Seatown Beach

A pebble cove under Golden Cap

Seatown is a pebble and shingle beach reached by lane from Chideock. Above it rises Golden Cap, part of the National Trust’s Golden Cap estate and, at 626 feet (191 metres), the highest point on the south coast of England. The Anchor Inn stands beside the beach, and the beach car park is next to it. Seatown is on the Jurassic Coast, which runs west into East Devon as well as east through Dorset.

Swimming and safety

Visit Dorset’s beach guide says bathing can be dangerous, that there are no lifeguards and that the beach shelves steeply with a strong under-tow. The cliffs along this coast are unstable and liable to landslips and falls without warning, so stay well back from the cliff edges and the cliff base.

Dogs

Dogs are not allowed on the beach from 1 May to 30 September, as Visit Dorset’s beach guide lists, and Dorset Council lists Seatown Beach as open to dogs from 1 October to 30 April. The council sets the rules through a public spaces protection order, so check its page on dogs on beaches before you travel. Higher up on the Golden Cap estate the National Trust asks for a short lead, which it calls essential around sheep.

Parking and facilities

A large car park is next to the beach, and the South West Coast Path describes the beach car park as chargeable. Visit Dorset lists a compacted gravel surface but no easy access from it to the beach, and no accessible toilets. Toilets are on the beach front next to the pub.

Walking up Golden Cap

The South West Coast Path lists a 4.7 mile Seatown to Charmouth walk that it rates challenging. Read the National Trust’s Golden Cap page for routes and current notices: cattle graze Stonebarrow Hill and there is an active landslip near the coast path there. Further west along the coast, Charmouth Beach is a pebble and sand beach where visitors are asked to follow the fossil collecting code.