Chesil Beach and the Fleet

Chesil Beach is eighteen miles of pebbles running to Portland, and Abbotsbury has a car park right behind it. Behind the beach is the Fleet, the long brackish lagoon that the swans live on, and the two together are part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. The Abbotsbury end is popular with anglers and families for mackerel fishing, and it is where dogs are welcome all year round.

It is a place to walk and sit, not to swim. The beach shelves steeply, there is a strong undertow, and large waves can come up the shingle at the water's edge without warning. There are no lifeguards. The Fleet is a nature reserve with no public access along its shore for anyone; the only way along is the South West Coast Path, which runs behind the beach from the car park to the Swannery.

The beach car park is at the end of Buller's Way, DT3 4LA, about a mile from the village, past the Gardens. It is compacted gravel with a sloping boardwalk onto the shingle, toilets that are open round the clock, and the Chesil Beach Café beside it, Wednesday to Sunday 9.30 to 4.30 from March to October, where the Portland crab sandwich is the thing to have. The café says parking is £1 an hour.

Come at the end of the day, when the car park empties and the light runs along the beach towards Portland. In any sea, stay well back from the water's edge, and keep children and dogs back too.

Visit Dorset, Abbotsbury Beach and the Fleet, Chesil Beach Café