Naturist / Nudist Beaches in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland

Ringstead Bay

Dorset

Secluded, pictureque, NT owned south facing beach in Purbeck, east of Weymouth. Level access from village, or NT car park on cliffs above.

Ringstead Bay is a secluded NT owned beach on the coast of Dorset and takes its name from the village at the western end of the bay.

Getting There

Satnav: DT2 8NG (Ringstead, pay car park) or DT2 8NQ (NT car park on cliffs above), OS Map Ref: SY7638813

The naturist area at the eastern end of Ringstead Bay can be reached by two routes.

For both of these take the A353 towards Weymouth from the roundabout one and a half miles west of Owermoigne on the A352 Wareham to Dorchester road. After approximately two miles watch for a sign on the left for Ringstead. The turn is extremely sharp left. Follow this narrow lane approximately a mile through the edge of Upton, up a hill to where a rather small wood sign points right to Ringstead or left to a National Trust Car Park At this point a decision has to be made. Do you wish to turn right and pay to drive down to the village or drive straight on to the National Trust car park? The village route will cost you approximately £5.00 for the privilege, but the NT car park invloves a walk down, and a steep walk back up.

There is ample parking in the village and a kiosk selling a surprisingly large range of goods at not too high a price. The Naturist area is a good twenty minute walk east from the entrance to the beach along a stoney beach. Part of this walk can be negotiated along the lower cliff edge avoiding some of the increasingly smaller pebbles. Free route From the National Trust car park there is a sparsely signed path leading down to the more easterly end of the beach. This results in a much shorter walk on the pebbles. This route does however require a fairly long uphill trek at the end of the day.

Description

The beach is pebbles and pretty quiet with nice views across towards Weymouth. With cliffs behind and chalk pebbles below the sun can be quite hot.. There is of course the too often obligatory hike (trainers, at least, recommended) There is LITTLE or NO possibility of being "overlooked" as with Durdle Dor there are several hundred feet of cliff and steep hill behind. Few textiles venture this far, those that do pay no attention to the naturists. Facilities None at the beach but food and beverages can be obtained at the village. Toilets are available in the village.

Map

Comments

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Robin L

10-Oct-20

We enjoyed the October heatwave at Ringstead on Saturday and Sunday. It was very quiet on Saturday but busier on Sunday with lone males, a few couples and 2 topless young women. My wife enjoyed a swim. There were a number of textiles walking along the sea shore.
We parked at the far end of the NT car park (which is now chargeable but free to members) and walked down the road to beyond St Catherine's chapel. Do not take the path straight down as it is overgrown and very steep. Shortly after the road becomes a path there is a clear path on the left that goes down to the beach. The total drop (and climb back) is 150m. We also walked along the coast path to White Nothe.
Aaron Buckie

Jul-20

Went here this weekend. It is not an official Nudist Beach no signs up and textiles everywhere. Was a big disappointment as was a lovely day and wanted to enjoy it but felt uncomfortable so we just continued to another beach.
Jonny

Jul-20

Arrived the hard way (descending the smugglers path from White Nothe) on a beautiful Sunday morning in July. Surprised to be the only person on the beach although an elderly naturist couple arrived shortly afterwards.
Lovely location and clean sea, although quite steeply shelving. I would have happily stayed all day had I not had to catch a bus. I stayed about an hour and a half in the end. The only problem with the beach are the annoying flies that are attracted by the seaweed.
mel

Jun-20

Hi All well happy to say that the car park charges are still £5 all day for this year. There has been some quite changes to the nudist end of the beach as in the beach area has changed abit with the tide/sea pushing the shingle up alot making steep slopes to go negotiate. Apart from that still a good enjoyable beach to strip off and enjoy. mel
matty

Sep-20

"Was at Ringstead last w/e. It was nice to see that they have cleaned it up since april. There was a good mix there young & old and all seem to be enjoying themselves. It now cost's £5 to park all day."
I used to live in ringstead, it is indeed a great place to visit and well worth the walk to the nudist beach.
John

Aug-20

This was my first time at the beach and first time naked. It was a liberating experience, several other people there and all were friendly, making me feel relaxed enough to finally remove the clothing. Enjoyed the swim and lazing on the beach in the sun. Well worth a visit and I intend to go back.
Family visit, evening of 24 August

Aug-20

We parked in the NT carpark at the top. Views from the carpark and on the walk down are spectacular. It took us 20 mins from leaving the carpark to reach the beach. The route down seems to have changed from our last visit about 10 years ago and was not clearly marked. It was a warm evening, the atomosphere pleasant and relaxing with about 5 or 6 naturist groups enjoying the beach. In our opinion well worth a visit, I'm sorry the previous author (July 2002) did not enjoy the day. The return walk from the beach to the car took 25 minutes ( our youngest is 11years old). A great place well worth a visit.
MikeR

Jul-20

I parked in the National Trust car park at the top of the hill. Don't! The twenty minute walk down the steep concrete road, through a farm and across a field is not one you'd do for pleasure. When I finally got to the beach I was not kindly predisposed towards it. The beach consists of golf ball and pea sized pebbles, a mixture that makes walking particularly hard work. I turned left and trudged along, passing a few textiles. After ten minutes I realised it was at least another 10 to the end of the semi circular bay, which would have meant a total return trip to the car of 45 minutes. Squinting, I could make out some textile walkers at the far end and a couple of sunbathers but I couldn't see if they were naturists (I suspected not).
It was hot and daunted by the prospect of the return I decided not to press on. On the return ascent to the car park I tried a route that promised more shade. Mistake! It added half a mile or more to the journey and the only people I passed en route had maps, serious shoes and rucksacks. I didn't drive down to the other access point through the village (still Â£3, by the way). Instead I decided to head for Durdle Door hoping for better things. Sitting here at home in the cool I wish I had persevered and walked all the way - maybe there would have been a naturist nirvana at the end of the rainbow. But this is not an especially nice beach and the walk, even if you park in the village, is quite a hard one. I'd rate this beach 3 out of 10, but I can understand some would give it 7 if they didn't mind the walk and if they were quite confident that naturism is OK here.
Trip Report

Aug-19

We approached along the beach from the Village. We were almost at the end of the bay before we saw any other naturists. Most were settled at the back of the beach so as not to be too obvious to the few textiles passing by to scramble along the rocks to the point White Nothe. There was, on the day we visited, six couples and three or four single males who appeared to be like everyone else there to enjoy the day. The beach was very peaceful and those who were, I think regulars were friendly. During the afternoon a few folk arrived at settled further out on the more open part of the beach. We had a very enjoyable day.

Photos

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