**NIX JURASSIC: THREE NIGHTS, THREE PUBS AND 185 MILLION YEARS**

Stafford → Studland → Durdle Door → Chesil Beach → Lyme Regis → Sidmouth → Exmouth → Stafford

There are road trips where the destination matters.

And then there are road trips where the road itself is the whole point.

This one is very definitely the latter.

I’ve decided Vanilla and I are going to tackle the entire Jurassic Coast from east to west, beginning at Studland in Dorset and finishing at Exmouth in Devon.

Three nights.

Monday morning to Thursday.

No campsites in the conventional sense.

No rushing from attraction to attraction like I’m collecting Nectar points.

Just Vanilla, the Dorset and Devon coast, three carefully chosen pub stopovers, some serious photography, long walks, autumn weather, the Webasto glowing away at night and roughly 185 million years of geological history rolling past the windscreen.

🟠🚐🌊🍺📸

And there’s something wonderfully NIX about the whole idea.

The Jurassic Coast stretches for approximately 95 miles between Studland Bay and Exmouth. The rocks exposed along it span the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and record around 185 million years of Earth’s history. It remains England’s only natural UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I’m going to drive it backwards.

Geologically speaking, anyway.

I’ll begin among the younger chalk formations around Old Harry Rocks and gradually head west towards increasingly ancient rock, finishing among the deep red Triassic cliffs around Exmouth.

My own little drive through deep time.

Except with a VW Transporter, a pint at the end of each day and significantly better heating than anything available during the Jurassic period.

🔥🦖

I’ll leave Stafford early on Monday morning and reach Studland around lunchtime.

From there the trip unfolds gradually westward:

Stafford → Studland → Old Harry Rocks → Swanage → Corfe Castle → Kimmeridge → Wool

Wool → Lulworth Cove → Durdle Door → Weymouth → Chesil Beach → Abbotsbury

Abbotsbury → West Bay → Charmouth → Lyme Regis → Seaton → Beer → Sidmouth

Sidmouth → Budleigh Salterton → Exmouth → Stafford

Three nights away.

Three pubs.

And crucially, enough time actually to stop.

This isn't going to be one of those ridiculous trips where I arrive somewhere beautiful, photograph it through the windscreen and immediately leave because Google Maps says I'm 14 minutes behind schedule.

Vanilla wasn't built for that.

She was built for wandering.

The alarm will be early.

Coffee.

Fridge checked.

Fogstar charged.

Camera gear aboard.

Webasto ready for later.

Then I'll point Vanilla south.

The first major target is Studland, because just beyond it stand Old Harry Rocks, the great white chalk stacks at the eastern end of the Jurassic Coast.

This feels like exactly the right place to start.

Not an arbitrary road sign.

Not a service station.

A cliff.

A proper geographical edge.

I want to park near Studland and walk out towards Old Harry rather than simply seeing it from somewhere in the distance.

There’s about a mile of walking involved from the South Beach area to the rocks, which is just enough to make arriving there feel earned.

The drone photographer in me will inevitably be thinking about angles, light and enormous sweeping shots.

The sensible adult in me will meanwhile be remembering that this coastline has cliffs.

We shall see which one wins.

From Studland I'll continue through Swanage and then inland slightly towards Corfe Castle.

Corfe is one of those places I can never imagine simply driving through.

The ruined castle dominates the village from its hill and looks almost deliberately designed for photography.

Then it's towards Kimmeridge Bay.

And suddenly the geology starts changing.

The polished postcard scenery around Studland gives way to something darker and considerably moodier.

Kimmeridge has huge rock ledges reaching into the sea, cliffs behind them and the distinctive Clavell Tower looking down across the bay.

If the October weather turns dramatic rather than simply wet, it could be spectacular.

Then, as daylight starts disappearing, I'll head inland towards Wool.

And pub number one.

My first overnight base will be the Seven Stars near Wool.

Seven Stars official website

This is an independent free house with food, real ale, a large parking area and its own campervan/camping provision behind the pub. Campervan stopover directories list it as a motorhome pub stop, although this one operates more like a simple pub campsite than merely permission to occupy an ordinary parking bay.

That distinction doesn't bother me.

Actually, it probably makes night one easier.

I'll ring before setting off and confirm exactly where they want Vanilla parked and what the current overnight charge is.

Then I can forget about everything.

Park up.

Webasto on.

Curtain across.

Possibly the B&O playing quietly.

Walk approximately twenty metres.

Pub.

😂🍺

That's my sort of infrastructure.

The pub currently serves evening food until 9pm Monday to Friday, so there should be no desperate hunting for dinner after a long day on the road.

Monday night should therefore consist of:

Vanilla warm.

Battery barely noticing.

Good dinner.

Pint.

Bed.

Lovely.

Tuesday morning is when the Jurassic Coast starts throwing its greatest hits at me.

And they're all relatively close together.

First:

Lulworth Cove.

Then:

Durdle Door.

Durdle Door is probably the single image most people immediately associate with the Jurassic Coast.

That extraordinary limestone arch looks almost too theatrical to be natural.

I'll deliberately give this part of the trip time.

Park Vanilla.

Boots on.

Walk down.

Take the camera.

Ignore the clock.

The temptation with a road trip is constantly to say:

"Right, seen that. Next."

I don't want this journey to work that way.

I want to actually experience these places.

If that means sitting above Durdle Door with a coffee for twenty minutes doing absolutely nothing, brilliant.

Afterwards I'll continue towards Weymouth.

Depending on daylight and weather, I've also got an optional diversion south towards Portland Bill.

I'm not making it compulsory.

This trip isn't a military operation.

If October produces clear skies, I'll go.

If horizontal rain starts ricocheting off Vanilla's bonnet, Portland can wait.

From Weymouth the route heads west towards one of Britain's strangest coastal features.

Chesil Beach.

Eighteen miles of shingle.

A huge sweeping barrier between sea and lagoon.

Completely different again.

And then comes one of the sections I'm really looking forward to driving.

The B3157 towards Abbotsbury.

Sea to the left.

Dorset hills around me.

Vanilla wandering west.

No motorway.

No timetable.

Just one of those roads where the journey becomes the attraction.

This may be the stop I'm most excited about.

The Swan Inn at Abbotsbury actively welcomes customers staying overnight in campervans.

Swan Inn Abbotsbury official website

Even better, their own campervan page makes the arrangement wonderfully straightforward.

If you're eating or drinking at the pub, you can stay overnight in your van as their guest.

No elaborate booking system.

No reception hut.

No little plastic campsite barrier.

Pub.

Food.

Drink.

Van.

That'll do nicely.

Swan Inn campervan stopover information

There is one particularly important warning for my October trip.

The pub specifically warns that between October and March the left side of its field can become boggy, and recommends checking the ground carefully before parking.

Now...

Vanilla is wearing General Grabber AT3s.

Which means somewhere in the back of my mind there will inevitably be a tiny voice saying:

"Go on. You'll be fine."

No.

😂

I don't particularly want the highlight of NIX JURASSIC to become a photograph entitled:

Firm ground only.

If the pub area is full, there's also an overnight campervan option in the village car park immediately behind it, currently advertised by the Swan as £8 for 24 hours.

So there is a backup.

But assuming everything goes to plan, Tuesday night should be beautifully simple.

A tiny Dorset village.

Traditional pub.

Autumn evening.

Vanilla outside.

Webasto maintaining 21°C.

Fogstar running the fridge and heater without drama.

Battery anxiety: extinct.

Appropriate for a Jurassic Coast trip, really.

🦕🔋

Wednesday begins at Abbotsbury and continues west.

This is the day when the trip starts feeling less like visiting individual landmarks and more like following one enormous landscape.

First stop:

West Bay.

Those towering golden cliffs make the whole place look gigantic.

Then onwards towards Charmouth.

This is fossil country.

Actual fossil country.

Not gift-shop-ammonite country.

The cliffs around Charmouth and Lyme Regis are famous internationally for fossil discoveries and the wider coast preserves one of the great continuous geological records on Earth.

Then comes:

Lyme Regis.

This one gets proper time.

The Cobb.

Harbour.

Old buildings.

Beach.

Lunch.

Camera.

Probably far too many photographs.

Then I'll cross into Devon.

And something starts happening to the colour palette.

White chalk and golden cliffs gradually surrender to rich oranges and reds.

I'll pass through Seaton and make another stop at Beer, partly because it's beautiful and partly because stopping somewhere called Beer during a pub-stop road trip is practically compulsory.

🍺

Then onwards to Sidmouth.

By now I'll be deep into East Devon.

The cliffs are red.

The buildings change.

The whole landscape feels different.

Which is exactly what this journey is supposed to demonstrate.

This recent film explores Budleigh Salterton, Sidmouth, Beer and Seaton, exactly the stretch I'll be crossing towards the end of my trip.

And for a closer look at Sidmouth itself:

Then it's time for my final pub.

A couple of miles inland from Sidmouth sits the Blue Ball at Sidford.

Blue Ball Sidford official website

This one looks almost comically perfect for Vanilla.

It's a traditional thatched Devon inn dating back centuries, sitting just outside Sidmouth with a large car park.

More importantly, recent 2026 visitors specifically report ringing the pub, receiving permission to stay overnight in their campervan or motorhome, eating there and sleeping in the car park.

One July 2026 visitor described exactly that arrangement, while another April review records the pub agreeing to a campervan overnight stay after being contacted beforehand.

So this is definitely a phone-first stop rather than simply turning up and assuming.

And that's fine.

I'd always rather ask.

I'll ring ahead, explain that I'm travelling in a self-contained VW campervan, book dinner and confirm that they're happy for Vanilla to stay overnight.

Then Wednesday evening becomes the final pub night of the trip.

There is something beautifully old-fashioned about all this.

Drive somewhere remarkable.

Park.

Have dinner in the village pub.

Walk twenty yards back to the van.

Heat on.

Music.

Sleep.

No campsite entertainment complex.

No wristband.

No hookup lead stretched across wet grass.

Just the road.

Thursday morning I'll leave Sidford and continue through Sidmouth towards Budleigh Salterton.

By now the Jurassic Coast is approaching its western end.

I'll stop at Budleigh for coffee and a walk along the beach.

Then comes Exmouth.

And specifically:

Orcombe Point.

This is the finish.

The GeoNeedle monument at Orcombe marks the western gateway to the World Heritage Site.

And when I stand there, the trip will be complete.

From Old Harry Rocks in Dorset...

to Exmouth in Devon.

Roughly 95 miles of World Heritage coastline.

Around 185 million years of geological history.

Three nights.

Three pub stops.

One campervan.

🟠🚐🌍

And one slightly ridiculous thought:

I've essentially spent four days driving through time.

The Jurassic Coast's famous geology represents a sequence of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks, and travelling east to west broadly moves me from younger formations towards older ones.

That means Monday's white chalk at Old Harry and Thursday's red Devon cliffs aren't simply different scenery.

They're different chapters of the planet.

I absolutely love that.

Official pub:

Seven Stars

Telephone: 01929 462292

I'll phone before travelling to confirm the campervan stopover area and current charge.

Official pub:

Swan Inn Abbotsbury

Campervan information:

Swan Inn campervan stopover page

Telephone: 01305 871249

This one explicitly allows diners and drinkers to remain overnight in their van, subject to space.

Official pub:

Blue Ball Sidford

Telephone: 01395 514062

Recent campervan and motorhome visitors report successful overnight stays after arranging them with the pub first.

There's another reason I'm unusually excited about this trip.

This is exactly the sort of journey I've spent months preparing Vanilla for.

The 105Ah Fogstar LiFePO₄ under the seat.

Victron solar.

200W panel.

Orion DC-to-DC charging.

SmartShunt.

The Jackery reserve.

Webasto diesel heating.

Fridge.

Privacy curtain.

Warm lights.

Proper off-grid capability.

Everything suddenly makes sense on a trip like this.

Three cold-ish October nights parked outside pubs without needing electric hookup isn't a compromise anymore.

It's the point.

Drive during the day.

Recharge while moving.

Pick up whatever October sunshine appears.

Park in the evening.

Run the heater.

Keep the beer cold.

Sleep somewhere interesting.

Wake up.

Repeat.

Vanilla has slowly transformed from a converted Transporter into something much more important to me:

freedom with number plates.

And this trip might be one of the purest examples yet.

🚐 Stafford ⬇️ 🌊 Studland ⬇️ 📸 Old Harry Rocks ⬇️ Swanage ⬇️ 🏰 Corfe Castle ⬇️ Kimmeridge ⬇️ 🍺 Seven Stars ⬇️ Lulworth Cove ⬇️ 🌊 Durdle Door ⬇️ Weymouth ⬇️ Chesil Beach ⬇️ 🍺 Swan Inn, Abbotsbury ⬇️ West Bay ⬇️ Charmouth ⬇️ 🦕 Lyme Regis ⬇️ Seaton ⬇️ Beer ⬇️ Sidmouth ⬇️ 🍺 Blue Ball, Sidford ⬇️ Budleigh Salterton ⬇️ 🏁 Exmouth / Orcombe Point ⬇️ 🚐 Stafford

That's the adventure.

Not thousands of miles.

Not continental borders.

Not ferries.

Not a three-week European expedition.

Just a campervan leaving Stafford on Monday morning and coming home Thursday.

But between those two moments I'll have driven from the white chalk stacks of Dorset to the red cliffs of Devon, walked some of Britain's greatest coastline, slept outside three old pubs, photographed whatever October throws at me and watched the geology of an entire section of England change through Vanilla's windscreen.

Sometimes the best trips don't need to be enormous.

They just need a theme.

A road.

And somewhere good to park at the end of it.

NIX JURASSIC is on.

🟠🚐🌊🦖🍺📸🔥