Tag: coach

Sprawling for seven miles along the southern Dorset coastline, Bournemouth is one of the largest seaside resorts in Britain, famous for its grand seafront and broad sandy beaches. It’s a place with a rather strange split personality; part faded Victorian resort, part corporate anytown and part mass-market tourist holiday park, where wrinkly day-trippers and holidaying coach parties rub shoulders with stag parties, boozed-up clubbers and conference delegates. Still, it’s an atmospheric introduction to the befuddling world of the British beach holiday, and there are plenty of things to keep you occupied: sunbathing, shopping and water sports by day, and a wealth of bars, clubs and dodgy variety shows to explore by night.

Dominated by a striking russet-red castle and centred around a cobbled market square, the village of Dunster is an undeniably attractive place and also boasts some unusual architectural features, including a medieval packhorse bridge, a 16th-century stone dovecote and a curious octagonal yarn market. Unfortunately, it’s also a favourite on the coach tour trail, and in high summer the main street is thronged with a constant stream of honking motors and scarlet-faced day-trippers; if you’re arriving in July or August, you’ll be better off hightailing it straight for the castle, which sits on a hilltop above the village, or just steering clear altogether.