There’s a rather special beach called Highcliffe Beach on the south coast of England where you can find fossils. This Dorset beach is half sand and half shingle and a great place to visit with kids.
The beach is easily accessible from the car park with paved access down to the sand either down stairs or slightly longer route avoid steps.
Fossil Hunting at Highcliffe Beach
The rain and sea erode the soft clay at Highcliffe Beach, leaving the fossils sticking out from the surface and loose among the shingle on the beach.
The beach almost disappears at high tide so the best time to visit as the tide goes out, close to low tide, when everything is exposed. Check the tide times in advance. We visited with friends who live in the area and this is a regular activity for them. They showed us their shark teeth finds in advance so we knew what to look for.
Highcliffe Beach is backed with dunes and low rise sticky clay cliffs. These are unstable so best not to have kids clambering over them. However, you might spot lumps of clay that have been washed down to the beach with various shells, stones and other finds sticking out of them.
Along the beach are V shapes of shingle and these were our best place for finding shark teeth from around 35 millions years ago. How cool is that! There’s something rather therapeutic about sitting down at the edge of the shingle and searching through.
Science is so much more interesting for kids when it’s hands on. The high density of fossils between Highcliffe Beach and Barton on Sea are great for learning about prehistoric marine life dating from around 40 million years ago. Look out for bivalve and gastropod shells as well as shark and ray teeth.
It’s takes a little while to get used to what you’re looking for, there are lots of fossil examples from Highcliffe Beach here if you scroll down on their page.
Highcliffe Beach Facilities
There are public toilets at the car park (although the day we visited they were out of order), a small ice cream stand and the Cliffhanger Restaurant. We had planned to have a fish & chip dinner takeout on the beach but they had unfortunately decided to close early. It looks like a lovely spot with views down across Highcliffe Beach and seating both inside and outdoors.
We managed to get some fish & chips takeout from nearby at The Catch which was walking distance. Wonderful to eat fish & chips on the beach as the sun was beginning to set.
Highcliffe Beach Parking
Car-parking for just over 400 cars is available at the top of Highcliffe cliff top car park, including disabled parking as well as The Cliffhanger Café and toilet and baby changing facilities.
There is also 100 plus parking spaces at Highcliffe Castle Car Park which features a recently redeveloped zig-zag down to the beach.
This is a dog friendly beach too and they can be off the lead enjoying a good run around.
