Sunday 26 June 2011

Swanage

One of the ladies I work with in the charity shop is very active in her church organising social activites and days out. When she mentioned that one of the coach trips was to Swanage I asked if I could book some seats. I've never visited this seaside town before and as it's not linked up to National Rail it's not somewhere we are likely to get to on a day out.
So bright and early Saturday morning me, my mum, T and S set off with 40 odd other people to spend a day at the seaside.

Our drop off point was just opposite the Swanage Steam Railway. If we were going to be in this part of Dorset for a short break we would definitely have been having been taking a ride on this.


Our first stop was to get a cuppa and we found a little place called Country Foods Kitchen (blogger won't let me do a link). Would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting. Our toasted teacakes just hit the spot and mum said her coffee was delicious. And the staff were really helpful and friendly too.

After being refuelled we were on a mission to buy a bucket and spade and a ball to take to the beach. These we found quite quickly in between stopping to watch the 11th Signals Regiment exercise their freedom of Swanage by marching through the town centre.


We gasped in awe at seeing a real live dalek through a shop window and dashed in to have a closer look. The very kind gentleman inside was more than happy for us to take photos. This made T's day!






Whilst my mum went into another shop I crossed the road to snap this balcony above a deli. Love the faces on the terracotta pots. It all looks so colourful.





Of course being Sawnage the pub in the town centre had to be The White Swan.






My sister had visited Swanage a few months ago and told us about a shop we just had to go into called. Curiosity. Well I could have spent all day in there. So much to look at, it was a bit over whelming! Candles, hearts, jewellery, badges, purses, crockery, photo frames, trinkets, glass ware, the list goes on and on. And the biggest selection of door knobs I've ever seen, these are only part of it.





The children were so good waiting for us to make our selection from the goodies on display we headed straight to the beach to find the right spot to enjoy our lunch.


As you can tell from the photos it wasn't the sunniest of days but this didn't put us off.











The children went in the water, played catch and made sandcastles.




And enjoyed an ice cream, as modelled by a very sandy Miss S here.





Here's mum trying out one of the deckchairs just before we started to pack up and head back to the coach.




Instead of going back the way we had come we decided to go in the opposite direction as I was sure it would lead us back up the hill to our pick up point.




As we strolled along we spotted so many places we hadn't had the time to investigate.






Giant bears.






Beautiful buildings.





More seaside shops.







Shops selling wicker baskets, always a favourite!






Shops selling lovely items for the home and garden.








The pretty floral entrance to the Salvation Army hall.









As we got to the top of this hill it became apparent that my theory was wrong, but luckily there was a couple out walking their dog who told us if we took the short cut we had just walked past we would be right back on track. Thankfully we made it back to the coach on time and we weren't the last ones!

14 comments:

  1. Oh we are off to the Dorset for our hols - need to see how far away Swanage is from our campsite - it looks a great place for a day out :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love Swanage,we had a great ride from Norden to Swanage on the little steam train last time we were there.Bella wasn't too keen at first! Glad you all had a lovely trip. :0)

    ReplyDelete
  3. How lovely, I used to love Swanage when I lived in Dorset, we used to buy Nussnackers, bit like a large Florentine which were wonderful.

    Hugs Jill xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. How lovely, I used to love Swanage when I lived in Dorset, we used to buy Nussnackers, bit like a large Florentine which were wonderful.

    Hugs Jill xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love Swanage, Looks like you had a fab day out. Loved your ladder in the previous post. Gorgeous meditteranian colours. xxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's official now I really am homesick! It looks lovely! I adore the photo of S!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great post ... looks like you all had a lovely day!
    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a lovely day out for you all, it looks like you had a great time,

    Victoria xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh Swanage looks really lovely. You didn't mention charity shops (my number one priority wherever I go, I know I'm obsessed). I do like a good door knob though...

    ReplyDelete
  10. I enjoyed reading about your day out in Swanage, it certainly looks like you all had a lovely time. You'll have to have a return trip to check out all the things you missed.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Swanage is beautiful, although I haven't been there for many years now. In fact, the whole of Dorset is beautiful. I must go there again soon. Lovely photos.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thank you for sharing such happy moments of your weekend!
    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  13. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I have never been to Swanage, so, thanks for the guided tour.

    Here, in the north, it's not unusual to find a huge troll outside a tourist shop but I've never seen a giant teddybear before.

    Anna

    ReplyDelete