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Golden Cap is a cliff and countryside estate on Dorset's Jurassic coast, with footpaths, views and access to the beach for fossil-hunting.
NB Particular care must be taken of tides and the high risk of cliff falls.
There are a variety of ways of getting to the estate. Stonebarrow Hill, where there is a car park and information centre with toilets and a small shop in an old radar station, is a good place to start. Post code below is approximate. From the west, go through Charmouth and take the turning on right by Stonebarrow Manor into Stonebarrow Lane. NB this is extremely narrow. Head as far as you can until you're there!
Located off the A35 between Lyme Regis and Bridport
Lovely, and popular, beach on Dorset's Jurassic Coast. National Trust car park.
A concrete memorial near the beach between Deal and Walmer commemorates the landing of Julius Caesar and his invading army in 55BC, which allegedly took place nearby. However, the location of this great event, and Caesar’s more serious landing the following year, 54BC, is disputed. It is suggested that Caesar, who described his landing in graphic detail, actually came ashore a little further north, in Pegwell Bay. This, claims the experts, more accurately fits the coastal geography of 2,000 years ago. The remains of a Roman fort have also been uncovered near Pegwell Bay, now inland but close to where the coast would have been twenty centuries ago. Maybe the Romans landed at Deal first and Pegwell Bay later.
Anyway, we can still stand by the Deal-Walmer memorial and contemplate the Romans offshore, fearfully hesitant to get stuck into the screaming woad-covered Britons waiting for them on the shingle beach – until the eagle-bearer of the X Legion leaped from his ship and lead to way to battle – and victory.
At school, we used to recite, “Julius Caesar, the Roman geezer, conquered Britain with a lemon squeezer.” Just thought I’d mention it.
Walmer
Deal
England’s Jurassic Coast encompasses 95 miles of lovely coastline from Exmouth in East Devon to Old Harry Rocks in Studland Bay in Dorset. It actually covers three geological time periods - the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous which together make up the Mesozoic Era, from around 250 to 65 million years ago. The area's significant fossil sites and model coastal geomorphologic features have contributed to the study of earth sciences for over 300 years. The coast includes some wonderful geological features, like Durdle Door and Chesil Beach, dramatic views and seaside towns and resorts such as Bournemouth, Poole, Swanage, Lyme Regis and West Bay. Walk, bathe and hunt for fossils.
Managed by the Jurassic Coast Trust
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park offers the romance of Britain's largest lake (will you take the high road, or the low road?), sea lochs, Rob Roy's cave(s), mountains, beautiful glens, forests and wildlife. And it's right on Glasgow's doorstep. The Trossachs is an area between Loch Lomond and Stirling, which includes lochs, hills, forests and villages. The Park was established in 2002 and covers an area of 720 square miles (1865 square kilometres) which includes 22 large lochs, 40 mountains over 2500 feet (762 metres) high - 21 are in excess of 3000 feet (914 metres) – 2 forest parks and its highest point is Ben More at 3851 feet (1174 metres).
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park is divided into four, distinct, areas: Loch Lomond, with all its romance, is the largest expanse of fresh water in Great Britain; the Argyll Forest, an area of peaks, glens, rivers, coast and lochs; the Trossachs, often referred to as ‘the Highlands in miniature’, just a short step from Scotland’s populous central belt; and Breadalbane, an area of the southern/central Highlands. So, naturally, the Park is loved by walkers and climbers. Or wildlife lovers wanting to spot osprey, red squirrels, deer or otters. Or for sailing and canoeing.
Visit the romantic ruins of Inchmahome Priory, which gave refuge to the infant Mary, Queen of Scots, hunt out Rob Roy’s cave (there are two of them), check out the Faerie Hollow or lose yourself in a botanic garden. And, yes, there are castles and country estates…
Principal settlements in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park are Balloch, Callander and Tarbet.
Carrochan
Carrochan Road
Balloch
Lulworth Cove is a beauty spot, part of Dorset's Jurassic Coast. It is a perfect horseshoe shape and a short(ish) walk from other local geological and scenic attractions, including Durdle Door - a natural limestone arch (pictured).
Lulworth
Lynton and Lynmouth are really two villages forming a single town on the edge of Exmoor, on the north Devon coast. Lynmouth began as a pretty fishing village and, when there was no longer any space to build there, it expanded to Lynton 700 feet above it on the clifftop. The two are connected by the water-gravity-powered Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway. Lynton is mainly 19th and 20th century, Lynmouth is a little older and was favoured by the artist Thomas Gainsborough and the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. However, it was wrecked by a devastating flood in August 1952, when 34 people died and hundreds made homeless. Some of the village was never rebuilt. Nevertheless, it is an attractive place and popular with tourists. It is also walking country. The South West Coast Path and Tarka Trail pass through it and the views from the cliffs are wonderful.
Mwnt is a stretch of coastline, a beach, a hill, a church. A few miles north of Cardigan on the Wales Coast Path, there is a sheltered sandy cove, popular with families and one of the best places in Ceredigion to spot dolphins, porpoises and seals. There are easy steps to the beach, a café and toilets at the top and a National Trust car park (pay and display). Overlooking the beach is the remains of an old lime kiln, but the main feature is the hill, Foel y Mwnt, that towers over the area and which gives it its name: mwnt means ‘mount’. There are great views over Cardigan Bay from the top, if you have the legs and head to clamber up it.
In the shelter of the hill is the tiny whitewashed Church of the Holy Cross. It could be named for a cross that once stood on Foel y Mwnt and there may well have been a church on the site since early Christian times. The present building dates from the 14th century, when it served pilgrims travelling to St Davids or Strata Florida, as well as local sailors. It has a 13th century font made of stone from the Preseli Hills.
As a final note, Mwnt was raided by Flemings in 1155. A bloody battle ensued, in which the invaders came off worse. The event is still commemorated.
The Needles is an iconic image of the Isle of Wight, a set of jagged chalk pillars disappearing into the sea with a lighthouse at the western end of the island. And the easiest way to see them from the land is to visit the Needles Old Battery, a fascinating Victorian fort built in 1862 re-used during both World Wars. The nearby New Battery was used for secret rocket tests during the Cold War and contains an intriguing exhibition.
VERY limited parking nearby - best walk from the Alum Bay car park about a mile away. It can get very windy too.
Alum Bay
The North Yorkshire Moors’ website says, “Moor. Coast. Forest. Dale” – which pretty much sums it up. North Yorkshire Moors National Park was established in 1952 and covers an area of 554 square miles (1434 square kilometres). It is said to be England’s largest expanse of heather moorland, but it also offers ancient woodlands, a dramatic 26-mile coastline, Iron Age and medieval remains and old, stone-built, hamlets. Wildlife includes roe deer, badgers and owls whilst, offshore, seals, dolphins and whales can be spotted. The highest point is Urra Moor at 1489 feet (454 metres).
The North York Moors railway, a heritage line, runs 18 miles (29 km) between Pickering and Whitby, taking in Goathland, setting of the fictional village of Aidensfield in the Heartbeat television series.
Principal settlements within the Park include Helmsley and Thornton-le-Dale. The picture was taken in the village of Aidensfield.
The Old Vicarage
Bondgate
Helmsley
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