A Heritage Coast is a strip of UK coastline designated by the Countryside Agency in England and the Countryside Council for Wales as having notable natural beauty or scientific significance.

Designated coastline

1,027 km of the English coastline and 500 km of the Welsh coastline, in both cases approximately one-third of the total length, have been designated as Heritage Coast. These coastlines are managed to conserve their natural beauty and improve accessibility for visitors.

Unlike National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), the Heritage Coast designation is non-statutory, and designations can only be made with the agreement of local authorities and land owners, however the majority of Heritage Coast falls within National Parks, AONBs or the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.

South Wales, Devon and Cornwall have more heritage coastline per mile than any other regions: over 50% of the coast between Cardiff and St Davids is heritage coast, while about 55%–60% of all Cornwall's coast is designated heritage coast, while around 60-65% of Devon is heritage coast. This contrasts with the coasts of North West England or the south-east stretch of the English Channel which have only very sporadic patches of heritage coast. This is somewhat conclusive that the best UK coastline is found in Wales and the West Country.

The first Heritage Coast was Beachy Head with its famous white cliffs.

Full list of Heritage Coasts

• County Durham
• Dale peninsula, West Pembrokeshire
• Dover-Folkestone
• East Devon
• Exmoor
• Flamborough Headland
• Glamorgan
• Godrevy-Portreath
• Gower peninsula
• Gribbin Head-Polperro, also part of South Devon AONB
• Hamstead, Isle of Wight
• Hartland peninsula (Cornwall only)
• Hartland peninsula (Devon)
• Isles of Scilly
• Lundy
• Marloes peninsula, West Pembrokeshire
• North Devon a.k.a Bideford Bay,part of the North Devon Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty
• North Norfolk
• North Northumberland
• North Yorkshire and Cleveland
• Pentire Point-Widemouth
• Penwith
• Purbeck Heritage Coast
• Rame Head
• St Agnes
• St. Bees Head
• St. Brides Bay heritage coast, West Pembrokeshire
• St. Davids peninsula, West Pembrokeshire
• South Devon
• South Foreland
• South Pembrokeshire
• Spurn
• Suffolk
• Sussex Downs
• Tennyson Heritage Coast, Isle of Wight
• The Lizard
• The Roseland
• Trevose Head
• West Dorset Heritage Coast

External links

• Countryside Agency Heritage Coasts site
• Heritage Coasts site