So, what could go wrong? Three housemates, a tent, a stove, a car for transport and a booking with a campsite chosen purely because it ‘looked pretty and had a lake’. Well, let me tell you it turned into one of the best weekends I’ve had in a while and just the reset I needed for my creativity at university.
My housemates and I got the idea of a camping trip from our group chat, taking a weekend to explore more of Dorset and spend quality time together. We came back rested, connected and ready for a new week at uni after a fun adventure.
We stayed at a gorgeous site called Litton Lakes, nestled among rolling fields in Litton Cheney. It’s positioned between Bridport and Dorchester, two places on our list to visit! The campsite was divine – an onsite café for all our caffeine needs – as well as croissant waffles called Croffles! Plus a lake to sit by or swim in and plenty of space to pitch up and enjoy a fire and the stars.
After a chilled Friday night on the campsite, sat catching up about the term so far, our weeks and chatting like we do best, we woke up Saturday ready to tackle Bridport. We drove the short distance, parked up and readied ourselves for the market. I can truly say I had a lovely time! Bridport market was full of life, amazing creatives selling their goodies and lots of food available. We wandered all round, mooched in lots of charity shops and splashed some cash at a few stalls. Exploring around to the sound of live music from a music group playing was also fab. I would definitely recommend Bridport as a nice town to visit if you want to explore Dorset and more of the surrounding area that we get to call home whilst studying at AUB.
After this, we moved along to Symondsbury Estate and walked through The Holloways towards Colmers Hill. It was a fairly straightforward route to the top with fantastic views of the nearby towns, although we might have gotten slightly lost, admittedly. The Holloways are ancient walkways – sunken paths from years of farmers and smugglers wearing the ground down. Now, it’s full of people's carvings to spot too!
This was definitely a highlight of the trip for me. It was so peaceful at the top and you felt so accomplished for walking up there, especially in the sunshine. Whilst walking along the paths to get here, we saw an abundance of wildflowers for spring in bloom. That’s the theme of my current project, so I was coming across great inspiration and research too.
After our second night in the tent, we packed up Sunday morning (reluctantly), took a final visit to the lake and café and took off for Dorchester and the road back to Bournemouth.
None of us had been to Dorchester before, so there was a great deal of exploring to be done again. We caught the tail end of a market here too, which had an interesting array of jewellery, decorations and hand-crafted gifts. We also walked to the Roman Amphitheatre slightly out of town. This was fascinating to look around; there were also noticeboards explaining the history behind it too. It felt so cool to be able to run around somewhere that so many other people in history have been. Dorchester was full of lots of Roman history, like the route of the old Roman walls, as well as other interesting exhibitions such as the Dorchester Museum, Tutankhamun Exhibition and we even saw a tearoom in a building from the 1600s! Lots of places were shutting when we arrived as it was getting to mid-afternoon on a Sunday, so we definitely could have spent a lot longer here going round all the museums if we'd arrived sooner.
I think out of the two, Bridport and Dorchester, I preferred Bridport as it felt slightly quirkier and more independent. I’m glad we took this weekend out of our normal routines to have a break from screens, reconnect with each other and explore more of what is around us. Even though it was only two days, I definitely feel like it made Dorset seem a bit more homely again, as I saw more of the area and felt like I was living for the weekend rather than just going about my usual routine.
Leaving Friday afternoon and returning Sunday evening meant we made the most of our weekend and were ready to return for Monday lectures feeling like we had given our minds a proper rest from all our project thinking, ready to start the week fresh with some new ideas! If you ever get the opportunity to explore either of these places, through a day trip on your own or a weekend with friends like I did, I would 100% say go for it. A little break never does any harm, and some amazing memories were made.
Have an amazing time exploring!
