Chesil Beach

Chesil Beach is one of the most extraordinary natural features on the English coast, an 18-mile shingle barrier running along the Dorset shore from West Bay in the west to the Isle of Portland in the east. Behind it lies the Fleet, a long brackish lagoon, and the whole area forms part of the Jurassic Coast UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The beach is famous for the way its pebbles are graded in size by the sea, growing steadily larger from west to east, so much so that local fishermen are said to have once been able to tell where they had landed in fog simply by the size of the stones. From the high crest of the bank there are sweeping views over Lyme Bay on one side and the still waters of the Fleet on the other.

Chesil is an internationally important site for nesting and overwintering birds, with little terns, brent geese and waders feeding around the lagoon. Visitors can walk sections of the South West Coast Path along the ridge, look out from the Chesil Beach Centre at Ferrybridge near Portland, or simply enjoy the wild, wind-blown atmosphere of one of Britain's great barrier beaches.