Cherry Hill Beach - Hell Bay, NS

Cherry Hill Beach is a hidden gem in the truest sense of the word. Nestled in among well-known seaside escapes like Crescent Beach and Rissers Beach and Provincial Park, Cherry Hill is better known to locals than tourists.

In fact, it was a local who tipped us off on this beach retreat.

The beach is in Hell Bay. There is no signage, and you won’t get any search results in Google maps for Cherry Hill Beach, so finding it is half the adventure. Instead, search for Henry Conrad Road, a street off route 331 between Bridgewater and Liverpool. There is a public entrance at the end of that road. The beach is a nesting site for the endangered Piping Plover (so leash your dogs, please).

Cherry Hill isn’t the biggest, the warmest, or home to the best amenities, but it is a popular spot for surfers and soul searchers. According to locals, there is just something about it.

Megan Power wrote about Cherry Hill for the Globe and Mail in 2011. Of the beach, she said:

“…at low tide…the visual and aural beauty do something to my parasympathetic nervous system, my perspective, my mood. Sounds dangerously New Age-y perhaps, as if I am overselling to an outsider. But I assure you I have visited my fair share of beaches – on the Adriatic, the Caribbean, the Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico – and Cherry Hill retains some ineffable hold over me. It’s the most breathtaking beach I’ve ever seen. Because it feels like it’s mine? That, and because it feels like nobody’s.”

If you are going to pay this beach a visit (I know I’m going to now), why not make a day of it? This summer, there are a number of community breakfasts and events that sound just as charming as the beach. We’ve listed a few suggestion below:

Famous Maggie’s English Tea (June 8)

Community Breakfast – The United Communities Fire Department 4th Saturday of each month starting May 24
8:00 AM – 11:00 AM

Thanks to Elke Love for the tips and photos! She’s got a large selection of mapped day trips on tumbler, check it out here. Planning a beach escape? Browse more great NS Beaches below:

Crescent Beach, South Shore
Beach Meadows Beach, South Shore
Freda’s Beach, South Shore
Cleveland Beach, South Shore
Dingwall Beach, Cape Breton
Ingonish Beach, Cape Breton
North Bay Beach, Cape Breton
Melmerby Beach, Northumberland Shore
Mavillette Beach, Yarmouth
Chocolate Lake Beach, HRM
Lakeside, HRM
Blomidon, Bay of Fundy