We went camping at the weekend in a field in Dorset, near Weymouth. Its about 1.5 hours away from where we live in Frome. We ‘hired’ out a field (which was surprisingly easy to do) for our exclusive  use of as there was so many of us. It was very basic, with only tent toilets and thats about it as far as it went amenities wise. But thats the way we like it! Glorious unspoiled countryside views. So good for the soul.

It rained really bad on Friday so lots of us with small children stayed at home as the thought of setting up a tent or pop up caravan, and then dealing with over excited children in the torrential rain did not seem like a fun idea. So we got everything ready to go the night before, bed early for everyone,  got up nice and early and arrived at the same time those lucky people with older children who will actually lie in, where just getting up for the day.

And the next day the sun shone! (intermittently) . We all went down to ‘Man O War Bay’ which is one of our favorite beaches, right next to the famous limestone rock arch and beach of  Durdle Door.

You enter the beaches by driving through Durdle Door Holiday Park (which looks really nice,) but I heard gets very booked up in advance http://www.lulworth.com/durdle-door-holiday-park/

The car park for the beaches/walks is right through the park and down by the cliff front. You can either walk along the top and take the 2.5 Mile walk to the lovely Lulworth cove, which is doable with a buggy (I’ve done it) but quite hard work..Or walk down to the very edge, where you have the spectacular view of the door and where the path turns into two sets of steps either side. One side taking you down to the ‘Durdle Door’ beach and the other to ‘Man O War Bay.’

We prefer Man O War bay,  mainly, because of the lush and almost Mediterranean water and the fact it is very calm and great for swimming, as the rocks that are  little bit away from the shore break the waves. Its not sand this side though I’m afraid the other side is. But at least you don’t get sand in your pants.. and your nappies.. and your buggy.. and your car. Although I wouldn’t recommend taking the buggy down the steps. We carried the younger ones from the car park and our friend who brought her buggy down to the steps just left it at the top of the steps, in a little area that looked like it was unofficially a great place to leave buggy.

After our day at the beach we headed back to the camp for our greek themed BBQ.

One thing about camping/festivals with children is they are a pain to get to bed! It is just too exciting. So we both ended falling asleep about 10.30 trying to get our kids to bed. Like clockwork mine where up at 7am and bouncing of our pop up caravans walls and the rain was back big time. So the Locks decided to head home and Mona went to the Sea Life Centre in Weymouth, which is apparently well worth a visit as its more that just some sea creatures! It has rides and a splash park http://www.sealifeweymouth.com and she got a grown ups go free deal  that Kellogg’s are doing with some coco pops bars http://grownupsgofree.kelloggs.co.uk/faq.html