Dorset Family Holidays and Breaks

The Jurassic Coast with Kids

• Venture to delightful, slightly stately little Lyme Regis at the far west of the county’s coastline, one of the gateway towns to the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site covering 135km of coastline between West Dorset and East Devon. In 1811, after a storm caused parts of Lyme Regis’ East Cliff to collapse, 12-year-old Mary Anning, a keen fossil-hunter, discovered an almost complete dinosaur skeleton, a 9m ichthyosaurus, now displayed in London's Natural History Museum. The Dinosaurland fossil museum in the town and a thousand little shops selling dinosaur kits continue to feed the interest.

• Just outside Lyme Regis, check out the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre with its free interactive exhibitions on local geology, and join in with a guided fossil walk or rockpooling outing for all ages.

• Amble the lovely, ancient county town of Dorchester 12km from the coast, back towards Poole. Traces of its prehistoric roots include the Maumbury Rings and Maiden Castle. It also has Roman ruins, the house belonging to Thomas Hardy, The Keep Military Museum and hosts of pretty streets and churches. The Dinosaur Museum is poorly rated; better the Dorset Museum & Art Gallery with its Jurassic Dorset and Ancient Dorset displays.

• Enjoy the Weymouth Sea Life Adventure Park, combining an aquarium with the Caribbean Cove outdoor adventure playground, the summertime Castaway Bay Splash Zone and the Pirate Adventure Mini Golf.

Bournemouth with Kids

• Explore this town of sandy beaches, formal gardens and seafront accommodation, developed for Victorian holiday-makers. For all its ‘old granny’ image, it’s rejuvenated into a much more happening place. Its pier has the world’s first pier-to-shore zip-wire and all-weather indoor adventure of RockReef with 28 themed climbing walls.

• Spend time on Bournemouth Beach, building sandcastles, paddling in the water, enjoying the pirate-themed playground and playing crazy golf.

• Head to Moors Valley Country Park about 15km north of Bournemouth, with Go Ape! High-ropes courses for both young and older kids, plus forest Segways for exploring the woodland trails.

Poole with Kids

• Bring the kids to Sandbanks – a lovely place despite the hype and glitz, with a long, sandy, clean beach that shelves gently so is good for non-swimmers.

• Visit Farmer Palmers Farm Park, with bottle-feeding of baby goats and lambing, live milking demos and more.

• Head to Tower Park, which includes the Splashdown Waterpark, the vast Lemur Landings soft-play venue, a bowling alley and a cinema.

• In Poole Harbour, discover the National Trust’s Brownsea Island, famous for its red squirrels and other wildlife, and for its links with the Scout movement. Picnic, walk, enjoy the natural play area, let the kids roam free, and perhaps stay over on the back-to-basics 'eco adventure' campsite.

Isle of Purbeck with Kids

•  Take the ferry from Sandbacks across one of the largest natural harbours in the world to the quirky Isle of Purbeck peninsula. Your first stop is the stretch of sandy beaches known as Studland Nature Reserve, also owned by the National Trust – which means they're pristine and in another world from the Sandbanks. There are a few little eating places and some watery things to do, but mainly it’s about strolling along the water’s edge and making sandcastles.

• Visit romantic Corfe Castle and its adjacent village. It’s all right out of the 1950s – Enid Blyton set some ‘Famous Five’ adventures in this area.

• Drive over to the spectacular Durdle Door natural limestone arch, and spend an afternoon enjoying the history-themed entertainments at Lulworth Castle – we recommend a quick steam-train trip from Swanage and a picnic on the other side of the castle, which lets you enjoy the views down over Chesil Beach, famous from the Ian McEwan novel.

• Near Swanage, enjoy Salt Pig the Farm, with animals, soft-play and a farm-shop.

• Between Poole and Purbeck, at Wareham, tour the commendable ape rescue centre of Monkey world.

• Discover the nearby Blue Pool, an old clay pit that has been turned into a lake and looks quite extraordinary in the summer sun. You can’t swim here,, but there is a museum of clay mining and an Art Deco tea-room.

• West of Wareham, tour the Tank Museum in Bovington and pretend you’re driving some enormous piece of machinery.