Jurassic Coast

Swoosh, swoosh, go my waves upon the sand. Can you feel the sunshine on my tall cliffs? I have beautiful stripes of red, yellow, and white that stretch along the sparkly sea in a country called England. I have a very old secret to share with you. Hello, I am the Jurassic Coast, and I hold a secret story that is millions of years old. My story is written in the rocks for everyone to see.

My tall cliffs are like the pages in a giant storybook made of rock. Each layer of stone tells about a different time, from long, long ago. It’s a story from when big dinosaurs roamed the Earth and giant creatures swam in my waters. My story begins in a time called the Triassic period. Then it goes through the Jurassic period, which is where I get my name. It ends in the Cretaceous period. All together, my story is over 185 million years long. That is older than any person or any building you have ever seen.

Inside my rocky pages, you can find amazing treasures. These treasures are called fossils. They are the shapes of plants and animals from long ago, saved right inside the stone. A long time ago, around the year 1811, a very clever and curious girl named Mary Anning explored my shores. She looked very closely at my rocks and found the bones of a giant sea creature. It was called an ichthyosaur. It wasn't a dinosaur, but it was a big swimming reptile that lived at the same time.

Your next big adventure is waiting for you right here. You can come visit me with your family. We can listen to the waves together. You can walk on my beaches and look for swirly ammonite fossils, which look like snails turned to stone. I love it when happy children run along my shore, looking for treasures. Every shell and every stone you find is a tiny piece of my giant story, waiting for a curious explorer like you.