Family Holiday in Dorset
My partner (Kevin), 5-year old son (Ryan) and I went on a week-end break over Easter to the ‘Jurassic Coast’ in Dorset. As our son has recently developed a huge interest in dinosaurs and fossils we thought it would be a great idea to foster that interest by taking him fossil hunting on the beaches and my partner had done as a child.
As we booked the trip at fairly late notice, and being over the Easter period, much of the accommodation in the area was already booked. After quite a bit of calling around I managed to get a room in the Kersbrooke (Bed and Breakfast) Hotel in Lyme Regis for a couple of nights before checking the place out on TripAdviser, where the comments weren’t wholly complementary. We found the proprietor to be extremely welcoming and friendly and the cooked breakfasts excellent. OK, the room wasn’t the largest, especially with the addition of a put-up bed for Ryan, and the shower room was in which is best described as a cupboard, but it suited our requirements, was perfectly clean and only a few minutes walk down into the town.
The Kersbrooke Hotel
On the way down to Lyme Regis we stopped at the Tank Museum at Bovingdon. I have to confess that I wasn’t especially looking forward to this part of the week-end (being really boys-stuff), but I have to say it was far better than I was expecting. There are around 300 tanks from many different countries and periods in history. I was quite amazed at the variety of different tanks, but also surprised at how small they seemed. Only one tank (the tiger) seemed really intimidating to me. They do have the only surviving, complete example of a ‘DD’ (duplex drive) Sherman tank complete with ‘skirts’, that can go in the water and was used to land on the beaches on D-Day. The museum also has an area where kids can colour in pre-printed pictures of tanks, and a really good walk-through trench exhibit. The tanks seemed really crammed in together and not displayed in a terribly logical order, but hopefully when the collection moves into the museum’s new buildings imminently. It’s worth mentioning that the museum admission ticket entitles you to un-limited return visits for a year so keep it just in case.
We had dinner at the Jurassic Seafood Wine Bar in Lyme Regis, and I can’t recommend it enough! Don’t be put off by the somewhat garish animal and fish figures that adorn the pavement outside or the over-bright lighting within. Apparently the restaurant is owner by local fishermen and we had some of the best seafood I’ve ever eaten. For starters Kevin had the Coquille St-Jacques and I had the fresh scallops in leek sauce – both were excellent. For main course Kevin had whole crab and I chose a shellfish platter of crab, scallops and king prawns. The prawns were exceptional and had apparently been cooked in water that had previously been used to boil crab which gave them a distinctively sweet flavour. The children’s menu has a reasonable choice of small plates, and Ryan loved the dinosaur mural on the back wall and other dinosaur ‘paraphernalia’ in the restaurant. There are quite a few meat dishes on the menu too that sounded excellent. We will definitely return to this restaurant!
The Jurassic Seafood Restaurant and Wine Bar
On the Saturday we went fossil hunting on Charmouth beach. Unfortunately the weather was less than clement, and we felt like we’d been well and truly sand-blasted after a couple of hours! However, the beach really is a top-spot for finding marine fossils in the UK (especially after bad weather and land-slides from the cliffs). You can sign up for an guided fossil hunt / walk with a talk beforehand at the visitors centre or simply walk along the beach to see what you can find. There is a fossil hunter’s code in place that advises keeping a safe distance from the cliffs. We ‘went solo’ and managed to come away with a few small ammonites. Although wet and cold Ryan had a great time and wants to do it again. We also had a look around a few great fossil shops in the area and Ryan can now distinguish between ammonites, trilobites and ichthyosaur fossils!
Charmouth Beach
On the way home on the Sunday we paid Monkey World (Wareham / very close to the tank museum) a visit. Another cold day – it even snowed! Most of the poor monkeys were huddled together inside, but the talks were good and the animal enclosures had obviously been put together with great thought and care for the animals. The lemur enclosure was terrific as you can actually walk around inside the enclosure with the lemurs in the trees above and around you. Unfortunately the day of our visit was too cold for them to be doing very much. The gift shop is great and there are good outside play areas for kids too. My only criticism of monkey world is the quality (or lack of) of the food. We needed something to warm us up so selected meatballs that were rather too few meatballs in a rather strange sauce surprisingly perched on top of too much over-cooked pasta. The cold food (salads and sandwiches) looked better, but I would take my own food on any return visits.
We went to Dorset primarily to go fossil hunting, which was definitely great and child-friendly, but found that there is a lot more to do in the area besides. We will definitely return and would love to hear from our readers about any other recommended activities in the area.
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