The best beaches in Somerset are East Quantoxhead Beach, Blue Anchor Beach, Berrow Beach, Lilstock Beach, Minehead Beach, Kilve Beach and Bossington Beach.

Somerset's coast faces north across the Bristol Channel, a shore of huge tides, wide sands and low, crumbling cliffs that gives it a character all its own. This is not a coast of turquoise coves so much as one of geology and history, where fossils weather out of the rock and the sea uncovers surprises at low water.

Below the Quantock Hills, rocky, fossil-rich beaches like East Quantoxhead, Kilve and remote Lilstock draw fossil-hunters to their grey lias ledges. Further west, the wide sands of Berrow hold the wrecked timbers of the Nornen, while Blue Anchor shows its coloured cliffs of alabaster beside a heritage steam line.

Minehead marks the start of the South West Coast Path, and on the Exmoor edge the pebble ridge at Bossington curves around a bird-rich marsh. Some of these beaches have car parks and promenades close by, while others are reached only on foot with no facilities, and the great tidal range means the shore changes hour by hour.

Here are seven of the best beaches to seek out in Somerset.

East Quantoxhead Beach

Photo: Derek Harper via Geograph.org.uk

East Quantoxhead Beach is a rocky, fossil-rich shore on the Somerset coast, on the Bristol Channel near Kilve. Low cliffs of grey Blue Lias, banded mudstone and hard limestone rise behind a wide platform of rock ledges that the tide draws off at low water.

Ammonites weather out of the rock, and rock pools fill among the ledges. There is no parking at the beach, which is reached by a footpath down from the village.

Seek it out at low tide for fossils and rock pools rather than a swim.

Blue Anchor Beach

Photo: John C via Geograph.org.uk

Blue Anchor Beach is a long, flat sandy beach near Watchet, opening out wide at low tide beneath low cliffs of soft red rock. The cliffs are crumbling red Triassic mudstone, streaked with pale seams of gypsum and alabaster, the coloured stone that gave rise to the old name Watchet Blue, and lumps of alabaster lie scattered across the sand.

A promenade runs behind the beach, and the little station of the West Somerset Railway, a heritage steam line, sits just above the shore, so steam trains pass close by. The soft cliffs are wearing back steadily.

Seek it out for wide views across the Bristol Channel toward Wales.

Berrow Beach

Photo: Bob Harvey via Geograph.org.uk

Berrow Beach is a wide, flat expanse of sand just north of Burnham-on-Sea, backed by low dunes and looking out over the tidal flats of Bridgwater Bay. Its best-known feature lies out on the sand: the blackened wooden ribs of the Nornen, a Norwegian barque wrecked here in 1897 and now half-buried, her timbers rising like the skeleton of some great animal.

Driven ashore in a gale, her whole crew of ten was saved by the Burnham lifeboat. Around the wreck the beach runs firm and open, with a little dune-backed church nearby and the hills of Exmoor and Wales across the water.

Seek it out at low tide, when the sand seems to stretch for miles.

Lilstock Beach

Photo: Neil Owen via Geograph.org.uk

Lilstock Beach is a remote rocky foreshore on the Somerset coast of the Bristol Channel, west of Kilve and Watchet. Below low crumbling cliffs, the shore is a wave-cut platform of dark shale and pale limestone ledges, mixed with shingle, sand and mud, and it looks out toward the island of Steep Holm.

The rock beds hold fossils from the end of the Triassic and start of the Jurassic, and ammonites, belemnites and marine reptile bones have been found here. It is a protected geological site, with a small car park set back in the hamlet and a short track down to the shore.

Seek it out for quiet fossil-hunting along a wild foreshore.

Minehead Beach

Photo: Lewis Clarke via Geograph.org.uk

Minehead Beach is the main beach of the resort town of Minehead on the Somerset coast of the Bristol Channel, a broad, flat shore that turns sandy toward the harbour and muddier and stonier elsewhere. Behind it runs the Esplanade, lined with old holiday hotels, and at one end sits the old harbour with its boats and the Butlin's resort.

The beach is the starting point of the South West Coast Path, the long-distance route of some 630 miles to Poole, marked on the quay by a sculpture of a pair of hands holding a map, put up in 2001. Seek it out to stand at the start of the coast path.

Kilve Beach

Photo: Chris Gunns via Geograph.org.uk

Kilve Beach is a rocky, fossil-rich shore on the west Somerset coast, below the Quantock Hills on the Bristol Channel. Wide ledges of grey lias rock run out below low cliffs, and the flat stones and shale hold ammonites and other fossils, weathering out onto the beach.

Near the shore stands a ruined brick building left from a failed scheme in the 1920s to make oil from the shale. A car park and path lead down to the beach, and the rock cannot be hammered as it is protected ground.

Seek it out for fossils on the ledges, but leave your hammer at home.

Bossington Beach

Photo: N Chadwick via Geograph.org.uk

Bossington Beach is a long ridge of grey pebbles curving around Porlock Bay, on the Exmoor coast of Somerset, between the wooded point of Hurlstone and Porlock Weir. It is a steep bank of shingle thrown up by the sea, backed not by dunes but by a wide saltmarsh: in 1996 a storm broke through the ridge, and rather than repair it the land was left to the tide, so old farmland has turned to marsh alive with birds.

Out on the foreshore at low tide, the blackened stumps of a drowned prehistoric forest appear. The National Trust looks after this stretch.

Seek it out for quiet, wide-open walking along the ridge and marsh.

FAQs

Which Somerset beaches are best for fossil-hunting?

The rocky shores below the Quantocks are the pick, with East Quantoxhead, Kilve and remote Lilstock all rich in ammonites and other fossils weathering from their grey lias ledges. Remember that Kilve and Lilstock are protected ground, so the rock cannot be hammered.

Can you swim at these Somerset beaches?

This is a coast of huge tides and rocky ledges rather than easy bathing. Sandy beaches like Berrow and Blue Anchor open out at low tide, but the great tidal range and soft mud mean you should check conditions and take care. Several beaches are rocky foreshores better suited to fossils than swimming.

Do the beaches have car parks?

It varies. Kilve, Lilstock, Minehead and Blue Anchor have parking close by, while East Quantoxhead has none and is reached on foot down from the village. Always check before you travel, as the smaller sites have limited space.

Conclusion

Somerset rewards the beachgoer who comes curious rather than just to swim. This is a coast of fossils and wrecks, of coloured cliffs and vast tidal sands, where the sea draws back to reveal ledges, stumps and stone.

Some of these beaches, like Minehead and Blue Anchor, have promenades and parking close at hand, while others, such as East Quantoxhead and Lilstock, are quiet and reached only on foot. The tides here are among the greatest in the world, so check them before you set out, and take care not to be caught out on the mud or ledges as the water returns.

Leave the fossils and the rock where you find them on protected ground, and take your litter home. From the Quantocks to Exmoor, these are the best beaches to seek out in Somerset.

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