TWO West Somerset beaches have won unwelcome awards which recognise them as being among the worst in the country for water cleanliness.

Dunster and Blue Anchor West were named and shamed with a UK travel site selecting them for a brown flag poo award this year.

Brown flag beaches are those rated as ‘poor’ by the Environment Agency due to bacteria such as e-coli from sewage and other waste.

Blue Anchor is a newcomer in 2025 to the poo awards, while Dunster received a brown flag last year.

The scheme is run by travel site Holidayparkguru.co.uk, which analysed Environment Agency official summertime water quality data for hundreds of beaches around the country to reveal 19 grubby ‘winners’.

Somerset was shown as the second worst in England’s clean water league table, with Weston Main, Weston Super Mare Sand Bay, and Weston Super Mare Uphill Slipway also named as ‘winners’, collectively receiving one flag.

The brown flags, decorated with a poo emoji, are intended to warn summer swimmers about the poor rating of the beach.

Only 10 per cent of Somerset’s beaches were rated as ‘excellent’ for water cleanliness, putting it 18th out of England’s 19 coastal counties.

The number of brown flag beaches in England leapt from 13 in 2024 to 19 this year, a 46 per cent increase.

HolidayParkGuru.co.uk campaigner and sea swimmer Robbie Lane said: “We had hoped we would be handing out fewer brown flags this year, but things have gone down the pan.

“For Somerset, the bad news is that it has picked up three brown flag awards, the joint highest number of all the English counties.

“It also ranks poorly in England’s league table of clean beaches.

“Do your research this summer and you will be saying ‘wish you were here’ rather than ‘wish I had worn a hazmat suit’.”