Charlotte Bronte

Durdle Door is probably the most famous stone arch anywhere in the world. It was created when the sea pierced through the Portland limestone around 10,000 years ago. Looking west over the beach, isolated stacks out at sea show where an older coastline once lay. This part of the coast is formed from merged bays and shows how Lulworth Cove and Stair Hole may look in several thousand years time.

By following the natural cliff path down to Durdle Door beach, or the steps to Man O’War beach, the tilted Purbeck Beds are clearly visible. At the base of the chalk cliffs a number of caves can be seen which have been carved out by the sea (wave cut notches).

The caves should not be entered as cliff falls are common. Since our visit in June there has been ground movement in Man O’War Bay so there is currently no access to that beach area.

From the end of the Jurassic Pier at West Bay, you can view the coast from South Devon to Portland in Dorset. Launch your boat at the West Bay Marina (Bridport Harbour). West Bay is a major gateway to the Jurassic Coast, which covers 95 miles of coast from Orcombe Rocks at Exmouth, Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset. Sometimes known as the Dinosaur Coast, tourists throughout the World visit Dorset for fossil hunting in stunning coastal scenery. The famous sandstone East Cliff at West Bay, formed from Lower Jurassic Bridport Sands exposes 180 million years of history.

Paramahansa Yogananda

Budle Bay is in North Northumberland and is a beautiful and important bird sanctuary, with huge mud flats that are exposed at low tide. The whole area is part of the Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve and is very popular with birdwatchers, particularly in the winter when thousands of wildfowl and waders spend their winter on the bay’s mud flats.
The Bay itself has an industrial past, it was once an extremely busy port in the times of King Henry III in the 13th Century. The harbour has now disappeared beneath the rising silt of the bay, but some of the remaining buildings still hint towards the past. There was a corn-mill here, which is how the hamlet got its name, in 1187 and current building dates back to 1780. This building was abandoned for many years but has recently been redeveloped and turned into luxury apartments, all of which offer stunning views over the bay.

The photo above shows the coble in which Grace and her father launched in atrocious weather to rescue survivors from the steamship Forfarshire which had struck the Big Harcar rock on the Farnes. The photo below shows St Aidan’s church as viewed from the Grace Darling museum with rather calmer seas in the background.

Lord Byron

Rabindranath Tagore

Saint Augustine