A weekend on the Jurassic Coast, England

The Autumn is the perfect time to escape to the countryside for a weekend. I thought I would share with you this month a couple of ‘oh so British’ destinations to have a breath of fresh air. First stop of this series: the Jurassic Coast! Now grab a cuppa and a biscuit as this will be a long post!

The Jurassic Coast had been on my English destinations bucket list for a while! So a few months back we finally booked a trip to the coastline of Devon and Dorset over a bank holiday weekend.

We headed down on a Saturday morning, but as many people had decided to do the same, we hit traffic shortly after exiting London. So we decided to swing by the New Forest for lunch instead of queuing on the motorway and snacking at a service station. We stopped at The Oak Inn, a lovely pub in the middle of the forest.

After a nice little lunch, we headed back on the road and down the coastline, arriving in Sidmouth in the middle of the afternoon.

During our weekend on the Jurassic Coast, we stayed at the Belmont hotel. It was nice and comfortable but a little pricey, and very old school, so we opted out of the breakfast option and went to local cafes instead.

The rest of our Saturday was spent exploring Sidmouth a small coastal town with very impressive cliffs views.

We walked along the seafront to see the surfers enjoying a few waves and thehuge cliffs surrounding the city.

We then headed to the Connaught garden and enjoyed even more impressive views of the beach and Jacobs Ladder.

We ended the day at The Anchor Inn, a local pub in the centre of the town where we enjoyed a delicious lemon sole.

Having spent most of the previous day in the car, we woke up bright and early on Sunday to make most of the day.

First stop: West Bay! If you are a Broadchurch fan you will recognise this village as it is the main set for the police drama.

We walked up the west cliffs for the view.

Strolled on the beach and took a moment to admire the east side cliffs.

A very impressive landscape indeed.

Our next stop was Golden Cap. Now if you like impressive views, you will be in for a treat!

A short hike away from the car park, Golden Cap is the highest point on the Jurassic Coast and the highest point on the whole southern coast of England.

Having worked up an appetite we stopped in Charmouth for a late lunch at The Bank House Cafe. If you go there, try the crab sandwich, it is great!

We then wandered on the beach, watching people ‘fossil hunting’ (yes, it is a thing).

Unfortunately, it started raining at that point so we cut our afternoon exploration a little short and headed back to Sidmouth for a little rest, tea and some cake at the Clock Tower restaurant (the slices of cakes are ridiculously big!)

The rain eventually stopped so we headed to Lyme Regis for dinner.

We first took the time to explore the town. The little streets are very charming, and a stroll on the beach is a must to see the colourful beach cabins.

We ended the evening at The Pilot Boat, an old-school pub. We both went for fish and chips, because why not?

We woke up on our final day to the thickest fog… Not great knowing that we were supposed to go to some of the most scenic spots on the Jurassic Coast on that day. Having no other choice, we packed our bags and headed back toward London via the coast.

Our first, very brief, stop was at Chesil Beach. It looked great, but the fog was so thick that we only briefly stopped to attempt to take some pictures.

Not impressed by the weather, we headed to our very final stop before London – Durdle Door.

The fog was thick, the hiking path awfully muddy, and we almost decided not to stop, but being there we thought we had to at least give it a go.

After 15 minutes walking in the mist, only hearing the voices of people rather than seeing them, we finally reached the edge of the cliff.

If it had been sunny, we would have been welcomed by the most stunning view. But sunny it wasn’t and views there weren’t.

Stubborn as we are, we decided to take the stairs to the beach. That could have ended in a disaster as the steps were so muddy and slippery that we almost fell off a few times.

Eventually we got there, and FINALLY, we could see it! The great Durdle Door!

It is a very impressive sight and the main lesson learned on this trip is that you should never let the British weather discourage you!

Muddy and wet, we started our journey back toward the big smoke with a swing to a pub for a warming lunch.

We arrived home our lungs full of fresh air and our bags full of muddy laundry.

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