I am no where near a beach and thought it silly to buy sand from a retailer so here is an idea for those who can't get hold of sand. The public (in the UK) are welcome in using this stuff called "grit-salt" that can be found in yellow boxes at the end of your road to de-ice roads / pavements, and are provided by the government (at this rate though they may disappear in the name of government funding cuts
).I tested this stuff out and with a bit of preping its great for basing your models with.
So do the following:
1. Acquire some grit-salt from your local storage supply
usually on your road or will be close by2. But it in a tub and pour hot water in it and then remove water leaving the sand at the bottom, this gets rid of the dirt/dust that are useless for basing and desovles unwanted salt
3. Repeat step 2 a few times till the water gets clearer (not perfect though)
4. "sif" your sand to give you two grades of sand
5. Leave over night near/on a radiator to let dry (or if your impatient like me, bake it in the oven)
DONE!
the fine stuff you base with and the larger bits you can use as rocks, enjoy