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A guide to the Jurassic Coast

Ladram Bay is the perfect location to discover the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. With 95 miles of coastline from East Devon to Dorset, there is plenty to see & do whether you’re an amateur fossil hunter or a prehistoric pro!

Our latest post looks at 3 of our favourite spots along this historic & beautiful coastline.

Jurassic Coast Map:

Lyme Regis:

Thanks to the local blue lias clay found on the cliffs & beach, fossil remains of creatures from the prehistoric seas of 180 million years ago are regularly exposed making Lyme Regis a unique place for fossil hunting.

Situated where Devon meets Dorset, Lyme Regis was home to keen fossiler Mary Anning whose home later became the location for the Lyme Regis Museum. The town is renown for it’s fossil collection, as well as the fossil walks & talks led by the museum experts. The museum is an excellent day trip and free for children to visit!

Generations of children have patrolled this part of the Jurassic Coast hoping to find an ammonite of their own. If fossil hunting isn’t for you, there is always a nice spot for fish & chips or an ice cream on the Cobb.

Budleigh Salterton:

Just around the headland of Ladram Bay is Budleigh Salterton. A unique sea-side town famed for its unusual pink pebbles derived from the cliffs having once been carried by a river nearly 250 million years ago, before being deposited and buried.

Made of a very hard rock known as quartzite, Budleigh’s pebbles have been studied by scientists to understand the formation of beaches as it is a rare example of having had limited interference by humans. Be sure to visit local attraction The Fairlynch Museum to view their radioactive pebbles and much more local history.

Sidmouth:

A peaceful seaside town, Sidmouth is home to Triassic rocks that are over 230 million years old. These rocks yield particularly rare fossils of desert creatures that show how life was still recovering after a mass extinction that occurred 20 million years earlier.

Only a fifteen-minute drive from Ladram Bay, the Sidmouth museum tells the story of the Jurassic Coast with particular emphasis on the rare reptile & amphibian fossils mentioned above.


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