Fossil Hunting at the Jurassic Coast

One of the big drivers for home educating our kids was the freedom to travel more. Not just longer holidays abroad, but shorter breaks in the UK. To explore our coastline and cities. To set off on spontaneous road trips, field trips, or days out - to bring what we’re learning about at home to life.

Recently we've been learning about fossils and oceans. When I mentioned this to other home-ed parents, lots of them said that Charmouth beach was the place to go - so we did, and it didn’t disappoint.

We set off on a sunny Friday afternoon, after our eldest daughter’s sewing lesson. And headed straight to our accommodation at West Bexington, Dorset, a half an hour’s drive from Charmouth.

Our lodge was compact and cosy, but the views were breathtaking. You could see the sea from the garden. We were a mere stone’s throw from Chesil beach, or close enough that me and the kids could march bare foot in our pjs to watch the waves breaking on the shore, whilst my husband sitting in our garden could hear our youngest crying about us having to go back home to bed! 

Being that close to the beach meant that over the course of a couple of days we popped to the beach no fewer than five times! We also managed to fit in a couple of drinks at the charming Club House, which overlooks the sea. The staff were lovely and I can recommend their signature cocktails and chai lattes. Unfortunately we ran out of time to eat there, but after reading the menu and seeing other diners' plates we’re already planning a return trip.

We headed to Charmouth beach on Saturday morning eager to find some fossils. And parked right next to the beach - £7 for the whole day! (Can’t think of many day trips that as a family of five we’ve managed to do for that price). 

It’s a beautiful beach, and after enjoying the views we grabbed hot drinks from the beach cafe and set off up the beach.  We came armed with a hammer and safety goggles and had barely made it a few feet along the beach randomly grabbing unusually shaped rocks and whacking them (safely of course), till some friends of ours arrived to meet us and show us how to actually hunt for fossils. They’d been there several times before and politely gave us some tips. 

• Walk up the beach as far as you can 
• Head towards the shore - as the tide recedes ‘new’ fossils will wash up
• Get as comfy as you can, sit or crouch and take time to rummage and lift up rocks

Suffice to say we did not need our safety goggles or hammer, but we should have brought a bucket or tub for our haul. We found lots of tiny ammonites, bellamites and some fools gold too.

We finished up our day with a trip to the Charmouth Heritage Centre, which is free and houses an amazing array of fossils. We loved how recent some of the spectacular finds are. 

We also visited the little shop below and added a few more crystals, fossils and a shark tooth to our collection.

We loved our mini-break, the scenery was beautiful. Being by the ocean, and seeing  the tides shift and uncovering fossils after learning about them at home made the trip even more special.