Family Fun
Fantasy Island - Bowleaze ,@DorsetSCC
Enid Blyton's Famous Five and the Secret Seven had glorious adventures in mysterious Dorset and they would have LOVED visiting all of these fantastically-fun family attractions!
Dorset is packed with beautiful beaches, nature reserves & beauty spots to explore, as well as having lots of sports & watersports to try out and lots of historical & arty places to discover all along its World Heritage Jurassic Coastline and tucked away in its sleepy hills & meadows.
Most of these Dorset Great Places have interesting visitor centres to guide you along and many are either free or often, only adults have to pay whilst kids go free, so please do check out our other pages and our map for many other great places to visit.
There's lots of community events and festivals on in Dorset throughout the year, please visit our Dorset Diary for local event listings, plus our Dorset Food & Drink page lists many local food festivals, half of which are very refined whilst the other half are downright barmy, but all are great fun to attend with your family in tow!
Camp Bestival is probably the very best kids' festival in the country (why not volunteer in exchange for a free ticket?) and Moors Valley Country Park & Forest offers free entry and comes very highly recommended, probably due to its zipwires through the trees & Sedgway hire...
Or why not catch a ferry to Brownsea Island aka Enid Blyton's Kirrin Island, which is sheltered just within Poole harbour, which is the largest natural Harbour in Europe and well-worth a visit as you can explore for a hours and some cute native red squirrels may even join you for a picnic, you can visit the National Trust gift shop, admire the art exhibitions and you can even buy some fresh vegetables to take home with you.
Poole Harbour is the largest natural harbour in Europe but the average depth of the water is just 48cms/19" so it's an ideal place to try out different watersports. Both entrances to the harbour, the Sandbanks and Studland peninsulas, are stunning and there's actually 9 islands in total: Brownsea, Furzey, Green, Long, Round, Gigger's, Drove, Pergin's & Stone.
You can also explore some of the wild harbourside National Nature Reserves: Holton Heath, Hartland Moor and Studland and Godlingston Heath National Nature Reserve. Plus there's also RSPB Arne Nature Reserve, which is also really lovely, of course!
Canoeing in Poole Harbour guide
Visit Dorset brochures & guides
(in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian & Spanish)
Dorset cycling routes and maps
Dorset walking routes, trails & free guided walks
South Dorset Ridgeway soundscape app
South West Coast Path National Trail
Weymouth & Portland famously hosted the 2012 Olympic sailing events and you and your family can also learn how to sail like real professionals, or try out lots of other exciting coastal activities and watersports at the National Sailing Academy, Andrew Simpson Saling Centre, Andrew Simpson Foundation, Chesil Sailability and PGL Adventure Centre in tranquil Osmington.