Fundraising for Four Incredible Jurassic Coast Charities
At West Dorset Leisure Holidays, we’re proud to support the beautiful Jurassic Coast and the communities that help care for it. Each year, thanks to the generosity of our guests and holiday home owners at our Parks along the coast near Bridport, we raise thousands of pounds through optional donations added to bookings and pitch fees. Donation amounts vary, starting from just 15 pence per night for touring and camping guests. This makes supporting the charities affordable for families, while still raising enough to make a difference. We’re pleased that each year, around 90% of eligible bookings choose to donate, showing that our guests care about the coastline as much as we do and are happy to give back to the area they love visiting.
This year, we’re delighted to share that over £9,000 has been raised to support a number of incredible local charities and organisations that work to protect, preserve and educate people about this special part of the world. The funds will be shared between four causes along the Dorset coastline — from educational visitor centres and local conservation groups to those maintaining the South West Coast Path and keeping our beaches clean for everyone to enjoy. We’ve chosen charitable and not-for-profit organisations that rely on volunteers and donations to support the work they do. These organisations not only benefit our holidaymakers, but everyone who lives and works along the Jurassic Coast, and the wildlife that lives here too. By contributing to sustainability-focussed initiatives such as these, we’re helping to preserve and improve the fragile coastal environment for future generations.
Our Chosen Organisations for 2025
West Bay Discovery Centre
Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre
Clean Jurassic Coast
The South West Coast Path Association
West Bay Discovery Centre
West Bay Discovery Centre offers a fascinating insight into the natural, cultural and maritime heritage of West Bay, bringing the harbour’s stories to life. Interactive exhibitions, local artefacts and knowledgeable volunteers make it an engaging stop for visitors of all ages, helping people understand the unique character of West Bay and the forces that have shaped it. It’s an ideal place for curious minds to discover something new before exploring the harbour, cliffs and beaches outside, and a fantastic free activity for families. Past exhibitions have touched on important themes such as marine pollution, species conservation and climate change, and volunteers regularly take part in organised beach cleans with other local environmental groups. Their promoted local walks encourage visitors to explore the riverside meadows that form part of the West Dorset Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest, with pointers provided to help identify wildlife and plants.
Using the money donated, the Centre plans to produce a West Bay Guidebook, with information on local history, geology, wildlife and tourism. They will also be taking part in a collaborative environmental art project involving four local schools.
“West Bay Discovery Centre are honoured to receive this generous donation, which will help support many of our existing projects, as well as future initiatives. The Centre is run daily by our enthusiastic and comitted team of volunteers. Entry to the Centre remains free, and donations are essential in helping us fulfil the Centre’s mission and vision.”
Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre
Another incredible local educational venue with free access is the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre. The Centre plays a vital role in helping visitors understand and enjoy one of the best fossil-hunting locations in the UK, and perhaps even Europe. Situated on the world-famous Jurassic Coast, Charmouth’s cliffs and beaches reveal millions of years of geological history, and the Centre provides an essential hub for learning how to explore them safely and responsibly. For both local residents and holidaymakers, it offers hands-on exhibits, expert advice, guided walks and fascinating insights into the area’s prehistoric past. The team of wardens and volunteers also work hard on environmental initiatives, including beach monitoring, responsible collecting guidance and wildlife conservation projects, ensuring that this extraordinary coastline is protected for years to come, while inspiring visitors of all ages to value and care for it.
The Centre plans to use the money raised to run sessions for schools and local groups to learn about fossils, coastal geography and marine ecology, as well as the importance of keeping our natural environment clean. These informative sessions are run on the beach, in the Centre and in classrooms across West Dorset, East Devon and South Somerset. Our funding will help schools with tight budgets access these, as well as pay for the resources required.
“A massive thank you for choosing Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre as one of your charities for this year. We are largely self-funded, and outreach and external grants are harder to come by than ever. We are delighted that you have chosen to support us. We would love to use the donation to help support our varied educational programme.”
Clean Jurassic Coast
Clean Jurassic Coast is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company formed by people who care about protecting the only natural World Heritage Site in England. The team of volunteers describe themselves as “a group of eco-friendly nature lovers”, with many of the members being walkers, kayakers and sea swimmers. There’s even two “mermaids” who engage with children at school events, reading out stories with an enviornmental message. Together with a range of other organisations and charities, the CJC team organise numerous coastal clean-ups, both on the beach and via kayak or boat in hard-to-reach parts of the coastline. Passionate about the marine plastic crisis, they are dedicated to protecting wildlife and caring for our coastline so that it can be enjoyed long into the future.
They plan to use the money for two very exciting upcoming projects along the Jurassic Coast. The first is to build beach toy libraries made from recycled plastic waste and gift them to various beaches along the coastline here. These will then be filled with beach toys that have been donated or found during beach cleans, for visitors to enjoy. They are also developing advanced ways of removing microplastics from the sea, and are currently building prototype devices to test here soon. This pioneering project sounds incredible and we can’t wait to hear more about how it will work.
“Roy and the Clean Jurassic Coast team were over the moon when West Dorset Leisure Holidays informed us about this generous donation. We are all volunteers and rely purely on donations and funding to do the work we do. A massive thank you to everyone at WDLH, their guests and holiday home owners for supporting us in our quest to keep the Jurassic Coast clean.”
The South West Coast Path Association
The South West Coast Path Association plays a crucial role in protecting, maintaining and improving England’s longest National Trail, ensuring that millions of walkers can continue to enjoy its spectacular coastal landscapes every year. Their work is particularly important along the dynamic Jurassic Coast, where natural erosion continually reshapes the cliffs and coastline. We’ve seen this first-hand at Highlands End, having worked with the Association and local authorities to safely re-route a section of the coast path after a significant cliff fall in 2020. We’ve also worked with them to make sure that the Tramper route is accessible for our offroad mobility scooter.
As a charity, the Association relies heavily on donations to fund path repairs, signage, access improvements and the constant monitoring required to keep the trail safe. Over 100 volunteers regularly give up their time to look after the path along its 630 mile distance. Their dedication helps to keep the path accessible, resilient and well-cared-for, benefitting both local people and the many holidaymakers who come to West Dorset to walk, explore and connect with nature. The money will be used for essential maintenance work along the path that is often needed after winter storms, as well as a project to move the path safely inland over at Hans Tout near Wareham, following a previous landslide.
“The South West Coast Path provides health-giving happiness to millions of people every year, it connects hundreds of coastal communities, helps the region’s economy thrive and is one of our most precious wildlife corridors. Increasingly severe storms, rising sea levels, coastal erosion and increased footfall are just some of the challenges we’re facing when it comes to looking after the Path. We are so grateful for the WDLH donation.”
What happens next?
We’ll be staying in touch with all four organisations throughout 2026 to follow the progress of the projects we’re supporting and to share updates on how your generously donated money is being put to work along the Jurassic Coast. These partnerships mean a great deal to us, and it’s inspiring to see the real difference that guest and owner contributions can make. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who chose to opt in during 2025 – your support directly benefits the landscapes, paths, wildlife and educational centres that make this area so special.
We’ll continue collecting donations throughout 2026, and at the end of next year we’ll once again distribute the funds to a new set of equally worthwhile coastal causes, helping to protect and celebrate this remarkable part of Dorset.
That’s not all!
As well as supporting causes that protect our environment, we’re passionate about social charities too…
We recently held our annual Highlands End Maker’s Market to raise money for Julia’s House Children’s Hospice. It was a fantastic day and we raised thousands once again for this fantastic charity which operates in Dorset and Wiltshire, funding hospice centres and at-home care for children with life-limiting conditions and terminal illnesses. We’ll be announcing the total amount raised and going into more detail about the charity in a blog post coming soon!
Earlier in the year we purchased Ropey the Elephant from Weldmar Hospice’s Stampede By The Sea campaign and donated him to the town of Bridport for everyone to enjoy. He’s since visited lots of events to raise more awareness for the fantastic work that Weldmar does.
We’ve also raised money for various other charities this year including the RNLI and Cancer Research UK.
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