Blue Anchor Beach

The quiet end of Blue Anchor Bay

Blue Anchor is a village beach, quite different from the resort front at Minehead Beach. The village takes its name from a 17th-century inn, and the bay was once called Cleeve Bay. The West Somerset Railway describes it as a quiet seaside village with a long sandy beach, and a holiday park runs along the top of the promenade outside the station. The beach looks west towards Minehead and Dunster.

Cliffs and fossils

Blue Anchor is one end of the Blue Anchor to Lilstock Coast SSSI, where Triassic cliffs are prized for their variety of fossils. Coloured alabaster from these cliffs gave “Watchet Blue” its name. The same stretch continues east to Kilve, which has a fossil beach of its own. Because the SSSI covers the shore, follow the fossil collecting code and collect only responsibly. The Quantock Hills team (01823 451884) can advise on what you may take home.

Tide, water and safety

The Bristol Channel’s large tidal range is the thing to plan around. Somerset Council warns that people could get trapped at the bottom of cliffs by an incoming tide, and that warning signs stand at most beach access points. The council provides life-saving equipment at Blue Anchor beach. The RNLI’s 2026 lifeguard season in Somerset covered Brean and Burnham-on-Sea, so there is no lifeguard here.

The Environment Agency monitors bathing water here, and the council puts up signs at the beach showing the rating. Read them before anyone goes in.

Dogs, trains and facilities

Dog rules are set by Somerset Council, so read its public spaces protection orders page and the beach signs first. The station is the other practical draw: it has two long platforms reached by ramps, a booking office and toilets, though currently no disabled toilet facilities. The down platform building houses a small Great Western Railway museum. For the neighbouring places, see Dunster and Minehead.