Charmouth

Charmouth is a friendly and traditional village situated at the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage Jurassic Coast, an ancient coastline of dramatic cliffs, fossils and beautiful scenery. The beach at Charmouth is world renowned for its abundance of fossilised remains and as such, attracts scores of enthusiastic fossil hunters annually. The World Heritage Centre, situated on the sea front, hosts regular walks, talks and fossil hunting expeditions throughout the year and is incredibly popular with both young families and experienced geologists alike.

The village itself is encapsulated by West Dorset’s rolling hills and Regency houses elegantly line the steep streets. Charmouth can boast a wealthy range of famous visitors including Catherine of Aragon, who stayed at the villages oldest residence The Queen’s Arms in 1501 when it was still privately owned and also Charles 2nd, who also stayed in the building in 1651 when he was looking to flee to the continent. Furthermore, Jane Austen is known to have been a frequent visitor to Charmouth, describing it as a place of “high grounds and extensive sweeps of country, and, still more, its sweet retired bay, beached by dark cliffs where fragments of low rock among the sands make it the happiest spot for watching the flow of the tide; for sitting in unwearied contemplation”.