Dawlish Seafront

The camera looks out over the seafront at Dawlish, a seaside town on the south coast of Devon. Viewers typically see the open water of the bay, the beach and the line of buildings along the townfront. The red sandstone cliffs that rise behind the town give the scene its recognisable colour and shape, and the coastal railway runs close to the shore here.

Mornings often bring calmer water and softer light along the front, while afternoons can turn breezier with more movement on the sea. Winter storms and high tides change the look of the beach and the water considerably. Summer weekends bring more people onto the promenade and the sand, and the light stays long into the evening.

Dawlish grew as a seaside resort in the nineteenth century, helped by the railway that follows the coast through red sandstone cliffs. The town sits on the edge of the Exe estuary and is a base for walking the South West Coast Path. Visitors come for the beach, the promenade and boat trips, and the town is also known for its colony of black swans on the brook.