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Chesil Beach is the strangest feature of the Dorset coast, a two-hundred-yard-wide, fifty-foot-high bank of pebbles that extends for eighteen miles, its component stones gradually decreasing in size from fist-like pebbles at Portland to "pea gravel" at Burton Bradstock in the west. This sorting is an effect of the powerful coastal currents, which make this one of the most dangerous beaches in Europe - churchyards in the local villages display plenty of evidence of wrecks and drownings. Though not a swimming beach, Chesil is popular with sea anglers, and its wild, uncommercialized atmosphere makes an appealing antidote to the south-coast resorts. Chesil Beach encloses a brackish lagoon called The Fleet for much of its length - it was the setting for J. Meade Faulkner's classic smuggling tale, Moonfleet . At the point where the shingle beach attaches itself to the shore is the pretty village of ABBOTSBURY , all tawny ironstone and thatch. Its Tithe Barn is a fifteenth-century building, the last remnant of the village's Benedictine abbey, and today, as the Smuggler's Barn (daily: Easter-Oct 10am-6pm; Nov-Easter Sat & Sun 11am-dusk; last admissions 1hr before closing; GBP4.20), illustrates the ins and outs of contrabanding. The village Swannery (mid-March to Oct daily 10am-6pm; last admissions 1hr before closing; GBP5.20), a wetland reserve for mute swans, dates back to medieval times, when presumably it formed part of the abbot's larder. Other attractions include the Subtropical Gardens (daily: April-Oct 10am-6pm; Nov-March 10am-dusk; last admission 1hr before closing; GBP4.70), where delicate species thrive in the microclimate created by Chesil's stones, which act as a giant radiator to keep out all but the worst frosts. Up on the downs a couple of miles inland from Abbotsbury is a monument to Thomas Hardy, not the usual one associated with Dorset, but the flag captain in whose arms Admiral Nelson expired. Abbotsbury offers a couple of good accommodation options: Swan Lodge , 1 Rodden Row (tel 01305/871249; GBP40-50), which has fully-equipped rooms, some en suite, and the Ilchester Arms in the village centre, a handsome stone inn with fine food (tel 01305/871243; GBP40-50). BRIDPORT , just beyond the far end of Chesil Beach, is a pleasant old town of brick rather than stone, with unusually wide streets, a hangover from its rope-making days when cords made of locally grown hemp and flax were stretched between the houses. If you want to know about the rope and net industry head for the fishing resort of West Bay , Bridport's access to the sea, where the Harbour Life Exhibition (April-Oct daily 10am-5pm; GBP1) will fill you in about "Bridport daggers" (hangmen's nooses) and more besides. West Bay also has the area's best place to eat , the Riverside Restaurant , a renowned but informal fish place with good views out to sea (tel 01308/422011). Across the harbour, the Bridport Arms Hotel (tel 01308/422994; GBP60-70) offers good accommodation near the beach; alternatively, in the centre of town, try Cranston Cottage , 27 Church St (tel 01308/456240; under GBP40). Bridport's tourist office is at 32 South St (April-Oct Mon-Sat 9am-5pm; Nov-March Mon-Sat 10am-3pm; tel 01308/424901), and there's a seasonal office at West Bay sharing the same premises with the Harbour Life Exhibition (tel 01308/422807).
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