Cliff Top Long Stay Car Park

A car park might sound like an odd thing to write home about, but this clifftop spot near Seaton is genuinely worth knowing about if you're staying in the area. The views across Lyme Bay and down to the Jurassic Coast are the real draw - you can see for miles on a clear day, and it costs nothing to park up and sit with a coffee watching the light change over the water.

It's handy if you're based at Beer Head Holiday Park just down the road, or making a longer stay at Oakdown - gives you somewhere to decompress without driving into town. The car park itself is functional, nothing fancy, but that's rather the point. Walkers use it as a launch pad for coastal paths that head both east and west. Families with restless kids might find twenty minutes of looking at the view enough; proper walkers will use it as a base for a proper hike.

The real test is the weather. On a grey day with drizzle rolling in off the sea, it's a bit bleak. But catch it right - say late afternoon in summer when the light's golden - and you understand why people come back. There's a reason the coast around here draws visitors year after year. Free, always open, and you don't need to queue or book. Just turn up.