Freshwater Beach Holiday Park

Nearby West Bay (25 minutes' walk), and Weymouth (35 minutes' drive) a little along the coast to the south-east, are well-known watersports havens for surfers, sailors and windsurfers. Afterwards, dry off at one of the towns’ well-known restaurants or carry on exploring elsewhere… The market town of Bridport (five minutes) is an attractive spot for painters, actors and their ilk, as it has a funded arts centre with year-round events, exhibitions and films. The centuries-old street market in town is also pretty colourful; go here on Wednesdays and Saturdays to buy fresh produce, clothes, plants, paintings, books and antiques. If you’re on the Jurassic Coast to fossil hunt, go on to Lyme Regis (20 minutes), home of the annual fossil festival and the award-winning Lyme Regis Museum. Book a fossil walk to get free entry to the fossil finds and exhibitions of the museum afterwards. Dorset has a mammoth amount of other stuff to do for kids too, including the SEA LIFE Centre Weymouth (35 minutes), Axe Valley Wildlife Park (25 minutes) and six daily talks at Wareham’s award-winning Monkey World - Ape Rescue Centre (45 minutes). Abbotsbury Swannery (15 minutes), the only managed colony of nesting mute swans in the world, also has an acclaimed children’s farm with guinea pigs, ponies, undercover play area, tractor rides and lamb racing daily at midday.