Travel for Kids: Dorset, England



England

		Dorset


			Collect fossils on the Jurassic Coast – The beaches between Weymouth and Lyme Regis are chock full of clay rocks, embedded with ammonites and other marine fossils. Walking along the flat beaches, kids will see bits of fossils sticking out of the sand. To collect unbroken fossils, stop into the local shops for buy a fossil hunting kit, complete with small hammer and brush. A great beach for collecting fossils is Seatown. Also at Seatown beach, take a hike up Golden Cap (beautiful yellow sandstone) for views of the coast. There are well marked trails to the top of the cliff.

			Maiden Castle (Dorchester) – Just outside Dorchester is a fabulous Iron Age earthworks, Maiden Castle ("mai dun" means great hill). The "castle," a large earth mound with three concentric ramparts, was originally an ancient Britons settlement. In 43 AD, the hill fort was invaded by the Romans; the Britons lost, but the castle remains. When you go to the beach, makes your own "mai dun" sandcastles.

			The Tank Museum (Wareham, near Weymouth) – This museum is dedicated to the history of the tank and they have a large collection of tanks from World War II to the present, 300 tanks plus! Visit the Tank Museum Web site.

Tamsin
Peter S. Beagle

In this fabulous Dorset ghost story, Jenny, a disgruntled teenager, and her family move to an old farm, once the 17th century home of Tamsin Willoughby. The farm has an ancient boggart and a pooka, but Jenny is the only one who can see Tamsin's ghost, Judge Jeffreys and the Wild Hunt. Wonderful local color. (Chapter book)

Rare Treasures
Don Brown

In 1811, when Mary Anning was twelve, she found a whole fossilized ichthyosaur in the cliffs near Lyme Regis. She spent her life collecting fossils of extinct creatures, braving rocks and water to unearth these rare treasures. (Picture book)

Rider in the Dark
Victoria Holmes

Exciting novel of smuggling and wrecking ships along the Dorset coast in the 18th century. Helena may be the daughter of Lord Roseby, but she prefers horses to needlework and can ride like the wind. When the wreckers light a false beacon, Helena races to save a ship from breaking on the rocks. (Chapter book)

(More children's books on other England pages)

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