Caravan club sites in Dorset

Dorset packs a lot into a short coastline. The Jurassic Coast runs from Lyme Regis to Studland, the Purbeck hills give you Corfe Castle and Kimmeridge, and inland the chalk downs around Cerne Abbas and Shaftesbury are quiet enough to be a genuine change of pace.

Where the sites are

Purbeck holds the main cluster, with sites around Wareham, Corfe and Swanage, within reach of Studland's beaches and the South West Coast Path. West Dorset has a second group near Bridport, Charmouth and Lyme Regis on the fossil coast. A third sits around Poole and Christchurch, convenient but suburban.

Getting there

The A31 from the M27 at Cadnam is the main artery, dual carriageway as far as Bere Regis before dropping to the A35. The A35 continues west through Dorchester and Bridport as single carriageway with long summer queues and a steep, winding descent into Charmouth that needs a low gear. The A350 north from Poole towards Blandford and Shaftesbury is a poor road for its status — narrow, twisting and busy with lorries.

Local notes

The Sandbanks chain ferry between Poole and Studland does carry caravans and charges by length, but summer queues regularly run past an hour and the approach through Sandbanks is tight. With an outfit, the A351 through Wareham is the dependable way into Purbeck even though it looks longer on the map.

Gold Hill in Shaftesbury is a pedestrian street; sat navs occasionally think otherwise. The lanes down to Kimmeridge, Worth Matravers and Ringstead are single track with almost no turning space, so leave the van behind and drive in with the car.

Wareham makes the best base, putting Purbeck, Poole Harbour and the Dorchester side all within thirty minutes while keeping you off the A35.

The season is late March to the end of October. Bank holiday weekends and the whole of August need booking well ahead, particularly anything within walking distance of the coast path.