Middle Beach

The National Trust Property, Middle Beach is a special place for the community and visitors of Studland Bay. As well as a pretty beach to visit, it is rich with history including the second world war look out ‘Henry Fort’ where Sir Winston Churchill and Dwight D Eisenhower watched ‘Exercise Smash’ a full-scale dress rehearsal for the Allied invasion of Europe.

The Middle Beach facilities (cafe, toilets and sea school) are at considerable risk from coastal erosion and slope instability. As part of the Trust’s policy of working with natural processes, which are constantly reshaping the coastline, the intention was to move the beach facilities to new and safer locations, providing a healthy environment and sustainable future, for Middle Beach to be enjoyed by the local community and visitors for years to come.

The Trust continues to explore long-term solutions for the visitor facilities at Middle Beach, within a considered masterplan safe from the process of coastal change. In order to maintain a continuity of the facilities at Middle Beach, the National Trust attained planning permission to install a temporary toilet block within the car park directly above the existing facilities. This is now installed and in operation.

We submitted a planning application for the temporary provision of a food and beverage facility for Middle Beach, for a period of three years. The future plan for Middle Beach will also cover removal of the existing facilities, failing sea defences and re-profiling of the cliffs to a safe angle of repose. It is expected that this latter piece of work will be carried out subject to a separate planning application.