West Bexington (Chesil Beach)

West Bexington is the quiet, walkable western end of Chesil Beach - the extraordinary 18-mile shingle barrier that runs dead straight toward Portland, with the brackish Fleet lagoon trapped behind it. From the air the sheer scale and geometry of the pebble bank are the draw, sweeping away to a hazy Portland on the horizon. There's a Dorset Council pay-and-display car park right at the beach, and the shingle foreshore is Crown/Ilchester Estate rather than National Trust, so take-off is straightforward. The important caveat is wildlife: Chesil and the Fleet form a protected SSSI and nature reserve, and ringed plover and little terns nest on the open shingle from spring into summer - keep well away from the beach crest and the lagoon in that window, and fly out over the sea instead. There's no controlled airspace nearby. This coast is fully exposed to the prevailing southwesterlies, so it's often windy and the shingle offers no shelter; choose a calm, clear day. Sunrise and sunset both work because the beach runs east-southeast; a low sun raking down the endless pebble ridge, with the Fleet glinting behind, is the signature frame here.