Lyme Regis

Lyme Regis sits on Lyme Bay on the Dorset side of the Devon border, built around the River Lym. It is 25 miles east of Exeter and 25 miles west of Dorchester, and the 2021 census counted 3,742 residents. The town is on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, where the exposed rock spans some 185 million years.

The Cobb, the harbour wall, curves out in a crescent and shelters the water behind it. Lyme Regis Front Beach has sand nearest the harbour and a pebble beach beyond a stone jetty, with RNLI lifeguards patrolling in peak season. Monmouth Beach is a mile of pebbles beside the Cobb wall. It is the way into the Undercliffs National Nature Reserve and the South West Coast Path, and it can be cut off at high tide, so check tide times before you walk to the far end. Lyme Regis Lifeboat Week fills Marine Parade with bathtub racing, crab fishing and RNLI displays for nine days, provisionally from 14 to 22 August 2027.

Fossils are why many people stay here. Mary Anning found ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs on this coast between 1811 and 1847, and Lyme Regis Museum on Bridge Street stands on the site of her birthplace and family shop. The museum runs guided fossil walks. The fossil collecting code from the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre, just along the coast, says the best place to look is the loose material on the beach, not the cliffs.

There is no railway station. The line closed in 1965 and the nearest National Rail station is Axminster, 6 miles away. Charmouth and its beach lie about 3 miles to the north-east.