Fascinating Crimdon dene pebble beach.

Parkdean Resorts, Crimdon dene touring site has access to a fascinating pebble beach coastline. This is great for exploring. We found several sea caves and lots of ” treasures “. This blog is about the site, the coastline and nearby places to explore. I have included links which are loaded with information, this is an interesting coastline.

Table of Contents

Treasures on the pebble beach

Light blue, green, and white sea glass can be found on this pebble beach. Bits of sea glass are littered amongst the pebbles. This is an interesting blog on sea glass.
Interesting stones with inclusions which make them look like a painted picture.
On the higher part of the pebble beach there are chunks of sea coal.
Smaller black pieces of coal or jet can be found. To know if it is jet, draw a line on a white paper with it. If the line or smudge left behind is brown then it is jet. I picked up lots of bits of black which I thought were jet. Only 2 small bits turned out to draw brown lines.
Lovely rock pools which are visible during low tide add exploring to this pebble beach. We did not see much sea life in these ponds. Lots of hidden pebbles and interesting stones.

Features of the pebble beach

Small to large pebbles and patches of sandy beach and sea caves towards Black Hall Rocks.
Rock face is falling down in various places releasing new finds to those who search for history.
There is a long piece of sandy beach the other side of the campsite. This leads to Steetley Pier.
Beach art. We saw a rock, stone and pebble turtle on the sand. Good view from the cliff.
Getting back up to the land from the pebble beach is a long uphill slog. You are rewarded by stunning pebble beach and ocean views.

Watch this drone footage of the sea cave coast.

From pebble beach to sea caves

The sea caves looked enormous. There was one that was so big it could be a great place for a concert. You have to walk through them to go along the coast line to Black Hall Rocks. There used to be a big coalery in Black Hall, hence coal in the sea and on the pebble beach.

From pebble beach back over the cliff tops

There are lots of ways to the top of the cliffs from the pebble beach. We found a tar mac path which went into steps. It is fairly steep but the rewards of the view is breathtaking. Walking along the top paths we passed two car parks. We followed the track around the contours and eventually reached the campsite again.

Places we went to close by

We visited Easington beach which is Northwards from Crimdon Dene. Easington is a coal mining town.
We just had to go to Nose’s point and blast beach. This is towards the town of Seaham. Magnificent, but for older folk an impossible climb down and a harder one back up. Good car park.
Following the coast road North we went to Seaham beach. This is the best pebble beach for sea glass but you need to get there early. Everyone was picking up treasures. It has a nice big car park overlooking the ocean.

Review of Parkdean Resort, Crimdon Dene

Good things:

Good price for an out of season Monday to Friday.
Easy to find all roads caravan friendly, not too narrow.
Beach access, swimming pool and a good shop.
Showers were warm and free.
Nice helpful warden.

Bad things:

Touring park is a mish mash of pitches. Some are impossible to get to without damaging your car or van.
Pitches are not big enough for a car, van and awning. You are right on top of your neighbour.
A 24cm kerb that has ditches on the pitch side is the access to the pitch. See my photo. I towed the van through all the others on site to get there. My movers would of been knock off and my car does not have the power to reverse up the kerb.
Ablutions are modern but have small toilet cubicles, no hair drying facility, one hook to hang your clothes and towel on in the showers.
Grass mowed and left on top so it gets walked into the ablution blocks.

Would I visit the site again?

No, I don’t think so. Personally the touring area looks like it has been forgotten. Static’s everywhere. I would like to return to the area, and explore further, but I would stay elsewhere.

A shingle beach (also referred to as rocky beach or pebble beach) is a beach which is armoured with pebbles or small- to medium-sized cobbles (as opposed to fine sand).