Adrian Porter

Short breaks on the Lyme Bay coast of East Devon and West Dorset, England

Take a short break on the Lyme Bay coast, south west England. The perfect place to recharge your batteries.

The East Devon and West Dorset coastline around Lyme Bay is the ideal place to escape to for an invigorating weekend or midweek break – and it’s a great way to re-charge your batteries and relieve the stresses of everyday life. Take time for some rest and relaxation and come and enjoy the breathtaking scenery, country and coastal walks and bracing sea air when there are not so many people around.

The Lyme Bay area is an easily accessible part of England renowned for its fossil hunting, breathtaking natural beauty, sheltered harbours, sandy beaches, thatched cottages, sense of history and pastoral landscape. The weather is relatively mild all year round so it’s a great place to visit outside of the major school holidays – the area is at its busiest when the kids are on holiday. If you live in one of the major conurbations such as London, the Midlands or the Bristol area your journey by car to this part of the Westcountry is pretty straightforward. From the Midlands or London allow yourself three hours, from Bristol an hour and a half should suffice.

There are so many things to see and do here on the Lyme Bay coast, so here are a couple of suggestions for things to do if you take a short break in the area:

Fossil hunting on the beach

Our coastline here on the West Dorset/East Devon border is known as The Jurassic Coast for good reason. The coastline stretches 95 miles from Dorset through to East Devon and is a truly stunning spectacle, with rock formations recording 185 million years of the Earth's history.

As England's first natural World Heritage Site the coastline is up there with the world's most famous attractions such as the Grand Canyon in the USA and Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Charmouth beach in West Dorset is one of the best places along the Jurassic Coast to search for fossils. Guided fossil walks led by experts are organised from the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre, situated just by the beach – the walks take place throughout the year and help to bring to life the area's 185 million years of geological history.

The Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre is a mine of information regarding the geology of the Jurassic Coast, the fossils and the local wildlife – the centre’s wardens are on hand to answer your questions about the area. The Heritage Centre promotes the sustainable collection of fossils and it's worth checking out the advice on fossil collecting at the centre before setting out on your fossil hunting expedition.

A visit to Beer Quarry caves

The sun doesn’t always shine on Lyme Bay, so what do you do if the weather’s not too good – well why not head underground? Beer Quarry Caves are a vast complex of man-made caverns created by centuries of quarrying Beer Stone. Originally worked by the Romans the quarry has supplied stone for 24 cathedrals including Exeter and St Pauls.

There are one hour conducted tours by trained guides of this vast man-made complex of underground caverns created by centuries of quarrying. A small museum is housed within the Roman section of the caves containing pieces of carved Beer stone, tools, ancient documents and photographs. You can see the methods used to quarry and deliver the huge blocks of stone, the working conditions and the hardships and dangers endured by the work-force.

Having seen the working conditions and dangers that were faced daily by the work-force you may think a little differently about the next famous building you see.

By the time you have finished your tour the sun may well be shining again – an ideal opportunity to enjoy the above ground attractions of Beer, a very pretty East Devon fishing village.

A place to stay

One of the most flexible ways to take short breaks in Devon and Dorset is to book a self-catering holiday cottage. Lyme Bay Cottages provide self-catering holiday accommodation all year round with properties ranging from traditional Devon and Dorset cottages through to modern apartments - some in quiet country hideaways others in lively little coastal towns and villages. You can view holiday cottage details and more information about the Lyme Bay area at LymeBayCottages.com.

Article Tags: Short Breaks, East Devon

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