"I Just Need Some Time at the Sea": Wellbeing and the Coast as Therapeutic Landscape

For hundreds of years the sea has been a place of sanctuary and retreat for humans needing escape, rejuvenation and renewal. This paper examines some of the context of the coast from a therapeutic landscape perspective. Narratives of the ?sea as healer? will be explored in the context of the everyday and the visitor/tourist. A multi-dimensional case study of Brighton will be examined as policy-practice-experience examples of a coastal-wellbeing location. Pilot research findings from work undertaken auditing outdoor/nature based green-wellbeing work in Brighton will be presented, along with an examination of how children learn and engage with the sea for their overall wellbeing. Brighton is uniquely, a UNESCO designated Biosphere, the first in the UK to include countryside, a city and the coast ? presenting opportunities for living coastal wellbeing to be incorporated into wider policy sustainability and wellness narratives.