Beer, Devon
Beer is one of our favourite places along our local stretch of the Jurassic Coast. It’s not very big, but that’s part of its charm, and what matters is that you can still find plenty to do here. This peaceful village has a history of quarrying, smuggling and fishing, the latter still providing a living for some of the locals. If you’re down on the beach the right time of day (usually late afternoon) you can see the boats come in with their catch, hauled ashore with winches and tractors.
The beach is the main attraction, a quiet bay sheltered by towering chalk cliffs, with a shingle and pebble beach, rockpools at low tide, and in the summer months, beach hut and deck chair hire. At the top of the beach, Ducky’s Beach Café serves cooked breakfasts, fresh crab sandwiches and cream teas. You can hire self-drive boats for a cruise around the bay, or charter a larger boat for mackerel fishing trips. The ambience is lovely and the air is so relaxed because everyone just happily gets on with their own thing.
Go for a stroll around the village while you’re here, buy fresh fish from the shack halfway up the slipway, have a look at the art and local crafts in the galleries, if you’ve got sensible shoes on wander along the cliffs on the South West Coast Path to Seaton Hole, or in the other direction, to the picturesque village of Branscombe, diverting via Hooken Undercliff for a very surprising sub-tropical vibe.
Take the kids to Pecorama up on the hill where you can ride the miniature steam train around the landscaped gardens, play mini golf and table tennis, ride the zip wire, do the woodland walk, and see who’s hanging out in the bug hotel. Go and see the incredible underground caverns at Beer Quarry Caves, where rock was hewn for centuries and used in the building of some of the country’s most famous buildings – Exeter Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, The Tower of London and Windsor Castle among them.
Beer never loses its magic, whatever time of year you come, whatever time of day. An evening spuddle in the rock pools, a stroll along the beach, up over the cliffs, or around the village. Plan it well to tie in with dinner at The Smugglers Kitchen, Steamers Restaurant, or Beer Head Bistro, or go to the Anchor Inn and sip a pint of local brew in the clifftop beer garden as the sunsets over the sea.
All information correct at the time of writing