This one is one best kept for a warm-ish, dry day.
It was the fourth day of the May half-term holiday and the kids were getting scratchy after a day of rain-induced indoor confinement. (They had been entertained with an array of indoor activities including a disastrous attempt at baking ‘meringue lollipops’ – but really they do need an outdoor blast to keep them on the spectrum of sane.)
In an attempt to make a park trip less desolate for us adults (Andy’s off work this week) we thought we’d try somewhere new. I’d heard Charmouth had a nice outdoor play area so we scouted this out – and it was a winner for children aged 2 – 10ish I’d say.
Finding our way there was easy enough as I’d scouted it out beforehand and I knew the way. From the direction of Lyme Regis, drive down Charmouth’s main street (downhill) and take a sharp left at the traffic lights directly opposite the turning to the beach. The little narrow street winds around behind the highstreet and even better, takes you past a tiny little bakery advertising bacon rolls – er, yes please!
The playground is a few hundred metres down the lane on the right hand side and there’s parking alongside the playground fence.
The kids played on the climbing frame (cue lots of “Mum, look at me!”s which were met with moderate contempt until I’d had my coffee which I’d brought in a flask). There’s a spinning climbing ladder, a roundabout, several swings (including baby/toddler swings), a balancing pole trail, a large slide, a great little climbing frame for hanging monkeys, and a wooden fortress.
Andy skived off to the bakery in search of mid-morning stodge and I waited on the bench, surveying the slightly more enthusiastic parents who enjoyed climbing on the climbing frame with their children and brought bubbles along to further entertain their offspring - impressive. He returned with an enormous home-baked bap filled with lashings of bacon and two fried eggs, which cost £5 – well worth it, I’d say! We all shared that along with a secondary bacon roll, and finished it off with a couple of chocolate chip cookies which I’d stashed in my Mum bag.
The girls played happily for a good hour and a half and we enjoyed the view over the vast, well-kept tree-lined playing field before giving the girls a good push on the swings. (I accidentally pushed Livvie a bit too hard and she flew off the seat, I dusted her off and avoided the eye of the bubble-blowing Mum mentioned earlier!)
Next time we’ll take the girls’ bikes along as it’s perfect territory to let them have a good blast in a safe, enclosed area. Mini footballers would be in heaven here too as there are football goals in situ and lots of flat, grassy space.
We also decided it would be a great spot for a picnic as there was plenty of seating and a few picnic benches – we could also combine it with a little walk down to the beach as it’s only a 10-minute amble (with little legs in tow!) – and could get an icecream from the beach kiosk.
The only issue we came across was the lack of toilets – must find out where the nearest public conveniences are but I’d imagine it’s the beach which is a bit of a problem with a toddler – so you may wish to take a potty! As it happened, I'd forgotten our car potty so the youngest had to water the tree, sorry about that.
I forgot to take photos AGAIN so the ones on here are courtesy of Charmouth Council.