Fairlight Glen (Covehurst Bay) Beach

Fairlight Glen is a wooded area forming part of the Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve and includes the secluded beach at Covehurst Bay.

This dog-friendly hidden beach in Covehurst Bay, also called Rocky Beach, is mainly shingle with some large boulders and patches of sand at or near low tide. This beach is great if you like it quiet and peaceful and enjoy the walk required to access it.

This area has a lot of erosion, and access can be difficult and steep, with some unstable sandstone and clay cliffs. The cliff’s instability makes it a good beach for fossil hunting.

The beach has no facilities, and parking is at the Hating Country Park Visitor Centre. You have a nice walk, some 20 minutes,  down to the beach through Fairlight Glen.

Alternatively, you park in Hastings and walk along the clifftop coast path of 3.2 km (2 miles) to the cove, although at low tide, the adventurous could walk along the beach, which is pebbles and rocks, BUT be careful as the tide could get you stranded.

A word of caution is that Covehurst Bay is known as a naturist beach but is shared by non-naturist visitors.