Best Beaches Near Taunton
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The best beaches near Taunton are East Quantoxhead Beach, Seaton Beach, Ness Cove Beach, Weston Beach, Monknash Beach, Eype Beach and Woody Bay.
Taunton sits inland in the heart of Somerset, but a short drive in almost any direction reaches a fine spread of coast, from the fossil-strewn ledges of the Bristol Channel to the Jurassic cliffs of Devon and Dorset. On the nearest shore, East Quantoxhead offers rock pools and ammonites weathering out of grey lias below the Quantock Hills, while west along the Exmoor coast the sheltered cove of Woody Bay hides a Victorian tidal bathing pool among the rocks.
Cross into Wales for the wild sands of Monknash, reached down a wooded valley with its own small waterfall, or head south for the Jurassic Coast beaches of Seaton, Eype and Weston, all shingle and cliffs and fossils. Ness Cove, near Shaldon, is reached through a dark smugglers' tunnel cut clean through the headland.
Some are busy with parking and promenades, others need a walk to reach, but each rewards the drive from town. Here are seven of the best beaches to seek out near Taunton.
East Quantoxhead Beach
Photo: Derek Harper via Geograph.org.uk
East Quantoxhead Beach Ammonites weather slowly out of the stone here, spiralling up through the grey Blue Lias as the rock gives way. This is a fossil-hunter's shore on the Somerset side of the Bristol Channel, its low cliffs banded with mudstone and hard limestone above a broad platform of ledges that the tide peels back at low water.
Between the ledges, rock pools brim and wait to be poked about in. No road runs down to the beach; you reach it on a footpath from the village and leave the car behind, which keeps the place quiet.
Time your visit for a falling tide and give yourself room for the walk in.
Seaton Beach
Photo: Philip Halling via Geograph.org.uk
Seaton Beach is a shingle beach running about a mile along a sea wall at the town of Seaton in east Devon, where the River Axe meets the sea on the Jurassic Coast. Red cliffs rise to the east and white chalk cliffs toward Beer to the west, and the estuary behind is rich in birdlife, with wetland reserves nearby.
A narrow-gauge heritage tramway runs from the seafront up the Axe valley to the village of Colyton. There is parking and a promenade, and the South West Coast Path passes along the shore.
Seek it out for an easy seafront day with a tram ride inland.
Ness Cove Beach
Photo: Alan Hunt via Geograph.org.uk
Ness Cove Beach is a secluded shingle beach below the red headland of the Ness at Shaldon, across the estuary from Teignmouth in South Devon. The way down is through the Smugglers' Tunnel, a dark, winding passage cut through the cliff that opens onto the shore.
The shingle slopes gently to the sea, with a marked swimming zone kept clear of boats, and it is a spot for bathing, rock-pooling and fishing. Steep steps make it hard going, and there are no facilities on the sand.
Seek it out for the walk through the tunnel to a hidden cove.
Weston Beach
Photo: Lewis Clarke via Geograph.org.uk
Weston Beach is a remote, undeveloped beach at the seaward end of a wooded combe on the East Devon coast, between Sidmouth and Branscombe. It is mostly shingle and pebbles with rock pools, and some sand shows at low tide.
Access is on foot only, down a steep path from Weston hamlet or along the South West Coast Path, with no facilities and high, crumbling cliffs behind. It is National Trust land within the Jurassic Coast, and it has long been used informally by naturists.
Seek it out for a quiet, wild shore well away from the resorts.
Monknash Beach
Photo: Eirian Evans via Geograph.org.uk
Monknash Beach is a wild, undeveloped stretch of sand and rock on the Glamorgan Heritage Coast in the Vale of Glamorgan, backed by high layered limestone cliffs. Nash Brook runs down the wooded Cwm Nash valley behind it and spills over the rock ledges at the back of the beach in a small waterfall.
It is reached only on foot, about a mile down the valley, and at low tide broad flat sands and rock pools open out. There are no facilities at the beach itself, and it is also known as Cwm Nash or Traeth Mawr.
Seek it out at low water for the wide sands and the little waterfall.
Eype Beach
Photo: Derek Harper via Geograph.org.uk
Eype Beach is a quiet shingle beach on the Dorset coast, just west of Bridport and West Bay, below the cliffs at Eype's Mouth. The steeply shelving pebbles are backed by cliffs on the Jurassic Coast, with Thorncombe Beacon rising nearby.
It is an undeveloped shore with nothing built on it, reached down a steep path from a small clifftop car park. Fossils turn up among the pebbles and in the cliffs.
Seek it out for a peaceful pebble beach a short step from busier West Bay.
Woody Bay
Photo: Trevor Rickard via Geograph.org.uk
Woody Bay is a small, sheltered rocky and shingle cove backed by steep oak woodland on the Exmoor coast, about three miles west of Lynton in Devon. A narrow, steep lane from Martinhoe leads to a car park at the top, then a zig-zag path drops through the woods to the shore, roughly a twenty-minute walk down.
At the bay there is a small cascade and a man-made tidal bathing pool cut into the rocks, still used for swimming. Stone blocks and rusting ironwork are the remains of a Victorian pier, wrecked by a storm within two years of being built.
Seek it out for the tidal pool and the wooded walk down.
FAQs
Which beach near Taunton is closest?
The Somerset coast is nearest, with East Quantoxhead offering fossil-rich rock ledges below the Quantock Hills. It has no beach parking, though, so you reach it on a footpath down from the village.
Are any of these beaches good for fossils?
Yes. East Quantoxhead has ammonites weathering out of grey lias, and both Eype on the Dorset coast and the Jurassic Coast beaches around Seaton turn up fossils in the pebbles and cliffs.
Do these beaches have facilities?
It varies widely. Seaton has parking and a promenade, while remote spots like Monknash, Weston and Ness Cove have little or nothing, so bring what you need for the day.
Conclusion
Though Taunton lies inland, the drive to the sea opens up an unusually varied choice of beaches, from the fossil ledges of the Somerset coast to the wild sands of Wales and the Jurassic shores of Devon and Dorset. You could spend a low-tide morning hunting ammonites at East Quantoxhead, walk down the smugglers' tunnel to Ness Cove, or seek out the Victorian bathing pool tucked into the rocks at Woody Bay.
Others, like Monknash, Weston and Eype, ask for a walk in and offer solitude in return, while Seaton gives an easy seafront day with parking and a promenade. Whether you want fossils, quiet coves or a proper resort beach, these are the best beaches to seek out near Taunton.
