlooking the Quay and depending on this, you can see a very long way out towards the sea. There is a little jetty to walk along and a rocky beach area when the tide is out, which children will love to explore and play on. Many wading birds can be seen at Wacker Quay such as Little Egret, Shelduck, Canada Geese and Curlew, with the view on a bright and sunny day quite stunning indeed. Be aware though, that vehicles of a certain size are unable to drive down to the edge of the Quay and have to park in the lay-by at the entrance to the Quay.
Food and Drink - there are currently no places to eat at Wacker Quay but there is Torpoint not far away with nice pubs and also the Windy Ridge Restaurant is only a ten minute drive away. However, the lay-by at the top of the lane to go down to the parking area may have Ice Cream vans during the Summer months. It is ideal though to take a picnic to eat in the car whilst taking in the beautiful view.
Disabled - the area isn’t ideal for those in wheelchairs as the car park is full of large potholes that you would have to navigate around. The walk along the Quay is also through a wooded area so not ideal. Driving in and parking up would be fine though, it’s just moving around the area that would cause issues. Saying that, there are wooden benches dotted around the area which are nice to sit on and enjoy the view.
Toilets - there are no toilets on site so you would need to make allowances for this. As mentioned in the food and drink section, Torpoint is not far away which has toilets.
Children - children will need to be looked after, especially during high tide, as there are no barriers along the Quayside. However, when the tide is out, they will love to go on to the rocky beach area and play around there (my two children did!) and the walk is quite fun due to it being through a woodland area in places. There are plenty of birds flying around that would keep them interested and excited as well.
Beach - when the tide is out there is a pebbly beach area where you can easily have picnics on during fine weather.
Car Parks - the car park is only a small area and the vehicle needs to be under a certain height to get down to it, although there is a layby at the entrance that is used for the parking of larger vehicles. On our last visit, the car park was full of large potholes which was more annoying than damaging to the car, with some of the parking spaces being separated quite well which gives you a bit of privacy to relax and enjoy the view. There aren’t a great deal of spaces so on a lovely Summer’s day, I would imagine that it would get quite busy.
Review Date - 2013-09-03