Giants Head Caravan and Camping Park

If you have giggling kids along with you – and even if you don’t – a trip to the well-endowed and world-famed Cerne Abbas Giant is most visitors’ first stop, if only to buy a postcard (it’s been noted that postcards of the Giant are the only images of a naked man that can be sent via the Post Office). The man himself is now tended by the National Trust, which has a waymarked circular trail around the site from Cerne Abbas village.

Dorchester is an excellent early stop for urbanites and heritage-heads: here you’ll find history-dedicated days out as varied as the Dinosaur Museum, Dorchester Museum, Teddy Bear Museum, Tutankhamen Exhibition and the Roman Amphitheatre; take the Durnovaria Town Walk for an outdoorsy overview of the city’s main sights.

Thomas Hardy’s Cottage is at Dorchester too and the literary can book into their schedule the Thomas Hardy Trail, a six-mile circular walk within the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Elsewhere around the area, take the enormous amount of things to see and do in your stride: from castles to dinosaurs, theme parks to heritage railways and historic houses to tank museums, the coast to countryside have whopping opps for days out (and in; dash to Dorchester’s West Dorset Leisure Centre on a rainy day when the kids need to let off steam).

Historic houses and gardens like Kingston Lacy, Athelhampton House and Minterne House and Gardens should suit the sedately inclined, while the less sedate (hello kids) will no doubt prefer chattering at the likes of Monkey World in Wareham, Adventure Wonderland at Christchurch or Sea Life near Weymouth. Both sorts should have a tanking good time at Bovington’s Tank Museum, the second biggest collection of armoured vehicles on the planet.

Head for the coast, half an hour's drive away, to fossil hunt or take a guided fossil tour at Lyme Regis or Charmouth; soak up sun and sights at seaside towns such as Weymouth, Swanage and Christchurch; float on a boat to the Channel Islands or potter around glorious Poole Harbour and epically beaut Brownsea Island, also managed by the National Trust.

The award-winning Swanage Railway is a gently relaxed way to see some of the sights of Dorset (including Famous Five inspiration Corfe Castle) and holds regular events including driving experiences and special days for children.