The Isle of Portland is one of the lovely places to take the kids out for an afternoon or at least a few hours. You have some great viewpoints and some great points to visit and walk around. In fact, in this post, I am going to let you know my thoughts on
That's a good solid question to answer first (even if I am answering myself asking that).
So, the Isle of Portland is on the South Coast of England, in the wonderful county of Dorset. It's kind of right next to Weymouth, well, to be factual Wiki says its Portland is 5 miles (8 km) south of the resort of Weymouth. If you were to look at this map though, you can see Weymouth up on the right just above the Isle of Portland.
It's connected to the mainland, shall we call the UK, by a road (and obviously the little bit of land that road is on) which you drive over to get there. It's actually quite a nice drive across as on one side you can see boats in the harbour and on the other side you see what looks like large sand dunes - it's actually the beach, which, when you look at it from the viewing point, it looks detached from the mainland.
Considering its only around 45-50 minutes and just 36 miles (point to point according to Google Maps) from where I live, I have not visited there before. This was my first visit and I must say I am already hooked on going back again, maybe to explore more - especially towards the lighthouse.
This exploration is one reason I want to go back, the other reason is the fantastic view you get from the top, but you don't have to take my word for it as I threw together some images
First, we have the fantastic view of that beach. As I say, it kind of looks detached from the mainland. On a clear day though you can see quite some way - as you can see as this was a clear day.
You can also see that the view over the harbour is also fantastic. You can just make out Weymouth in this image, is top centre/right. This viewpoint was just a lovely place to stop and take in the fresh air. The kids loved the view too, both our daughter and son. Both our kids love getting out, in fact, one of the things our son has shown is that he prefers to be out and about than in.
You can see the fun they were having though...
They were taking in that lovely view - standing and looking through the Olympic rings that stand at the top
Perfect point to have them overlooking the water on which the sports were held.
We did venture a little further up the coast and found a little farm that had Kangaroo's, called Fancy's Family Farm. You could play in the playroom for free. Drinks were cheap. They had food and you could buy bits to feed the animals. Again, such a great little find to spend an hour. I don't have any photo's I'm afraid as kids enjoying playing.
I plan to visit again soon. I want to see those views. Maybe try out the cafe in the hotel at the top. The kids loved the walk, views and farm. Next time though, be an adventure more towards the lighthouse.
If you live near or are holidaying down this way, then definitely check it out, spends an hour or 4 and see that fantastic view. It truly was fantastic.