Spring 2011

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Bagwell Farm Touring Park, Chickerell, Weymouth

Spring Pushes Camping to the Fore...

Spring 2011

Tennyson only got it partly right. In Spring a young man’s fancy may turn to love, but the rest of you are thinking about camping holidays!

Telephone and on-line inquiries have been brisk since the New Year. And the emergence of spring buds has added an extra boost to bookings.

This year’s additional Bank Holiday for the Royal Wedding is proving popular, with many of you trying to get the most out of your options for time-off thanks to the national Easter-Wedding-May-Day public holiday combo. If the Spring weather is kind to the Royal Couple, the Wedding-Friday to May-Day-Monday weekend could be a real bonus for campers looking to get away to the Dorset Coast.

Sea Barn, West Fleet and Bagwell Farms will all be open by then, with Sea Barn Farm re-opening in March and West Fleet starting the new season ready for Easter.

Bagwell Farm, as always, has been open throughout the winter, for those hardy souls who like to pitch and unhitch whatever the weather, but for many campers, Spring marks the beginning of the season for weekends away and off-peak relaxation.

For those tied to the school holidays, the Easter, Whitsun half-term and the long summer break are all now beckoning.

Booking in advance is always a good idea for these busier times of year, more so for dates around Bank Holidays, but staking an early claim is especially important for those looking for multiple-pitches or with particularly large tents. Booking early gives parks the best opportunity of finding you the pitches you’re after.

Over the winter months (when snow and rain has allowed!). Trees and hedges at West Fleet have been given a tidy up and the swimming pool is getting a face lift! As well as rebuilding the area around the pool, the floor of the pool itself is being raised so that the deep end will be shallower, making it safer and more eco-friendly to run.

Meanwhile proposed renovations to the Bar in the Barn are still on-hold.

At Sea Barn Farm,there’s been more hedge tidying, making sure the park looks neat as well as making the most of the magnificent views.

At Bagwell Farm, the super pitches put in last year are now looking better than ever as the grassed areas between the hard standings have now matured.

And did you know that Bagwell has two Facebook pages? For those of you who tap into Facebook, why not follow all Bagwell’s latest developments or give “Dave the Scarecrow” a “poke”. The team at Bagwell have adopted Dave as their official mascot - and he’s getting up to all sorts of mischief!

If “Twittering” is more your thing, you can follow Dorset Camper’s “tweets” by clicking here.

WHAT’S ON AND WHERE TO GO...

There’s masses to do in Dorset this Spring and Summer. All the old favourites are back, most with a new twist. And that’s on top of Dorset’s stunning coastline and scenery.

Many visitors plan their holidays to coincide with Weymouth Carnival week. If you’re one of them, you’ll want to know that this year’s main event falls on Wednesday 17 August and has been renamed the “Weymouth Carnival and Airshow”. Air displays have long featured in the Weymouth Carnival programme, especially the annual visit of the RAF’s Red Arrows. But this year, organisers of the new show are promising an aerial event every hour!

Other sea front attractions coming up in 2011 include the Weymouth International Kite Festival on the May Day Bank Holiday weekend (30 April - 2 May); Veteran’s Week, which also includes the “Beach Assault” from 18 to 24 June; and the Spirit of the Sea Festival, for all things nautical, from 2 to 10 July. For more details on all these events visit the Weymouth & Portland web site. Where you will also find details about this year’s international Beach Volleyball tournament.

Outside of Weymouth, there’s the return of the Bovington Tank Museum’s annual “Tank Fest”, which this year is being held on the weekend of 25-26 June. This massive event always goes with a bang and draws big crowds for the impressive “Tanks in Action” displays. The Tank Museum is also launching a brand new “Battle Group Afghanistan” exhibition on Saturday 9 April.

Meanwhile, down at the Weymouth Sea Life Centre the new “Shark Nursery” is well established and looking great! Also new for this year in the “walk-through” ocean tanks visitors will be able to see the Centre’s new Bonnethead sharks, which are part of the hammerhead family. And the good news is that campers can still get huge discounts on Sea Life Centre tickets when pre-booked at the camping park shops at Sea Barn, West Fleet and Bagwell.

And don’t miss this year’s batch of swans being hatched at the World Famous Abbotsbury Swannery.

“Monkey World” near Wool is another local attraction that continues to grow, with more spacious enclosures than ever to see rescued and endangered primates watching us, watching them!

And for those of you who love Steam, in addition to the permanent attraction of the Swanage Steam Railway, there’s also the Great Dorset Steam Fair to look forward to, which runs from 31 August to 4 September in 2011.

This year also, the Portland Steam and Vintage Show will be moving to Knights in the Bottom near Chickerell. Just across the B3157 from Bagwell Farm. This two-day event will take place on the weekend of 16 - 17 July.

And if all this isn’t enough check out the rest of the Dorset Camper web site for places to see and things to do in Dorset. Whether you just want to chill out in the countryside or would prefer some full-on family fun, you’ll find something for you on Dorset Camper.

HOLIDAY LETS...

Lastly, the holiday lets at Sea Barn Farm are rapidly becoming fully booked for the major 2011 holiday dates, but some weeks are still available for both the Caravan and the Bungalow throughout the year. More details on www.seabarnholidays.com!