Where to go fossil hunting in the UK

The Jurassic Coast of Dorset and East Devon and the Yorkshire coast between Staithes and Filey are the two places where marine fossils are abundant, accessible and continually renewed by erosion. If you want ammonites and belemnites, go to one of them.

Everywhere else in Britain offers something more specialised: dinosaurs on the Isle of Wight, shark teeth in Kent, Essex and Sussex, Ice Age mammals in Norfolk, trilobites in Wales.

• Ammonites and belemnites — Dorset, Yorkshire, Somerset, the Glamorgan coast
• Shark teeth — Kent, Essex, Hampshire, Sussex, Suffolk
• Dinosaur material — the Isle of Wight, and the Sussex Wealden
• Sea urchins — chalk coasts in Devon, Norfolk and Sussex
• Trilobites, corals and crinoids — Wales, the north of England and Scotland

With young children, the priorities are a safe beach, short walks, facilities and a decent chance of finding something. Charmouth, Runswick Bay, Bracklesham Bay, Yaverland and Hunstanton all meet that description.

On your own and prepared to walk, the quieter sites — Seatown, Port Mulgrave, Bawdsey — reward the effort with less competition for the same material.

Work backwards from low water. Find the tide time for the day, aim to be on the beach two hours before it, and give yourself an hour after. Check the weather, because an exposed coast in a south-westerly is unpleasant and occasionally dangerous.

Then keep the ambition small: one beach, done thoroughly.