Can you recommend places to visit in Dorset please?

[Oh2beatsea]

We are going to Dorset in the summer holidays for the first time with our 8 year old daughter. Can anyone suggest any must see places please?

Browsea Island.
Moors valley
Abbotsbury Swannery (incredibly unique), tropical gardens and children's farm. Arrive at the Swannery at feeding time and the kids get to feed the swans.
Corfe Castle (and the swanage railway)
Jurassic coast by boat.
Weymouth esp. Sea life centre and tower

Lyme regis, (beach, icecream, harbour)
The donkey sanctuary, (free entry,friendly donkeys,fab cafe)
Charmouth,(fossil hunting)
Chesil beach, stunning
Durdle door, fun walk down to beach and stunning scenery
Lulworth cove,around the corner from durdle door.Speed boat rides and beach.
Monkey World,

Lyme Regis! Go at low tide just east of the town and go fossil hunting, though polished glass hunting is much more successful! The Dinosaur Museum is a proper old-style bonkers collection of stuff with Letraset labels and our three 7yos and a 4+5 and 15yo all loved it, with the kids playing Museum Shop for the rest of the holiday!

Monkey World - a smallish zoo of primates but well done with some great play areas at the end.

Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door - for picnics and sandy beaches. If you ever thought Enid Blyton etc were unrealistic with their sheltered coves, caves in the cliffs, secret passages through rocks, turns out you need to be here. You can park at one then walk to the other with stunning views.

Mottisfont National Trust place - nice lunch, play area, gardens, art gallery in the attic which had a Lauren Child exhibit when we went so popular with kids.

Always Bournemouth with beach and Sea World, and Moors Valley Park is good, with mini steam railway, Go Ape, nature trails etc.

If you're a foodie and like seafood, hive beach cafe is worth a visit. Great bakery attached too!

Lots of lovely Dorset suggestions here!

Chesil beach is beautiful - but I'm biased, living a Chesil stones throw away.
West Bay, Brownsea Island, Durdle Door, Lulworth Cove, Corfe Castle.

Nothe Fort in Weymouth
Portland -- see the lighthouse, eat in a prison and have a wander around Tout Quarry
Studland Bay
Eggardon Hill
Bridport market
Walk up to Golden Cap

And all the other lovely places people have suggested. Be sure to take the coastal road from Hive Beach to Abbotsbury for the stunning views.

Dorset is wonderful, lucky you!

I think Monkey World is well worth a visit.

Lyme Regis.

Lulworth.

Durdle Door.

Abbotsbury Swannery.

Chesil Beach.

It is an absolutely lovely county. Hope you really enjoy your holidays.

I came on this thread just to say Monkey World. Brilliant playground there, as well.

We did a boat ride out of Lulworth Cove too: DC loved it.

The Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre at Charmouth beach, does organised fossil hunting walks and rockpooling with excellent guides. We really enjoyed them.

Monkey World
Abbotsbury Swannary, gardens and farm.
Paultons Park (Peppa Pig World is only a small part of it)
Bournemouth
Lyme Regis

Another vote here for Monkey World
Poole harbour
Weymouth beach
Poole greyhound racing (fantastic evening, loads of fun for the kids)

Wow!!! Thanks everyone for your suggestions!!!

Maiden Castle then lunch in Dorchester.

YY to Charmouth/Lyme- maybe do a day out that way if you are staying in East Dorset.

Nothe would be good for a rainy day and can combine with Weymouth attractions (very busy in Summer).

Weymouth and Lyme have sand. Not sure about the beaches further East, but most of the Western Beaches are shingle. Ringstead is supposed to be a good beach, not been there yet to verify!

Brownsea island
Corfe castle and steam train
Some excellent restaurants in Poole
Sandbanks beach

Tyneham village. Taken over by the MOD in 1943 and now only the church and school remain intact. But it does have the best beach I've been on in years.

Went 3 summers running when mine were under 5. Swanage beach just lovely. Farmer Palmers great family day out. Lulworth Cove beautiful but little one better in a backpack than a buggy.

Ooh, really sorry to hijack but just spotted this in active threads after spending hours researching and getting very confused over where best to stay in Dorset!

Could anyone please please tell me where I need to stay if I want a naice town with somewhere to buy a decent selection of food and a few restaurants/shops but not too big/busy massive loathing of anywhere with more than 1 "amusement arcade"

Sorry!

Studland beach and middle beach (cross over the water from Fairbanks on the chain ferry). Utterly gorgeous beaches and free parking if you are national trust members.

Brownsea island and Corfe castle are national trust too, although need to pay for the ferry.

New Forest is lovely, get ice cream in burley or brockenhurst, see the ponies and donkeys roaming. Sometimes they go in the shops and nearly always stop in the road in the villages!

We live very near poole and go to branksome chine beach, which is gorgeous and a lot quieter than bournemouth. Park up the hill and walk down through the gardens.

Shops in poole and around poole harbour are good, mix of normal shops and gift shops.

• Fairbanks should be sandbanks

If kids 6 plus go to charmouth heritage centre and book onto a fossil hunting trip, you go as a group with an expert - great fun for adults and kids.

Stuck, do you want somewhere coastal or inland? Consider Bridport or nearby for coastal.

stuckerooni If you don't mind a bnb then wimborne or broadstone are both lovely places. Nice food, small shops but only a couple of miles from the beach and towns of poole and Bournemouth not far away.

Good point serendipity, as coastal As possible please! Thankyou

The Tank Museum in Bovington is a really good day out, especially if you have a rainy day. The is an up to date bit about Iraq and Afghanistan as well as history of the tank. More tanks that you will ever have seen!

Durdle door is absolutely stunning, will go back there again. Lulworth cove was not as good as I'd hoped - it was incredibly busy and the beach wasn't the best. Lovely views though.

Enjoyed Nothe Fort in Weymouth (again, good for a rainy day - can you tell we went last 'summer?!').

Weymouth beach is nice and sandy. Chesil beach is a total contrast, great for flying a kite on but definitely not paddling. Worth visiting as it's so different to anything else ad a good oppportunity for a geography lesson on longshore drift!

Portland is like stepping back in time, worth a drive round just for that.

Fossil hunting in Lyme Regis/Charmouth.

Corfe Castle.

We stayed at Waterside Holiday park which had a great swimming pool with flume ad big slide, my 8 year old adored these! Park was nice enough in a good location.

Hope you have a lovely time!