Bossington Beach is a pebble beach at the eastern end of Porlock Bay. Park at the pretty village of Bossington and take note of Kitnors tearoom situated next to the car park. It’s a very welcome place for refreshments after your walk to the beach.
The beach and the surrounding landscape is a very interesting place, where the shingle acts as a barrier to the adjacent marshland and a number of rare bird and insect species live behind this natural wall. Evidence of the Second World War is evident as well, with pillboxes and a ruined control centre situated on the edge of the pebbles.
A walk of 2.5 miles from the Bossington Car Park will take you onto the beach, to the gun emplacements and then along the shingle to the old coastguard lookout station beneath the rocky outcrop.
A peculiarity is the River Horner, which seems to disappear as it approaches the bay. After creating the marshes behind the beach, the river soaks into the shingle, where it filters into the sea via many small underground rivulets.
The peace and quiet of much of the Somerset Coast belies its past which at certain periods was far from either, particularly during the time when the County was the base for King Alfred’s resistance to the Vikings. If you look out to the island of Steep Holm, so named because it was where the Danes over-wintered ready to invade, you can perhaps imagine the distinctive boats setting sail for the shore fortified to repel them.