Planning to visit Dorset in the south of England? Take a look at some of our fabulous holiday cottages in Dorset for a good quality and comfortable place to stay.

Dorset is a largely rural county with scenic countryside and a wonderful wild coastline of beautiful views and teeming with fossils.

Go inland for charming English villages with their wealth of historical monuments.  This is where the Black death is presumed to have started, carried by rats onboard a boat in Melcombe Regis.

Dorset beaches are good places to look for pre-historic fossiled plants and animals.  These can be found on the beaches when released from the cliffs by erosion.  Interesting pebbles with a hole through them, called Hag pebbles can be found on Chesil beach, where there is also a Chesil Beach Centre with interactive displays about the geology of the region.  

Evidence of prehistoric man can be seen on many hilltops in the form of burial mounds.  Find the remains of the Iron Age, Normans and Romans. Enjoy exploring Dorset - you may encounter something quite amazing.

• Holiday cottages in Dorset - click for a list of tempting places to stay

When in Dorset why not pay a visit to to the award-winning Swanage Railway?

Take a trip on the Swanage Railway for an experience of an award-winning standard gauge preserved steam railway, operated over the six miles of track between the south coast seaside resort of Swanage and the station at Norden, in the beautiful Isle of Purbeck, passing the magnificent ruins of Corfe Castle. There are Santa Specials for the children in the weeks before Christmas or as a special treat find out about driving a train in the Drving Experience courses.

Bring your camera for great views of Dorset.

Please click on the town links to view self-catering holiday cottages in Dorset, town by town or click on titles below for cottages by occupancy in Dorset

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