Axmouth to Lyme Regis Undercliffs NNR

The walk between Axmouth and Lyme Regis is genuinely one of Devon's best-kept secrets, though it's not a stroll you'll forget in a hurry. The Undercliffs form a three-mile stretch of ancient landslip woodland that drops down to the sea, and it feels properly primordial - the kind of place where you half expect a dinosaur to amble out from behind a fern. Which makes sense, given Lyme Regis's famous fossil heritage just along the coast.

What you're actually walking through is a dense, tumbling forest of oak and ash, with the ground beneath your feet unstable in places - this landscape is still moving, shifting, subsiding. The trees are gnarled and twisted by decades of minor slippage. It's muddy, often steep, and absolutely brilliant for anyone who likes a proper woodland walk without the tourist crowds. The views across the Channel appear suddenly between the trees.

Walkers will get the most from this. It's not a destination walk - it's a two to three hour traverse that needs planning (you'll need transport sorted at each end). Families with young kids will struggle with the terrain and steepness. Spring and early summer are best, when the ground's firmer and the woodland floor blooms.

It's free and the walk connects directly with Lyme Regis, so it works brilliantly as part of a broader coastal holiday. Seaton, a few miles north, is the nearest town for supplies. If you're based at Beer Head Holiday Park or Seadown Holiday Park, this is comfortably accessible - worth rearranging your itinerary for.