Spotlight on: Newlands Holiday Park

We visited the Jurassic coastline on the May bank holiday weekend and stayed near Charmouth in Dorset.

The site is really easy to find as it is just off the main A35 but, because of that, you do get some traffic noise. The site itself was very clean and tidy, even on the very busy bank holiday weekend.

The toilet blocks and showers were exceptionally clean with showers you can control yourself and with ample room for changing. The bar area is also very well maintained with excellent staff telling us all about the local area. There is a very convenient bus stop right outside the site to get you all around the area.

There are a good mix of hardstanding and grass pitches, with also a mix of standard pitches and super pitches. One thing to remember is on the standard grass pitches you can only run off 10A, whereas super pitches are 16A.

We decided to take the 15-minute walk to Charmouth Beach, which is really easy to do. However, if you do need to drive to the coast, parking for the day is between £3/£4 and the price is reduced after 2.30pm.

This area is really popular with fossil hunters. The beach itself is pebbly and there are a couple of cafés, toilets and the heritage centre. The latter is well worth a visit as it holds David Attenborough’s ichthyosaur. Another day we visited Beer Quarry Caves, which supplied stone for many churches, cathedrals and other buildings and, in Beer itself, we enjoyed a walk on the beach where you can buy fish caught that day. Bridport is the nearest larger town and has all the main shops and some great restaurants.

On Sunday we drove to Colyton to catch the tram to Seaton as there is easy access for parking and it is free. Lyme Regis is also worth a visit. The best way is to park and ride as the town has a tight one-way system. We unfortunately ran out of time, so it is a must to go back and look at Weymouth and Dorchester. We were there for four nights but could have done with seven.

Newlands Holiday Park
Charmouth, Dorset DT6 6RB
01297 560259

This site review first appeared in MMM magazine, Summer issue, submitted by Bev Machin