Families
Contemporary Cottages offer excellent family accommodation and are ideally situated in the centre of the Dorset Coast to use as a base for visiting all the attactions on offer to families in Dorset.

Local Family Attractions
Weymouth's award-winning  sandy safe beach and all the exciting activities you find there associated with the British seaside family holiday, including Punch and Judy, donkey rides, a fun fair and pedaloes.  Weymouth is also home to famous sand sculptures.  Throughout the year the beach is the setting for many events including the International Beach Kite Festival, firework displays, the Beach Motocross, the Beach Volleyball Championships and much, much more.

Monkey World, the award winning and internationally acclaimed primate rescue centre, as seen on BBC, ITV, CNN, National Geographic, Animal Planet and Sky News. The 65-acre park is home to over 240 rescued and endangered apes and monkeys, and is only a 30 minute drive from Portland.

The waters of Weymouth and Portland are some of the best in the world for sailing, which is why the area has been chosen to host all the sailing events during the 2012 Olympic Games.  Other popular watersports include kite surfing, diving, wind surfing, jet-skiing and fishing.

Sports / Activities Portland Dorset
Walking
Portland is situated right in the middle of the Jurassic Coast, designated by UNESCO as England's first Natural World Heritage Site. The site is 95 miles long and it provides a geological 'walk through 185 million years of the earth' history'.
Contemporary cottages on Portland Dorset are ideally situated for your Dorset holiday in an area of outstanding natural beauty with direct pedestrian access to the South West Coast Path. The walk around the island is stunning and it is the central point to walking the rest of the Dorset section of the path.

Explore the island and in the summer find an abundance of butterflies and flowers in the Portland quarries, such as the Silver-studded Blue butterfly and the Bee Orchid.

Birdwatching
Each spring and autumn thousands of migrating birds break their journeys by resting on the Isle of Portland. The island is one of the best sites in Europe to witness bird migration.
There are also sheltered waters in the harbour which hold large numbers of wintering waterfowl and seabirds.
Visit the nearby RSPB reserves at Radipole and Lodmoor for more information.

Cycling
The island is perfect for mountain biking in the quarries or just leisurely exploring the Dorset countryside. Weymouth is linked to Portland by the Chesil bank and this in turn links to the Rodwell Trail a recognised cycle path.

Climbing
If you would prefer to climb the cliffs than admire them from the footpaths, you will find that Portland is a well established, all year round venue for climbing.  Quarries Reach is close to popular climbing areas which can be accessed by foot from the house.  Both houses have space and facilities to store equipment safely.

Diving
Clean water, good visibility, unique beaches and fascinating dive sites all go towards making Portland one of Europe's most popular and interesting locations for diving.  The waters off Portland Bill, Chesil Beach, Chesil Cove and around the Island offer a variety of seascapes, depths and enough exciting wrecks to capture the imagination of experienced divers and beginners.  At Ferrybridge an underwater nature trail has been designed to highlight the area's outstanding marine life.
All local dive companies cater for groups and individuals, and provide a range of instruction and boat hire.  

Sailing
Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour are widely recognised as the finest sailing waters in the UK. This together with the development of the new purpose built, on-shore facilities have resulted in the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy being selected as the venue for the London 2012 Olympic sailing events.
Both our houses offer perfect accommodation for people taking part in sailing events. 

Windsurfing
For windsurfers, local companies offer board and wet suit hire, as well as beginner and improver windsurfer courses, just off the Hamm Beach on the edge of Portland Harbour.  Parking is close by at Ferrybridge Marine Services and at the Chesil Beach car park.