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Harbour Sunset

A glorious natural harbour sheltering vessels and wildlife from the main elements of the sea. Hengistbury Head an area of conservation looks down over the harbour, Stanpit Marsh and the Run at Mudeford (Haven Quay). The Run as it is known locally, is the entrance to the harbour and the rivers. The Run, a narrow gap where the tide and the weight of river water fight for supremacy twice a day. Here the water can exceed speeds of over 10 Knots. The water then flows between constantly changing sand bars out to the English Channel. Stanpit Marsh of 150 acres within the harbour is a conservation area of wetlands, home to many birds, plants and animals

On virtually all days, the Isle of Wight can be seen from the beaches, across the Solent, a busy shipping channel for the Port of Southampton, The island displays white chalky cliffs and to the west of the island The Needles, three white large rocks pointing towards the sky and on the most westerly the Needles light house.

To cross the Run during the summer season a ferry from Mudeford Quay will carry you to a jetty on the other side giving you access to more sandy beaches, beach cafe and access to Hengistbury Head. Note* There is no public motor access to these beaches on the Head side except trade but a road train is available Spring/Summer to and from these beaches and the large car parks on the Bournemouth side of the Harbour.) From this same jetty there are frequent river boats to the Quay, Wick and Tuckton.

On the Mudeford side of the Run are the "Dutch Houses" so named due to their design, The Haven Inn, RNLI Inshore lifeboat house and large car parks are too. Fresh fish, lobster and crab is also available here from the local fishermen's outlet along with lines and bait kits for children to catch crabs etc.. The "Dutch Houses" have been used for the Customs men and coast watch but prior to that they were used to home Dutch dredging workers. See History/Smuggling The Haven Inn today is not the original, it being only about 150 years old, the real Haven Inn was one of the "Dutch" houses. This area and Avon Beach during the 17th & 18th century was fairly lawless due to fact that it was some distance from any real law abiding citizens.

Access to the beaches on this side are via the A35, Somerford, Purewell and Stanpit or Bure Lane. The beaches and car parks are well signposted. Follow the brown and white tourist signs. These sandy beaches extend along the coast eastwards, changing gradually to pebbles towards Milford Haven, Lymington river and beyond. To the west the beaches stretch 7 miles long the coast to the entrance to Poole Harbour. They are known as Southbourne, Boscombe, Bournemouth, Branksome and Sandbanks.

The Black house

The Black House approx 200 years old at Gervis Point standing on the other side of the Run once had ships of up to 100 tons built alongside one wall. The house did have some association with smugglers due to it's remoteness and accessibility problems. It was probably built to house the manager of the Iron Mining company at Hengistbury Head in the 19th century and after the demise of the company became for a short while a "tea house" in the early part of the 20th century. Standing not far from the waters edge on the sand spur the house would have been battered by winds and salt spray. It could have been an ideal central object for a mystery story! It laid derelict for many years but now has a new lease of life as Holiday Flats!

Situated at Avon Beach is the Avon Beach Cafe previously a Tea Shop, during the early 20th century, then built mainly from timber, access was via steps at Friars cliff and the "Peep", now an access road to the Avon Beach car park. It now stands proudly behind a sea wall on the beach and rebuilt of red brick with a patio area, it's westerly end next to the Avon car park.