Dorset Activities

Worth getting out of bed for

Viewpoint

Golden Cap, at 191 metres, is the highest point along the whole of the south coast. A stiff hike will be rewarded with stupendous views; however, a drive up to Langdon Hill carpark, via the village of Morecombelake on the A35 between Lyme and Bridport, will be rewarded similarly – once you’ve walked through the woods a bit.

Arts and culture

Dorchester is the centre of the Thomas Hardy industry – it’s the county town of South Wessex (his name for Dorset) – with Hardy’s Cottage at Bockhampton (www.nationaltrust.org.uk), and Max Gate, the Victorian villa where he wrote Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Bridport is becoming an arts hub to reckon with, thanks to the Electric Palace, an art-house cinema and brasserie backed by Richard Eyre, Mike Leigh and local Oscar-winner Julian Fellowes (www.electricpalace.org.uk). The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (www.bsolive.com) is an international name; its Summer Fireworks Proms are terrific.

Something for nothing

They call it the Jurassic Coast for a good reason: if you don’t go home with your very own fossil find, you weren’t looking hard enough! The sheltered stretch of Studland Bay known as Shell Bay is a good place for those who prefer to look for – you guessed it – shells.

Shopping

Away from the high-street offerings of Weymouth, Bournemouth and Poole, Bridport lives up to its reputation as a market town, with weekly street markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays (seek out the antiques and bric-a-brac stalls on lower South Street), an excellent farmers’ market in the Arts Centre on the second Saturday of every month, and a monthly antiques and second-hand book fair. Bridport Old Books on South Street (01308 425689) is a wonderful secondhand bookshop, where you will often find the helpful owner trying gamely to explain Shakespearian sonnets to clearly bewildered teenagers.

Daytripper

Not quite an island, the Isle of Purbeck is a whole holiday in itself, with charmingly timewarpy Swanage, from whence a heritage railway runs to dramatic Corfe Castle; the famous sea arch at Durdle Door; and pretty Lulworth Cove, crowded in high summer but lovely to have to yourself on a wintry day.

Perfect picnic

Head for the coast. Our favourite beaches are around the Isle of Purbeck: Kimmeridge Bay has a sheltered bay where you can dive in or just laze alongside your alfresco fare, and the popular pebbly crescent of Lulworth Cove has rock pools to play among.

Walks

The clifftops are exhilarating (www.southwestcoastpath.com); Maiden Castle, a whopping hill fort just south of Dorchester, is fascinating to discover on foot; and for peace – solitude even – Chesil Beach is a long, long shingle spit running from Portland Bill to Abbotsbury.

Children

The mass feeding of 600 swans at Abbotsbury Swannery near Weymouth, twice a day (at noon and 4pm), is a diverting spectacle. At the right time of year there’ll be fluffy, daft-looking cygnets to charm even the hardest-hearted of your offspring. There is a children’s farm here, too, where you can cuddle, ride and feed the resident furry fellows ((+44 (0)1305 871130; www.abbotsbury-tourism.co.uk). Studland Bay’s soft sandy beach at Purbeck is good for swimming and is family-friendly – there’s a National Trust café-cum-shop for all those forgotten beach essentials.

Activities

There’s good, clean fun such as beach volleyball and water sports to be had at smart seaside resort Sandbanks. From the Cobb at Lyme Regis, you can embark on family-friendly mackerel-fishing trips with Harry May, a local skipper (+44 (0)7974 753287). Alternatively, speed along the heritage coastline in or behind a boat: contact Lyme Bay RIB Charter for waterskiing, wakeboarding, day trips, sunset cruises and water taxis (+44 (0)1308 423479; www.lymebayribcharter.co.uk).

And...

Standing proud on a hillside halfway between Dorchester and Sherborne, the Cerne Abbas Giant, he of the mighty prehistoric truncheon (ahem), is fenced off and just not as satisfying to see from the next-door field as he looks on postcards.