Beer, Devon travel guide and Beer information

Visit Beer

Beer is a coastal resort village and beach that falls within the Jurassic coast heritage site, in south-east Devon just west of Seaton. It is also part of the East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and sits on the South West Coastal Path.

Historically the traditional village of Beer developed around smuggling, later turning to fishing, but it is now firmly focussed on tourism. Beer was one of the 20 contenders for Channel 4s Village of the Year competition 2018. Beer made it to the final! Beer was once famous for its lace too and made the lace for Queen Victoria's wedding dress.

Explore Beer

The village itself is very pleasant to explore, a traditional Devon fishing village albeit without 'major monuments'. It does though get very busy in summer. Its charming main street is full of lovely shops and cafes and leads down to a small beach which is home to a working fishing fleet.

The beach in Beer consists of pebbles, sometimes quite large, and slopes quite steeply to the sea. It is backed by white limestone cliffs either side of the village, and is a sheltered bay - hence the beach also acts as a harbour for the small local fishing boats which provide an attractive splash of colour to the setting.

As well as sunbathing on the sheltered beach it is lovely to watch the fishermen bring in the daily catch. Beer is famous for its mackerel so be sure to try it in one of the restaurants in the village. You can go out on a boat trip too on one of the mackerel fishing boats. If this gives you a taste for boat trips you can head to nearby Exmouth to do a Jurassic Coast cruise.

After ambling through the town head to the Jubilee Gardens above the cliffs, for some of the best views of the village and coastline. The Jubilee Gardens were voted best picnic spot in the UK by Countryfile for the lovely views! Walk from Beer to Seaton for some dramatic views of the Jurassic cliffs.

One unexpectedly interesting attraction here is the Beer Quarry Caves. The stone from these quarries has been used since Roman times and provided building stone for Windsor Castle and Saint Paul's Cathedral, among many important buildings.The quarries are no longer actively worked but are open for guided visits, showing the different methods of quarrying used over the centuries.

The Pecorama Pleasure Gardens at Beer has a miniature steam train that meanders a couple of kilometres through the gardens and countryside (popular with adults and children alike!) and various other exhibits related to trains, along with a carefully planned (and very pretty) garden walk and other family-fosussed entertainments such as Crazy Golf.

Places to visit nearby

Visit the picturesque village of Branscombe with its thatched cottages, a little way west of Beer, that runs steeply down to a shingle beach. Both Sidmouth and Lyme Regis are attractive seaside towns and make good bases for exploring this section of Devon and the Jurassic coast.

You can find more local travel ideas in the East Devon guide and the Devon guide.