Somerset, England

Porlock Weir harbour slipway

Launch — The slipway sits within Porlock Weir's small tidal harbour, an artificial dock built around 1855 with a stone quay and a lock gate at its southern end, owned and run by the Porlock Manor Estate.

Parking — A pay-and-display public car park by the harbour (TA24 8PD), reported to hold around 60 cars, a short walk to the slipway; it is privately run near the harbour, separate from Somerset Council's car parks in Porlock village about 1.5 miles inland.

Access — Reached via the A39 through Porlock and the B3225 into Porlock Weir, or via the Worthy Toll Road, a private single-track toll road run by the Porlock Manor Estate. The harbour and beach are reached on foot from the car park; no booking is required.

Season — No published seasonal closure of the harbour or slipway to unpowered craft.

Regulations — The estate's harbourmaster oversees moorings and the harbour gates; no licence, registration or launch permit is published for unpowered craft. The Porlock Ridge and Saltmarsh SSSI behind the harbour applies its consent regime to landowners and occupiers under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, not to public paddling.

This slipway sits within Porlock Weir's small drying harbour on the Exmoor coast, opening onto Porlock Bay and the Bristol Channel. The harbour dries completely at low water on a mean spring tidal range of around 9.3 metres; the harbour's own tide information gives an access window of just over an hour either side of high water.

Porlock Ridge and Saltmarsh

Porlock Bay faces northwest into the Bristol Channel, backed by a shingle ridge about five kilometres long that fronts a saltmarsh behind the harbour. The ridge and marsh are designated as the Porlock Ridge and Saltmarsh Site of Special Scientific Interest for their coastal geomorphology. A storm breached the ridge in October 1996, flooding the farmland behind it and creating the saltmarsh that stands there now; drowned trees from the flood are still visible.

At low tide, the remains of a Mesolithic submerged forest dating to roughly 6,000 to 8,000 years ago are exposed on the beach, mostly south of the harbour breakwater. Further out in the bay, buoyed oyster beds mark a working farm run by Porlock Bay Oysters, a community project that took its first modern harvest in 2016. The shingle ridge runs east toward Hurlstone Point, with the wooded combes of Exmoor rising behind the harbour and the South Wales coast visible across the Channel.

Nearby

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The Harbour Gallery & Cafe

Harbourside cafe at Porlock Weir.

Burrowhayes Farm Caravan & Camping Site

Open to individual bookings for tents, touring caravans and motorhomes, and also hires static caravans; open 15 March to 29 October.

Website

Conditions to check

Tidal flow

Porlock Bay has a mean spring tidal range of about 9.3 metres (MHWS 10.2m, MLWS 0.9m) and a mean neap range of about 3.9 metres, referenced to high water Avonmouth.

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Limited exit

The harbour and bay dry completely at low water; the drying harbour can be accessed for just over an hour either side of high water.

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Shallow or rocky

A stone bar builds at the harbour entrance and the narrow channel is marked by withies and groynes.

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Boat traffic

Around 50 boats moor in or just outside the harbour.

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Other

Buoyed oyster beds lie in the bay.

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