Berry Head Nature Reserve: Where the Limestone Meets the Channel

Stand on the tip of Berry Head and you’re on the edge of the country’s most layered piece of coast. Underneath you, 390-million-year-old Devonian limestone. Around you, the most protected headland in Torbay (Special Area of Conservation, National Nature Reserve, SSSI and a Scheduled Ancient Monument, all at once). In front of you, the English Channel, with the cliffs of the Jurassic Coast on a clear day. Berry Head Nature Reserve is the kind of place you can do in an hour with a coffee or a half-day with binoculars, and either way you leave feeling like you’ve earned the air.

What Berry Head Actually Is

Berry Head is a limestone promontory at the southern end of Tor Bay, run by the Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust. The reserve covers around 50 hectares of cliff, grassland and woodland, and the headland itself sticks out far enough into the Channel that on the right day you’ll see ships heading up the coast that look like they’ve come from another country (because they have).

Two Napoleonic-era forts (the North and South Forts, built from 1795) sit on the headland and are free to wander around. The walls and gun emplacements are still legible, and the Trust have done a tidy job of interpretation without overdoing it. The visitor centre at the South Fort, with the Guardhouse Cafe attached, is your starting point.

The Guillemot Colony

From April to July, Berry Head hosts the largest mainland guillemot colony on the south coast of England. Numbers average around 1,200 birds across the season. They breed on a single 200-foot cliff face on the southern side of the headland, and the noise (and smell) is part of the experience. A small bird hide on the cliff edge looks directly across at the colony, and a CCTV feed from the rocks plays inside the visitor centre.

The colony is protected as the only Area of Special Protection in the UK that prohibits boats from approaching during breeding. Bring binoculars (or borrow a pair from the visitor centre) and a little patience. You’ll usually also see fulmars, kittiwakes and razorbills, and peregrines breed on the cliffs every year.

The Lighthouse

Berry Head Lighthouse, built in 1906, is famously both the shortest in Britain (about five metres tall) and the highest above sea level (200 feet up). The reason is simple. The headland is so high that a tall tower would have been a hindrance rather than a help. You can’t go inside, but it makes for a good photograph and a sensible turn-around point at the very end of the headland. A small viewing platform next to it gives you the open Channel view.

The Walk and How Long to Allow

From the main car park, a wide, mostly level path leads out to the lighthouse in about 15 minutes. It’s pushchair-friendly to that point. From there, paths drop south along the cliff edge to Cod Rock and the guillemot hide, or loop around the North Fort with views down into Brixham harbour and across the bay to Torquay.

For a longer walk, pick up the South West Coast Path heading south. It’s about a mile to St Mary’s Bay (with a swim option) and another mile and a half to Sharkham Point, both genuinely good extensions and a way to escape the headland crowds in summer.

If you’d rather walk in than drive, it’s a half-hour stroll from Brixham harbour, much of it along the coast path past Shoalstone tidal pool.

Practical Information

Address and postcode: Gillard Road, Brixham, TQ5 9AW. The car park is at the end of the lane.

Parking: pay-and-display, run by the Trust. Charges go straight back into managing the reserve, which is a fair trade.

Opening: the reserve itself is open year-round, dawn to dusk, free to enter. The visitor centre and Guardhouse Cafe operate seasonal hours; broadly open daily in summer and most days off-season, but check the Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust website if you’re making a special trip.

Dogs: welcome on leads. The headland is grazed in places by ponies, so a lead matters.

Accessibility: the main path to the lighthouse is wide, level and suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs. The cliff-edge paths and the descent to the bird hide are not.

Cafe: the Guardhouse Cafe inside the South Fort does breakfasts, light lunches and very good cake. Outdoor terrace seating with a clean view across the Channel.

When to Visit Berry Head Nature Reserve

For the guillemots: April through early July, with peak numbers in May and June. For wildflowers and butterflies on the grassland: May to August. For dramatic sea conditions and migrating birds: September and October. For a brisk, blowy headland walk with the place almost to yourself: any clear day between November and March.

Berry Head Nature Reserve is a short drive or walk from anywhere in Torbay, but it’s worth treating as a destination rather than a stop. Allow at least two hours, longer if the cake at the Guardhouse Cafe does its job. For more of the coast around Brixham, see our guide to the town’s secret coves and headland walks.