Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre

Who doesn't want to take the seaside with them when they've been down? These beautiful quilted, patchwork and applique gifts are handcrafted in seaside fabrics and will be available at the Craft Fair on the 25th!

We'll be at the Sidmouth Science Festival all day for Saturday 11th! Come by to get a hands on with some of our incredible fossils and learn all about what can be found here at Charmouth. We had a blast last time and can't wait to do it again!

We had a glorious seashore safari with #Charmouth Primary yesterday. They found crabs mating, moulting and showing signs of illness. We examined life cycles and adaptations to the rockpools! Bookings for schools in 2026 will be available soon!

If you've been feeling like your house is lacking some fossil inspired pottery then Stonebarrow Pottery has what you need at the Craft Fair. Locally made in Charmouth, Lee will have plenty of ammonite and ichthyosaur designs on sale for the 25th!

Looking for something for someone just a bit smaller at the craft fair? The Dulcie Collection offers beautiful handcrafted designer baby knitwear in a range of styles including these ‘Little Kicks’ and of course, the ‘Christmas range’.

Three people bending down to look at a rock on the beach

We have just added a last minute public fossil walk for this coming Weds 8th Oct 11:30-1pm. Numbers will be kept small for this particular walk, so book now to avoid disappointment!
charmouth.org/chcc/events/...

Looking for something unique? Well there's going to be plenty of that at the Craft Fair! Gone Dotty is a crafter based in Axminster who paints and hand decorates wooden items like toadstools, hanging hearts and mandalas, making all her items with a little bit of sparkle!

We can't have a craft and fossil fair without the fossil collectors either. Stonebarrow Fossils will be back with us this year with some more of her incredible finds for sale! #FossilFriday

It's pretty hard not to be inspired by what the Dorset coast has to offer! Local artist Jenny Hunt will be at our craft fair with greetings cards, prints, sketchbooks, small handmade books, mugs, bags and calendars plus original framed art all drawing from the area.

Don't forget it's our annual craft fair on the 25th! Whether it's getting started on some Christmas shopping, checking out the local crafts or just dropping by for some cake we've got you covered! Stay tuned to see what'll be on offer.

This batch has been sent off to Flora & Fauna who will be using them in their educational resource packs and for outreach. We estimate approximately 80,000!

Our next beach clean and nurdle hunt is on 2nd Nov, some come and join us clear up more of these microplastics! (2/2)

Yesterday we finally filled our nurdle tube! Last time we filled it with over 60,000 nurdles and bio beads which went to @nurdlecoasts to be recycled into new products. (1/2)

Get your fossil finds on display at all three locations through 2026 and have the chance to win prizes from each of us! More details on entering here - charmouth.org/chcc/fossilc...

Get your entries in now! If you're between 5 to 16 then tomorrow is your last chance to submit your fossil and presentation for the Children's Fossil Competition 2025 with us, The Etches Collection and Lyme Regis Museum!

And a reminder of last year's winners:

We've had some great finds this week on our fossil hunting walks, like this nice, chunky ichthyosaur vertebra found by Craig a few days ago! The tides aren't great for most of next week but are better for the weekend if you want to join one of our walks! charmouth.org/chcc/events-...

If you're interested in arranging a zoom session with our wardens for your class to learn all about fossils, how they form, Mary Anning or prepping them for a class trip to the beach then get in touch! charmouth.org/chcc/categor...

We had a great zoom session with the Year 3's of St. George's in Taunton on fossils. They already knew a lot of their stuff but good to get in some prep before they venture down to the beach to look on their own for some fossils! We can't wait to see what you bring in!

And the final piece coming into place on this bizarre, new species of ichthyosaur! #FossilFriday

It's complete!
Enzo the ichthyosaur is now fully on display in the Centre after being discovered just a year ago. A whole lot of work went into this one by Chris and Alex Moore, and Nic Reast and it looks fantastic! #FossilFriday

3 children using meter sticks and a spirit level to measure the slope of the beach

Well done to Charmouth Primary School, who spent yesterday on our 'Investigating Coasts' session. They measured the beach's slope, learnt how waves form, and made sandcastle 'cliffs' to see the effects of the erosion!

This geography session can be booked year-round: contact info@charmouth.org

A little sneak peak at something special! We've been anticipating this one all year and Nic Reast has done a phenomenal job preparing this one! Stay tuned for the big reveal for #FossilFriday or come by the Centre to see it now!

We always get excited about finding some of these on the beach, and plenty of people come in hoping they've found some! Congratulations to the Woodhall family on today's fossil walk on finding this brilliant pair of fossil poos!

Daisy is holding a beef rock ammonite impression ~5cm across.

We had a great fossil walk today! Our group found beef ammonites and belemnites galore, along with pieces of crinoid, cretaceous sponge and shells, and an ichthyosaur bone. This ammonite was Daisy's favourite fossil!

We still have spaces on our upcoming fossil walks: charmouth.org/chcc/events-...

For more details and how to enter check here: charmouth.org/chcc/fossilc...

Only two weekends to go to get your Children's Fossil Competition 2025 entries in, remember that deadline is September 30th! Get your fossil find presentations in before then for the chance to display your finds in the Centre and at The Etches Collection and Lyme Regis Museum!

We've had a brilliant beach find brought in for us to see this #FossilFriday! This chunk of bone is from an ichthyosaur's jaw and even has a few small teeth sitting in their dental groove!

We've had our annual visit from this year's Portsmouth palaeo students, checking out our displays and finding out about the work we do here on the Jurassic Coast! Even checking out a couple of their fossil finds from a morning wander on the beach!

It's not far away now so make a note of it! A little over a month until our Craft and Fossil Fair, save the date! We'll be joined by a host of local crafts makers and fossil collectors in the village hall on October 25th.

Well done! Brilliant last minute find! 🎉

ichthyosaur vertebrae

ichthyosaur vertebrae

My family and I went fossil hunting at Charmouth with @charmouthhcc.bsky.social on Saturday. My 4 year old was spectacular at finding Ammonites, but I was pleased to spot a ichthyosaur vertebrae right as the tour was ending.
Is it the biggest? No. But it's mine.
Now, how do I mount it to a wall?