Norfolk · Directions ↗
Today at Happisburgh
FairBig tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: A big 0.6 m low tide falls towards evening.
Safe window: 7:18pm – 8:19pm
Leave the beach by 8:19pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: A big 0.6 m low tide falls towards evening.
20° · overcast · Low tide: 8:41am (0.8 m), 9:18pm (0.6 m) · Wind up to 25 km/h · Waves 0.6 m
Safe window: 8:11pm – 8:16pm
Leave the beach by 8:16pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: A big 0.7 m low tide falls towards evening. Daylight cuts the collecting window to under 45 minutes, so don't plan a long session.
23° · overcast · Low tide: 9:26am (0.8 m), 10:11pm (0.7 m) · Wind up to 27 km/h · Waves 0.8 m
Safe window: 8:23am – 11:23am
Leave the beach by 11:23am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: A big 0.9 m low tide falls mid-morning.
21° · overcast · Low tide: 10:23am (0.9 m), 11:15pm (0.9 m) · Wind up to 35 km/h · Waves 0.8 m
Safe window: 9:35am – 12:35pm
Leave the beach by 12:35pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: A big 1.0 m low tide falls at lunchtime.
20° · clear · Low tide: 11:35am (1.0 m) · Wind up to 23 km/h · Waves 0.8 m
Safe window: 10:53am – 1:53pm
Leave the beach by 1:53pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls at lunchtime, though it is not an especially big one.
22° · clear · Low tide: 12:27am (1.0 m), 12:53pm (1.0 m) · Wind up to 28 km/h · Waves 0.9 m
Safe window: 12:11pm – 3:11pm
Leave the beach by 3:11pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: A big 0.9 m low tide falls mid-afternoon.
20° · mostly clear · Low tide: 1:41am (1.1 m), 2:11pm (0.9 m) · Wind up to 25 km/h · Waves 0.8 m
Safe window: 1:22pm – 4:22pm
Leave the beach by 4:22pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: A big 0.7 m low tide falls mid-afternoon.
20° · overcast · 3mm rain · Low tide: 2:51am (1.1 m), 3:22pm (0.7 m) · Wind up to 31 km/h · Waves 1.0 m
Search the sand and gravel at low water for dark, heavy bone and rolled teeth washing from the ancient river beds. Beach levels change dramatically here — a scouring tide can expose (or bury) everything overnight, so no two visits are alike.
Ice Age bone from the 'forest bed' is dark brown to black, heavy, with a honeycomb texture at broken ends. Sea-urchin fossils show as five-pointed stars on rounded flint pebbles. Free identification: Cromer Museum (photo enquiries via Norfolk Museums Service).
This coast is a protected site (SSSI). What does that mean?
Allowed: Loose fossils from the beach may be kept for personal collections.
Never allowed: No digging into the cliffs or the exposed beds — Happisburgh has produced Britain's oldest human footprints and tools, and unrecorded digging destroys world-class archaeology.
Important finds: Report any possible bone, tool or footprint surface to Norfolk Museums Service immediately.
Rules can change — check locally before you collect.
Detailed location guide at UK Fossils →
Pay-and-display car park by the lighthouse road end.
Seasonal kiosk; toilets by the car park.
Ramp access (changes as the coast erodes — follow signed route).
This is one of the fastest-eroding coasts in Britain: the soft cliffs slump constantly and collapse without warning — never stand on, under, or dig into them. Beach levels change dramatically between visits; the sea reaches the cliffs at high water.
Fossil Forecast