Weston-Super-Mare (one of the world’s highest tidal ranges)
Somerset is a large county that has a wonderful coastline (a lot is sinking mud, so take care) and pretty villages inland. And of course, this is the home to scrumpy cider!
Known for a wide sandy beach, Weston-super-Mare is a popular place that lets you see all the way to Wales, on a clear day. Names after Old English for ‘west settlement’ (super-mare is Latin for ‘above the sea’).
It has one of the world’s highest tidal ranges (the only one higher is in Canada), situated on the Bristol channel.
If at the coast, keep away from nesting birds and never walk on sand dunes. Learn how to keep dogs safe by the seaside (check beach bans before travel).
That dramatic tidal range comes with hazards. Weston’s mud can behave like quicksand in places, especially where water drains through soft silt. So it’s worth taking the warnings seriously, and keeping to firm sand and marked areas. Even if it looks solid, the surface can shift underfoot, and the tide can cut off routes back.
Better welfare for donkey rides
Alas the town is one of the few seaside resorts that still offers donkey rides for children. Unlike abroad, donkeys here are inspected for welfare, but most parents now are choosing to move on from donkey rides.
The birthplace of Jill Dando
Jill Dando was raised here, and there is a memorial garden in her name, after her tragic murder. ‘Jill’s Garden’ took 3 days of work by the BBC Ground Force team, and contains her favourite flowers (roses, lavender and trees) plus a foaming fountain, a disabled ramp and a sensory garden.
Founded in her memory, The Good News Post is an online digital newspaper, packed with good stories. It’s powered by an ‘expanding army’ of young journalists age 7 to 18. Her journalist brother also helps out.
Jill grew up in the town, her first job being on a local newspaper. Born with a hole in her heart, she had surgery to correct it, and was a committed Baptist Christian for the rest of her life.
Of course, there was great tragedy when age 37, she was shot dead outside her home in London, and the killer has never been found (despite the largest investigation since the Yorkshire ripper).
She presented the first episode of an antiques show, just one day before she died. Some believe she was shot in revenge for hosting a BBC Kosovo Crisis appeal, which raised over £1 million in 24 hours, just before she died.
Diana Dors was the local beauty queen!
Blonde bombshell actress Diana Dors placed third in her first beauty contest here, back in 1947. Born in Swindon, there are still surviving contests, showing the contestants. The winner was Miss Beryl Smith!
Nowadays beauty contests have gone out of fashion, but back then it was all a bit of harmless fun. Local people recall her visiting a nearby cafe to have a ‘natter’ during her visit.
Born Diana Mary Fluck, she went onto become a major film star. Catch her without her make-up in the film Yield to the Night, based on the last days of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged. Boy, could she act.
After her death, her son could never find the estimated £2 million of her fortune hidden in European banks, because she had given the code to her third husband, who committed suicide from grief, after her death from cancer.
