Things to do in Dorset
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Brownsea Island
This small, wooded island in the middle of Poole harbour played a key role in a global movement famous for three-fingered salutes, shorts and toggles – Lord Baden-Powell staged the first ever scout camp here in 1907. Today trails weave through heath and woods, past peacocks, red squirrels, red deer and a wealth of birdlife.
There are free guided walks ; subjects include the wartime island, smugglers and pirates.
Boats run by Brownsea Island Ferries leave from Poole Quay (adult/child return £8.50/5.50) and Sandbanks (adult/child return £5/4). Services operate when the island is open only and the last boat is normally at about 4.30pm.
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Bournemouth Surf School
Bournemouth Surf School operates from the beach just east of Bournemouth Pier and runs surf lessons and half-day bodyboarding sessions.
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Dorset County Museum
The Thomas Hardy collection here the is the biggest in the world. It offers extraordinary insights into his creative process – reading his cramped handwriting, it's often possible to spot where he's crossed out one word and substituted another. There's also a wonderful reconstruction of his study at Max Gate and a letter from Siegfried Sassoon, asking Hardy if Sassoon can dedicate his first book of poems to him.
As well as the superb Hardy exhibits, look out for Jurassic Coast fossils, especially the huge ichthyosaur and the 6ft fore paddle of a plesiosaur. Bronze and Iron Age finds from Maiden Castle include a treasure trove of coins and neck rings, while Roman artefact…
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Black Ven
Search for fossils yourself: at low tide, head a mile east along the beach to Black Ven, a mudflow that brings fossil-filled deposits onto the shores. The sea washes away the silt exposing waves of prehistoric treasures. The site does come with safety warnings: it's only accessible within two hours of low tide (check at the tourist office for times) and it's easy to get cut off. Steer at least 20m clear of the highly unstable cliffs and be aware the rocks are very slippery.
Responsible fossil collecting is positively encouraged.
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Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum
The Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum is an ostentatious mix of Italianate villa, Scottish baronial pile and Japanese gardens. It was built at the end of the 1800s for Merton and Annie Russell-Cotes as somewhere to showcase the remarkable range of souvenirs gathered on their world travels - look out for a plaster version of the Parthenon frieze by the stairs, Maori woodcarving and Persian tiles.
The house is also dripping with Victorian art and paintings by Rossetti, Edwin Landseer and William Frith.
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Broad Street
A refreshingly innovative restaurant. Décor is rough meets smooth: whitewashed walls and exposed stone; crisp white linen and beige Hessian. Seating is on old chapel chairs - complete with the slots for hymn sheets on the backs. The food also has flair; confit of duck, roast tomato and beetroot puree sits alongside pot-roast pollack with spinach and leeks. Impeccably sourced ingredients, their local credentials are outlined on the menu, include wild garlic gathered from the woods.
Booking essential.
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7-Mile Beach
Backed by 3000 deck chairs, Bournemouth's big draw is its 7-mile sandy beach. Regularly clocking up seaside awards, it stretches from Southborne in the far east to Alum Chine in the west - an immense promenade backed by ornamental gardens, cafés and toilets. It also prides itself on two piers (Bournemouth and Boscombe).
Around Bournemouth Pier you can be part of centuries of tradition and hire beach chalets, deck chairs, windbreaks and parasols, as well as sit-on-board kayaks.
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Artificial Surf Reef
Bournemouth has been busy building itself an artificial surf reef - the first one in Europe. It involves 60m-long sausage-shaped bags being lowered into the sea just east of Boscombe Pier, then being pumped full of 1000 tonnes of sand. The aim is to produce heavy-breaking, barrelling 3m waves - a challenging ride.
The accompanying around £8 million redevelopment at Boscombe Spa Village is set to add a new wave of surf shops and restaurants to the mix.
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Cobb
First built in the 13th century, this curling, protective barrier has been strengthened and extended over the years, so it doesn't present the elegant line it once did, but it's still hard to resist wandering its length for a wistful, sea-gazing Meryl moment at the tip.
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West Beach
A firm favourite with Bournemouth's foodie crowd, this buzzy eatery delivers both top-notch dishes and the best views in town. Try monkfish medallions with Parma ham or a seafood platter crammed with crab claws, lobster, razor clams and crevettes – best enjoyed on a decked dining terrace that juts out over the sand.
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Perry's
Effortlessly stylish, but also relaxed, this Georgian town house is a study of snowy white tablecloths and flashes of pink. The local seafood is irresistible: seabass with crushed saffron potatoes, and spiced tian of Portland crab. The cognoscenti book the 1st-floor window table (complete with fabulous harbour view) for a two-course lunch – a bargain at £15.
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Dinosaurland Fossil Museum
The Dinosaurland Fossil Museum is a mini, indoor Jurassic Park - packed with the remains of belemnites, thrissops and the graceful plesiosaur. Its timeline emphasises what an insignificant blip humans are and the museum does a subtle, but good, education job. Lifelike dinosaur models will thrill youngsters - the fossilised tyrannosaurus eggs and 73kg dinosaur dung will have them in raptures.
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Max Gate
Hardy was a trained architect and designed this house, where he lived from 1885 until his death in 1928. Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure were both written here, and the house contains several pieces of original furniture, but otherwise it's a little slim on sights. The house is a mile east of Dorchester on the A352.
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Lyme Regis Philpot Museum
Mary Anning found the first full ichthyosaur skeleton near Lyme in 1814. The site of her former home is now the excellent Lyme Regis Philpot Museum. An incredibly famous fossilist in her day, the bonneted Miss Anning did much to pioneer the science of modern-day palaeontology; the museum exhibits her story along with spectacular fossils and other prehistoric finds.
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Nothe Fort
Crowning the headland beside Weymouth Harbour, these photogenic 19th-century defences are studded with cannons, rifles, searchlights and 12-inch coastal guns. Exhibits detail the Roman invasion of Dorset, a Victorian soldier's drill, and Weymouth in WWII. Commanding an armoured car and clambering around the magazine prove popular with regiments of children.
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Waterfront Museum
This beautifully restored 15th-century warehouse is home to a 2300-year old Iron Age logboat dredged up from Poole Harbour. At 10m long and 14 tonnes, it's the largest to be found in southern Britain and probably carried 18 people. It was hand-chiselled from a single tree; centuries later you can still see the blade marks in the wood.
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Custom House
Harbourside terrace, funky eatery and fine-dining venue all rolled into one.
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Dorset Belle Cruises
Between April and September Dorset Belle Cruises operates a range of trips from Bournemouth Pier. The pick is a 2½-hour cruise (two to three daily) to the sheer white chalk cliffs at Old Harry - the start of the Jurassic Coast. It also runs ferries to Swanage (one to three daily), Poole (one to two daily) and Brownsea Island (two to four daily).
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Local History Centre
This small but impressive centre can be found, thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, in the historic town cellars at the back of the Waterfront Museum . It offers an in-depth history of Poole including archaeology, architecture, transport and local families. Naturally, Poole's maritime past is a drawcard, pooling information on trade and industry.
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Landmarc
The preacher wouldn't recognise it. This vibrant bistro-cum-music venue is set in a massive former church - now the stained glass merges with red neon. Acts are a mix of acoustic and tribute bands, with comedy on Wednesdays. The menu's full of tasty café staples: Swiss burger and fries, grilled tuna steak and Thai chicken curry.
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Hardy's statue
Look out for Hardy's statue at the top of High West St in Dorchester. You can also try and track down what's thought to be the red and grey brick inspiration for the Mayor of Casterbridge's house, now a Barclays Bank branch, in South St, and visit the Maumbury Rings; the location of Henchard's secret meetings in the same book.
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Guildhall Tavern
More Provence than Poole, the grub at this brasserie is Gallic gourmet charm at its best: unpretentious and top-notch. Expect double-baked cheese soufflé, chargrilled sea bass flambéed with pernod, or Charolais beef with peppercorns. Exquisite aromas fill the dining room, along with the quiet murmur of people enjoying very good food.
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Roman villa
Dorchester was once a thriving Roman settlement and excavations have uncovered the foundations of a 1st-century Roman villa behind the town hall on Northern Hay. The layout of the house is clearly visible and the remains of the main building, enclosed in a glass structure, boast remarkable mosaic floors.
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Sienna
Indulge in some fine, pan-European cooking which combines complex flavours: rare roast Scottish sirloin with mushrooms sits on the same menu as fresh tagliatelle with roasted artichokes, and a goat's cheese and pepper tart with sherry vinegar. The décor is simpler - light woods and red padded seats.
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Oceanarium
Underwater tunnels bring you eye-to-eye with mean-looking sharks, massive moray eels and giant turtles in watery worlds ranging from Key West and the Ganges to Africa and the Med.
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