The coastal strip from Budleigh Salterton in East Devon to Swanage in West Dorset contains some of Britain's finest and most extraordinary scenery and has recently been declared the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. Deep coombes and lush meadows are interspersed with dramatically high cliffs and headlands; woods and heath with bare sandstone and lias scarps dropping vertically to the beach.

The famous undercliff to the west of Lyme Regis, site of countless landslips, is now a nature reserve, a place of wild and remote woodland and shoreline, where flora and fauna flourish undisturbed. East of Lyme Regis is Black Ven, where nature's forces send thousands of tons of rock, mud and cliff continuously tumbling and oozing into the sea.

Further east along the Jurassic Coast, the aptly-named Golden Cap rises 191 metres from the sea to form the highest cliff on the south coast. Almost immediately adjacent, the unique 28 km long Chesil Beach stretches eastwards to the strange rocky landscape of Portland Bill.

The Isle of Portland has been justly famous for its white Portland Stone from Roman times. Many famous public buildings have been built using the limestone from its many quarries, further carving into the already curious landscape. Pulpit Rock, the southerly-most point of the island, is shown here in a painting by local artist Peter Haillay.