WHILE Dorset’s Jurassic Coast is the country’s most well-known spot for fossil hunting, there are other parts of the UK where Brits can live out their Jurassic Park fantasies.
One of those places is Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex.
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Brit holidaymakers can go fossil hunting in Walton-on-the-Naze in EssexCredit: AFP
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The Essex seaside town is known for its colourful beach hutsCredit: Alamy
Even though the seaside resort town is known for its golden sand beach, its rapidly eroding coastline is also an ideal location for fossil hunting.
According to the Essex Wildlife Trust, beach-goers in the seaside town can find fossils dating from 55 to 52 million years ago.
While dinosaur fossils won’t be among those on the beach, holidaymakers might be able to find things like shark teeth and fossilised slugs and snails.
Other fossils include that of bird bones, lobster, crab, shells, turtles, snakes, crocodiles and a few mammals.
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Visitors who want to learn more about fossil hunting in the Walton-on-the-Naze can head to the Naze Nature Discovery Centre.
Open year-round, visitors just need to pay for parking.
Arguably the seaside town’s best attraction is its golden sand beach, which is lined with colourful beach huts.
Holidaymakers have raved about the beach on TripAdvisor, with one person writing: “A lovely clean beach that’s always a good place to go where families could spend the whole day”.
Another added: “It was my first time here, and what a stunning beach.
“The colourful beach huts are delightful, and there was free parking too.”
The up-and-coming English seaside town with cheap booze and huge beaches
A third said: “A great never-ending beach with lots of space, so you never feel on top of anyone.”
The sandy beach is also home to the second-longest pier in Great Britain – Walton Pier.
Inside Walton Pier, there are VR attractions, funfair rides, arcade games, a ten-pin bowling alley, an escape room, climbing walls as well as a soft play area.
Other attractions include the Naze Tower – an 86ft tower that’s now home to an art gallery.
For overnight stays, there are a range of accommodation options including hotels, holiday cottages, and campsites.
Charmouth, a village in Dorset, is another prime location for fossil hunting.
Make a beeline for Charmouth Beach and get booked onto a fossil hunting walk with Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre.
The 90-minute walking tour takes place outdoors where a guide helps holidaymakers search for fossils, with visitors even able to take their treasures home.
Can you get fined for taking fossils home?
WHILE some fossil hunters will simply choose to look and not touch, there will be others who will want to take their treasures home.
The rules surrounding fossils are a little grey, with holidaymakers needing to do their own research because every area is different.
According to the Natural History Museum, holidaymakers will need to make sure they have the “appropriate permission and access rights” to take fossils home.
For example, some areas are Sites of Special Scientific Interest, which may have extra restrictions.
Guidance on the Natural History Museum website states: “Always look up and follow the rules for the specific areas you visit or those imposed by owners or controllers, which can include obtaining permission to access and collect in the area, avoiding disturbing wildlife, and recording what you found and where. In some places you can look but mustn’t collect anything.”
Meanwhile, ROARR! Dinosaur Adventure in Norfolk is set to open a new land in 2026.
Gigantosaurus Land will be based on an animated series of the same name, which currently streams worldwide on services like Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney Plus.
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Holidaymakers won’t find dinosaurs fossils but prehistoric creatures once roamed in EssexCredit: Getty