Nearest Landscape & Nature UK and Ireland
Our Landscape and Nature category brings all Coast Radar’s listings related to looking for something to do or a place to visit together where they offer some form of the countryside or coast path based activity.
Finding the best things to see and do on a day out with your family or friends is easy – simply explore the countryside or coast path activity links below, hit the jump to my location button or use the search bar to plan your next UK and Ireland activity.
- Belfairs Woodland Centre is the gateway to the beautiful and ancient Belfairs and Daws Heath Living Landscape. This is an area of around 1160 acres which is vital for nature conservation.
- Cerne Abbas Giant is a huge outline sculpted into the chalk hillside above the village of Cerne Abbas representing a naked, club-wielding giant. The outline is 180ft tall making it Britain’s largest chalk hill figure and probably the most controversial. Managed by the National Trust, although parking is on the roadside and the nearest facilities are in the village Cerne Abbas.
- Tranquil park and woodland surrounding a small country house in Bovey Tracey on the edge of Dartmoor National Park. Garden park, walled garden, orchard with historic Devon cider apple trees, medieval weir on the River Bovey, woodland and riverside walks.
- Ben Lawers is a mountain in the southern part of the Scottish Highlands, lying on the northside of Loch Tay. It is one of the highest mountains in this area, standing at just over 1,200m high, and is part of the long ridge that includes seven Munros. The mountain has four ridges, most of which are covered in grass with occasional rocky outcrops. However, the slopes on the south and west ridge are very steep cliffs where beautiful alpine flowers grow.
- Port Hellick Beach sits in a sheltered tidal inlet on St Mary’s south coast and the beach at low tide offers a wide expanse of sand and rocks. This is not really a location for sitting on the beach but offers a great natural landscape. A shingle bar provides a freshwater pool (Higher Moors and Porth Hellick Pool) behind the beach that is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for the ″wide diversity of habitats with several rare and notable plant species″and making this an important stop-off for migrating and wintering birds. Sir Cloudesley Shovell, Admiral of the Fleet was temporarily buried on the beach after he was washed up here when his ship struck the rocks on 22nd October 1707, with the loss of her entire crew of about 800 men. Sir Cloudesley Shovell’s body, along with the bodies of his two stepsons and that of Captain Edmund Loades, were washed up on Porth Hellick Cove the following day. The body was subsequently exhumed by order of Queen Anne and finally laid to rest in Westminster Abbey on 22nd December 1707. A small memorial marker marks the site where he was washed ashore. The beach has no facilities.
- Burgh Island is a small tidal island off the coast of South Devon in England near to the small seaside village of Bigbury-on-Sea. There are several buildings on the island. The island is approximately 270 yards (250 m) from the mainland and is approachable on foot at low tide. At high tide, the sea tractor, which is operated by the hotel, transports pedestrians back and forth. The original vehicle was constructed in 1930; the current, third generation tractor dates from 1969. The vehicle drives across the beach with its wheels underwater on the sandy bottom while its driver and passengers sit on a platform high above. Power from a Fordson tractor engine is relayed to the wheels via hydraulic motors. The island has a network of footpaths.
- Borrowdale is famed for its oak woodlands and picturesque scenery. Includes many sites of literary or historical interest such as Castlerigg Stone Circle.
- Hartford Abbey is within a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty where you can wander around the beautiful gardens and grounds which lead to the rocky cove.
- The Tor dominates the surrounding countryside and offers spectacular views over Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire. At the summit of this very steep hill an excavation has revealed the plans of two superimposed churches of St Michael, of which only a 15th-century tower remains.
- Denmans Garden, 4 Acres of garden with all year round interest including plant centre and Garden Cafe.
- Carrauntoohil is the highest peak in Ireland at 1,038 metres (3,406 feet) high and is the central peak of the Macgillycuddy’s Reeks range. The mountain has a number of climbing routes and no special equipment is needed for the climb, but as always caution is advised.
- Ilfracombe harbour is the largest on the North Devon coast. The harbour has been critical to this are for several centuries. Ilfracombe harbour is an ideal location from which to explore North Devon, in particular areas like Lundy Island, and other harbours along the North Cornwall and Bristol Channel coasts.
