We went camping with another family at the Haven Seaview near Weymouth. We chose this as a family friendly site, but it turned out not to be. The tent area was very basic with no showers and very basic toilets/washrooms. There were better facilities as short walk away at the main complex, but even these had problems. The showers were not that good. On the plus side there were outdoor and indoor swimming pools, that we used once, a restaurant with affordable food, an entertainment bar (with insufficient seating) and amusement arcade. Their main focus seems to be on selling static caravans for thousands of pounds. Our main complaint was about the lack of control of some rowdy campers. Several large groups set up around us and we had to put up with loud music until late at night, bad language, mini-motorbikes and free-roaming dogs. I could put up with that at a motorbike rally, but not at a family camp site. Luckily the kids slept through the worst of it. We made several complaints with little result. We shall not be using Haven again. The other family left a day early as they had had enough.

One thing we can't blame them for was the strong winds one day. After sheltering in the complex all morning we returned to find our tent about to blow away. One guy rope had snapped and others had pulled out of the ground. I managed to secure the tent using all available pegs, but a few things got wet. The tent was really flexing in the wind and one metal pole got a bit bent. Meanwhile, the sturdy frame tents didn't budge. A few others fared worse than ours. In the end we managed to repair the damage.

Weymouth has a very long beach with all the usual attractions. The beach slopes very gently, so you have to walk a long way out for a swim. It was fine for the kids to play in the sand. Nearby is an excellent Seal Life centre. Next door to that was the fun Pirate Mini-Golf. Tanya had an impressive round with two holes-in-one.

Durdle Door is a beautiful spot, but not such a good beach for the kids. It is reached by a steep path down the cliff and consists of a pebbly beach and a sharp drop-off into the sea. Fun for strong swimmers.

We had a great day out at Monkey World. It's sad that they have to rescue so many apes and monkeys from bad treatment in homes and the 'entertainment' industry. They are really well cared for there and the staff really care about them. The kids loved it. They have a huge adventure play area as well. We adopted some of the animals for the kids as it's a very deserving cause.

Many years ago I used to visit Lyme Regis with my family. It's a small fishing port famous for it's fossils. It hasn't changed much. There's just no room for it to grow. It happened to be their Candles on the Cobb day, a charity event attended by a very large crowd.

Our final day was spent at Lulworth Castle. It's a restored ruin with extensive grounds. The main attraction for us was a jousting display, but we also enjoyed the 17th century dancing and the petting zoo.