Coldingham Bay is an

inlet An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In marine geogra ...

in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

coast, just over three kilometres north of the town of

Eyemouth Eyemouth ( sco, Heymooth) is a small town and civil parish in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is east of the main north–south A1 road and north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. The town's name comes from its location at th ...

in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

area of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It is situated at grid reference and is easily reached by a minor road which leaves the B6438 road at

Coldingham Coldingham ( sco, Cowjum) is a village and parish in Scottish Borders, on Scotland's southeast coastline, north of Eyemouth. Parish The parish lies in the east of the Lammermuir district. It is the second-largest civil parish by area in Berwic ...

The Beach

Coldingham Sands is the name of the large beach in the Bay. It attracts many visitors, and on busy days there can be over 1000 visitors on the beach.Scottish Borders Council.
Gives details of Homeli Knoll and states there are 55 beach huts and can be over 1000 daily visitors. Coldingham Sands is a sandy seashore, which is a rare occurrence on

Berwickshire Berwickshire ( gd, Siorrachd Bhearaig) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. Berwickshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975, when the area became part of th ...

's rocky coast. The beach was awarded the prestigious Blue Flag award in 2010 and has also received the Seaside Award which is for beaches that are more rural in character, being quieter and less developed. The

Marine Conservation Society The Marine Conservation Society is a UK based not-for-profit organization working with businesses, governments and communities to clean and protect the oceans. Founded in 1983, the group claims to be working towards "cleaner, better-protected, h ...

awarded the beach its top award for cleanliness in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. There is a cafe, toilets, disabled access and car parking.Berwick News 2.
Gives details of beach and award. The beach, which is approximately 200 metres wide, is well sheltered by

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, John ...

s to the north and south (Yellow Craig Head), with rocky sections at both extremities of the sand. The beach is popular with

surfers Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitable ...

and bodyboarders, and a

lifeguard A lifeguard is a rescuer who supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, beach, spa, river and lake. Lifeguards are trained in swimming and CPR/ AED first a ...

attends the beach during busy summer periods. The north end of the beach has 55

beach hut A beach hut (also known as a beach cabin, beach box or bathing box) is a small, usually wooden and often brightly coloured, box above the high tide mark on popular bathing beaches. They are generally used as a shelter from the sun or wind, chan ...

s, some of which are believed to be about 100 years old. The huts are leased from the

Scottish Borders Council Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

which owns the sands but not the huts.Berwickshire News.
Gives details of beach huts. At the top of the high ground above the huts are several private dwellings plus the Dunlaverock House hotel."The Scottish Beach Award Guide" (leaflet) Gives general details on Coldingham Sands.Keep Scotland Beautiful.
Gives details of Coldingham Sands.

The Bay and its surroundings

Coldingham Bay is situated within the St. Abbs and Eyemouth Voluntary Marine Reserve which itself is part of the

and North Northumberland Coast

Special Area of Conservation A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

. The rocky shore around the bay has much marine life, with many types of sea creatures and

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

to be found. The large area of

tide pool A tide pool or rock pool is a shallow pool of seawater that forms on the rocky intertidal shore. Many of these pools exist as separate bodies of water only at low tide. Many tide pool habitats are home to especially adaptable animals that ...

s is popular with rockpoolers. Slightly inland from the seashore is an area of

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

s and grassland which provides a fragile habitat for a host of plants and animals. Visitors are requested to keep to the paths, not to pick flowers or light fires in this area to protect the environment. The Berwickshire Coastal Path goes round the perimeter of the bay and provides walks that give easy access to

St Abbs St Abbs is a small fishing village on the southeastern coast of Scotland, within the Coldingham parish of Scottish Borders. The village was originally known as ''Coldingham Shore'', the name St Abbs being adopted in the 1890s. The new name wa ...

and Eyemouth. At the southern extremity of the beach lies Homeli Knoll (or Knowe), a steep-sided hillock which provides fine views of the beach area and along the coast. The south-facing slope of the Knoll has seen sightings of the

small blue The small blue (''Cupido minimus'') is a Palearctic butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. Despite its common name, it is not particularly blue. The male has some bluish suffusion at the base of its upper wings but is mostly dark brown like the fem ...

butterfly and its sole larval food plant

kidney vetch ''Anthyllis vulneraria'', the common kidneyvetch, kidney vetch or woundwort is a medicinal plant native to Europe. The name ''vulneraria'' means "wound healer". Description ''Anthyllis vulneraria'' reaches of height. The stem is simple or more ...

(''Anthyllis vulneraria'') grows there. The north slope of the Knoll is a popular site for cowslip. Milldown Burn flows into the southern part of the Bay and is its main inflowing water source, rising on Coldingham Moor and running for 6 km through the village of

before reaching the Bay. On the north side of the bay stands The Kip, an eight-metre-high

sea stack A stack or sea stack is a geological landform consisting of a steep and often vertical column or columns of rock in the sea near a coast, formed by wave erosion. Stacks are formed over time by wind and water, processes of coastal geomorphology. ...

which stands on dry land at low tide. At the southern extremity of the bay are the 30-metre-high grassy cliffs of Yellow Craig. Other accommodation facilities for visitors to Coldingham Bay are available at the St Vedas Hotel which was built in 1897. The Coldingham Sands

Youth Hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ba ...

, another late 19th-century house, was closed by the

Scottish Youth Hostels Association Hostelling Scotland (SYHA; Gaelic: ''Comann Osdailean Òigridh na h-Alba'') is part of Hostelling International and provides youth hostel accommodation in Scotland. the organisation represents 58 hostels: 31 run by Hostelling Scotland and 27 af ...

in early 2008 after low visitor numbers deterred the investment needed to bring the hostel up to an acceptable standard. Local residents attempted to purchase the hostel under the Community Right to Buy legislation in order to keep it open for visitors who bring trade to the area, but the application to purchase the former hostel was declined in February 2009 by Lottery Funds.Berwickshire News.
Gives details of possible community buyout of Youth Hostel.
Gives general details of Youth Hostel. The property was purchased by a property development company in 2010 and has since been converted into private housing accommodation.

Gallery

Image:Coldi St. Veda.jpg, St. Vedas Hotel, Coldingham, Scottish Borders Image:Milldown Burn, Coldingham Beach.jpg, Stream from the Spout (not Milldown burn) Image:Homeli Knoll.jpg, Homeli Knoll, on Coldingham Sands

External links

RCAHMS "Scotland's Places": Coldingham

St. Abbs Community Website

Coldingham Community Website

References

{{coord, 55.89246, -2.13268, type:landmark_region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(NT918666), display=title Berwickshire Bays of Scotland Beaches of Scotland Landforms of the Scottish Borders Surfing locations in Scotland

The Beach

The Bay and its surroundings

Gallery

See also

External links

References