Quality Time in Lyme

Just a few days holidays but in one of the most beautiful locations in the United Kingdom. Situated in the South West of Dorset, England, Lyme Regis is an historic unspoiled seaside resort and fishing port on the world famous Cobb harbour.



The Cobb is an important feature in Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion (1818) and in the film The French Lieutenant’s Woman, based on the 1969 novel of the same name by local writer John Fowles.

Surrounded by beautiful coastlines and countryside, the area has now been awarded World Heritage Site Status; famous for its geology and fossil finds.

The cliffs around Lyme Regis constantly crumble and slip into the sea, revealing fossils from the ancient Jurassic past of 180 million years ago. The best experience in Lyme Regis is taking a fossil hunting walk organized by the Museum to discover the fossilised remains of giant ichthyosaur, plesiosaur, belemnites and ammonites that can be found on the beaches.

Families return time and again to search with Paddy Howe, the Museum geologist and his colleague Chris among the sand and rocks for fossils that have been washed-down onto the beach. For adult and children alike it’s an unforgettable experience.

(Paddy at work. But you will get your fingers dirty too, don't worry!)

Your fossil walk ticket gives you free access to the museum where you will be able to see displays of rare fossils, learn all about Mary Anning, the famous early palaeontologist who once lived on the site of the museum and much, much more.

This is Durdle Door, a natural limestone arch on the Jurassic Coast near Lulworth, not far from Lyme. It was a film location too. In Nanny McPhee (2005), the children go for a picnic on the beach at Durdle Door. Scenes from the film Wilde (1997) starring Stephen Fry and from the film Far from The Madding Crowd (1967) were shot here.