Popular areas to buy a holiday home or second home in Dorset.
Why Buy in Dorset.
Home of the 2012 Olympic venue at Weymouth and Portland, a thriving tourism destination in Bournemouth and national TV coverage thanks to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage cooking programmes from near the border with Devon.
Dorset has an interesting east-west contrast where the busier and more populous eastern side of the county centres around the conurbation of Bournemouth and Poole, home to award winning beaches and the super exclusive Sandbanks.
Head westwards to find a mix of seaside towns like Swanage, Weymouth and Lyme Regis with rolling countryside – Hardy Country – interspersed with small villages and market towns like Blandford Forum, Beaminster and Shaftesbury.
Holiday Home Hotspots in Dorset
Starting east and heading west, Bournemouth is a large conurbation with, unusually for a tourist town, a busy commercial centre with call centres and a popular university. So there is lots to do and experience, not to mention the miles of award winning beaches which stretch to neighbouring Poole and Sandbanks.
Take the ferry across the mouth of Poole Harbour to the Isle of Purbeck, home to Swanage, Corfe Castle and the market town of Wareham, a peaceful and unspoilt corner of Dorset.
Further west, Dorchester is the county capital with amenities and a central location for enjoying Dorset, while Weymouth and Portland tick a lot of boxes for holiday homes with family-friendly beaches and watersports, historical sites and good local amenities even if the nightlife is ‘colourful’.
Beyond Weymouth, Chesil Beach, Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove are well-known landmarks on the Jurassic Coast, intertwined with picture postcard villages. West Dorset is undeveloped – far removed from out-of-town supermarkets and retail parks where country pubs and village shops prevail.
Buying a Holiday Home in Dorset
Best for beaches: A wide choice of seaside towns and blue flag beaches including Bournemouth, Poole, Swanage, Weymouth and West Bay near Bridport.
Best for food and drink: River Cottage to the west of the county has created a buzz around the local produce and cookery school at Park Farm. Cross the border into Axminster in Devon for their Deli and Canteen.
Best for active: Weymouth is fast establishing itself as a sailing and watersports venue, supported by redevelopment in preparation for the 2012 Olympic sailing events. Watersports are also popular in Poole Harbour, the largest natural harbour in Europe, where windsurfing and kayaking can be enjoyed in sheltered surroundings.
Best for peace and quiet: Head west and a few miles inland to avoid the bustling seaside towns for villages around Dorchester, Blandford Forum and Bridport.
Best for families: Swanage is a seaside town which remains unspoilt feel and steam train running up to Corfe Castle, while Weymouth has more amenities and attractions in the near vicinity.
Travelling to Dorset.
Dorset is easy to reach from the M3 to the west, but less so from the north through a network of A roads. Congestion is common, especially during the summer.
