Coast is calling

WESTON-SUPER-MARE, with its Grand Pier and arcades, its glitz and commercialism, is not everybody's cup of tea.

- with Nigel Vile

If your preference is for rather more remote and desolate coastline, then head a few miles north from Weston to the vast sandy expanse of Sand Bay. A two-mile stretch of beach, backed by sand dunes, stretches away towards the distant rocky headland at Sand Point and Middle Hope, as rugged and spectacular as any stretch of coast along the Bristol Channel.

This rocky headland is steeped in history. Across the flat hilltop, there are traces of banks thought to represent early pre-historic field systems. Archaeological excavations have revealed two Iron Age settlements, Romano-British pottery fragments and a fourth-century coin of the Valentinian period. Castle Batch, the mound just west of the trig point, is a Norman motte whose mound and ditch were unfortunately disturbed during wartime construction at the site.

The area was the scene of a “Secret War” during the 1939-45 conflict. Unusual experiments took place on Middle Hope that involved a pair of high-speed catapult tracks laid down for missile testing. These missiles were said to be “unlike any seen in the history of modern warfare”. These wartime days are long gone, leaving a peaceful and tranquil coastal scene that is popular with walkers and ornithologists, sea fisherman and young families playing on the shingle and exploring the rock pools.