Weymouth

Both the Romans and the Saxons knew the strategic importance of Weymouth and the safe anchorage to be had in the River Wey, so it was an important port long before King George III bathed here, popularising it as a seaside resort.

By the late 18th century the residents of seaside towns saw how much prosperity and status spa waters brought to places like Bath and sought to promote the curative powers of sea bathing in order to attract the same well-to-do crowd. So when the King chose Weymouth as the place to indulge in a spot of sea bathing the towns cause was helped enormously and before long the visitors were flooding in.

The Esplanade overlooks the wide sandy bay, which offers clean and safe bathing but the most impressive of the local beaches has to be Lulworth Cove, a horseshoe bay surrounded by limestone cliffs.

Two of the best local museums are in the Old Harbour; Deep Sea Adventure is in a Victorian grain warehouse and covers all aspects of early sub marine exploration and the Timewalk exhibition in Brewers Quay is a fascinating, if slightly bizarre, walk through 600 years of Weymouths history as seen through the eye of Mrs. Paws the brewery cat.