Travel Diary

We only stayed for three nights, and the purpose of this holiday was to relax and have a change of scenery. For these reasons we only visited two seaside towns in Dorset.

Lyme Regis
A very hilly seaside town west of Dorchester. Lyme Regis has many gift shops mainly selling fossils from the area, many tea rooms and bakeries with a variety of very yummy pasties. The beach is shingle rather than sand, but up one end there is a sandy area that I can imagine gets very busy in the summer. It’s a lovely little town which also has a Dinosaur museum, a mill and a few other places of interest.

Weymouth
Much bigger than Lyme Regis, Weymouth has lots of things to do. The beach is quite long and sandy and there is plenty of parking behind all the shops. Weymouth has a big shopping area with all the well known high street shops and a cinema. Nearer the sea front there are restaurants, hotels, fish and chip shops and gift shops. Tucked away behind the shops is a marina.

Eating Out

We didn’t eat out at all while we were away. We have a four month old baby so it is a very difficult thing to do. There aren’t many places to eat out where we stayed; the nearest being a few country pubs that do meals. For a choice of restaurants you need to go one of the nearby towns, Dorchester being the nearest. We didn’t see any of Dorchester but because of the size of the town I’m sure there are places to eat out.

Summary

Dorset is a lovely part of the country to visit. I didn’t realise that the countryside down that way was so hilly. The weather was nice when we went but very cold as it was the end of November. I would certainly go back for a week when the weather is warmer and I’d like to do a lot more walking and visit some of the prehistoric monuments that are dotted around the countryside. I’ve heard that there are some lovely coastal walks too and the famous long Chesil

If you check any good map you would see that there are loads of places of interest to visit in Dorset. There is certainly enough to fill a week there and lots of seaside towns to visit if you prefer to be by the sea.

A self-catering cottage is great value for money and a good option if you have children; it’s also a great getaway if you want to a nice relaxing holiday in the country.

Information

Choice Hotels
Website: www.choice-hotels.co.uk
Information on more hotels owned by Choice. Locations include Cumbria and Blackpool.

Resort Guide
Website: www.resort-guide.co.uk
A guide to hotels, restaurants and what to do in Dorset and the rest of the south coast.

Things to do in Dorset
Website: www.southernuk.com/things-dorset.htm
Website with links to all the official websites for things to do in Dorset.