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Athelhampton House & Gardens is one of the finest English manor houses, with beautiful furnished…
Do you need some ideas and inspiration for days out in West Dorset? Let us help you find that perfect place to visit to fill your days with new and exciting experiences to share back home.
Make sure you make the very most of your stay in this beautiful part of the country!
Travel back through the centuries and discover our sumptuous stately homes such as Athelhampton’s Tudor manor with its unique topiary garden or Mapperton, location for Hollywood’s Far From the Madding Crowd blockbuster and home to spectacular formal valley gardens.
Visit a castle or two in Sherborne – one boasting Capability Brown’s beautiful lakeside gardens and the other a romantic ruin where the kids can let their imaginations run wild! Take inspiration from the many garden settings around West Dorset – water gardens, sub-tropical gardens, walled kitchen gardens – all offering ideas to recreate in your own back garden.
There lots of family fun to be had at our animal themed attractions. Trek with a donkey, picnic with a llama or let the kids enjoy being a farmer for the day at one of our fun farm parks. Marvel at the mass feeding of Abbotsbury’s world famous swans or patiently wait for a badger from a comfortable hide in a stunning countryside setting.
When did education become so much fun? Little ones can soak up history in the most imaginative ways at our fascinating museums covering everything from Tutankhamun to military history and rural bygones, dinosaurs and prehistoric treasures as well as toys and giant teddies! Grown ups may also enjoy going behind the scenes on a wine or brewery tour, sampling a favourite tipple and buying a bottle or two to take home – souvenirs don’t get much better!
Discover nostalgic classics and exciting super cars of today at Haynes Motor Museum or take off at the Fleet Air Arm Museum where you’ll experience the thrills and sounds of a flight deck, feel the wind in your hair and even see a nuclear bomb!
There’s so much to see and do you really will have to keep coming back to West Dorset to discover everything that this special place has to offer. Start planning your next day out now!
Number of results: 59
, currently showing 21 to 40.
Museum
SHERBORNE
*Temporarily closed*. Sherborne Museum is housed in what used to be the gatehouse and almonry of the monastery once associated with the Abbey.
Leisure/Swimming Pool
DORCHESTER
A family friendly centre offering the local community an all inclusive wellness and sports facility to enjoy. The facility offers something for everyone including a 50 station fitness studio with the latest Technogym equipment, and a well equipped…
Museum
BEAMINSTER
*The museum will be closed for the 2020 season because of building work. They provisionally plan to re-open on Good Friday 2021*. Beaminster Museum in West Dorset is a small museum of local history which visitors from far and wide have declared…
Historic House/Palace
SHERBORNE
Public open season from 1st April 2021
Built by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1594 and the stately home of the Digby family since 1617. Walk in the footsteps of SIR WALTER RALEIGH in the home he built more than 400 years ago. Take a leisurely stroll around…
Vineyard
DORCHESTER
LATEST UPDATE: The Langham shop is still open during January, 10am until 5pm, Tuesday to Friday. Online shopping also available. World class sparkling wines from the heart of Dorset! At Langham Estate, we love to share our passion for what we do and…
Aquarium
LYME REGIS
The Aquarium has now re-opened. Discover the creatures of the seashore and deeper waters of the Jurassic coast at Lyme Regis Marine Aquarium, a traditional family run seaside attraction which prides itself on its mission to drive knowledge of local…
Beach
Lyme Regis
The beaches in Lyme Regis are a mixture of sand and pebbles. Monmouth beach is very pebbly and shelves. The Front beach is a flat, sandy beach, as is Cobb Gate.
Castle/Fort
SHERBORNE
Sherborne Old Castle has now re-opened. Visitors today can delight in the great gatehouse, stroll in the castle grounds and enjoy a picnic where Sir Walter Raleigh once entertained when the castle acted as his country home.
National Trust Property
DORCHESTER
The 180ft tall club-wielding man has long been regarded as a sign of fertility. He was probably created as a pagan idol during the Iron Age period of Britain.
National Trust Property
DORCHESTER
*LATEST UPDATE* Max Gate is currently closed.
Victorian house designed by Thomas Hardy and his home from 1885 until his death in 1928.
Beach
Nr Weymouth
A shelving beach made up of pebbles and shingle, popular with both local anglers and families for mackerel fishing.
Historic Site
DORCHESTER
Maumbury Rings is a Neolithic henge in the south of Dorchester town in Dorset, England. The monument is now a public open space, and used for open-air concerts, festivals and re-enactments.
Historic Site
Dorchester
The finest and one of the largest Iron Age hill forts in Europe.
Heritage/Visitor Centre
BRIDPORT
The centre offers hands-on displays, interactive computers and information about fossils and fossil hunting. Guided walks and activities throughout the year.
Church/Chapel
ABBOTSBURY
Set high on a hilltop overlooking Abbotsbury Abbey, this sturdily buttressed and barrel-vaulted 14th-century chapel was built by the monks as a place of pilgrimage and retreat.
Beach
A shingle beach that shelves steeply. Walking is popular around this area and like many of the other beaches in the vicinity, views to the East and West are superb.
Museum
DORCHESTER
*Temporarily closed*. Fossils, skeletons, life-size dinosaur reconstructions plus hands-on and multimedia displays provide great family fun at this award winning museum.
Museum
DORCHESTER
*Temporarily closed*. The world's greatest discovery of Ancient Treasure - Tutankhamun's tomb, treasures and mummy are superbly recreated in this internationally renowned exhibition - spanning time itself.
Garden
DORCHESTER
*LATEST UPDATE* Minterne Gardens plan to reopen February 2021, date TBA (usual hours from 10am to 6pm). Minterne is famed for its seasonal profusion of Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Japanese cherries and Magnolias are set in a peaceful wooded valley and…
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