About the Neptune Coastline Campaign

The beautiful, peaceful, bracing, dramatic coastline that surrounds us has shaped our nation’s history - and all our lives. Great fleets, famous explorers and heroic flotillas have set sail from our shores. Invaders, pirates, kings and queens have landed on our beaches. Artists, poets and writers have all been inspired by our coastline.

Our beaches have brought joy to generations of families.

Most of us have memories of running down sand dunes, rolling up our trousers for a paddle, or hearing the excitement in our children’s voices from the back of the car when they can 'see the sea'. There really is nothing like the enjoyment and sense of wellbeing we experience from being by the coast.

Yet our coastline is changing every day.

Some of those changes are inevitable, such as rising sea levels and natural erosion. Other changes, including inappropriate or damaging tourist and urban developments, can be contested and stopped.

These are some of the challenges facing Neptune.

Over the past 47 years the Neptune Coastline Campaign has helped to acquire 720 miles of coastline in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and brought it under the care of the National Trust. These places are now protected for ever, for everyone to enjoy. Thanks to the support we receive from people around the country who share our love of the coastline, we are hard at work managing every mile of the beaches, coves and cliffs in our care. Our experienced wardens and passionate volunteers look after these sites sympathetically and sustainably, allowing inevitable changes to take place gradually and naturally. For more information click on 'Coast in our care'.

And when an opportunity arises to acquire and protect a stretch of coastline that may be at risk from unsympathetic or damaging development, we want to grab it with both hands.

Your support is crucial.

We can only secure coastline that’s precious to us all with your help. Once under our protection, these beautiful, dramatic and inspiring places - and the natural habitats and way of life they support - can be cared for, enhanced and made available for everyone to enjoy.

Neptune DVD for sale.

Neptune's Future celebrates the achievements of the Neptune Coastline Campaign. It explores the diversity of our coastal environments, and highlights some of the most exciting current and future projects to show conservation in action. Above all, it's a 'thank you' to all our supporters, whose foresight and generosity, has benefited us all by protecting our vulnerable, beautiful coastline. To get your copy of Neptune's Future (available in English or Welsh), please send a cheque for £5.99 made payable to: 'National Trust', and send this marked for the attention of: Caroline Bowyer, indicating which version you would like, to: National Trust, Heelis, Kemble Drive, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN2 2NA.