Weymouth and Portland are full of summer fun and were the venue for the Olympic Sailing events in 2012; you can kite surf, canoe, windsurf and sail cheaply five miles away. The area is full of natural beauty off season too and is a popular weekend break for city-dwellers . The walks from our house along the coast are spectacular; we are in the middle of Thomas Hardy's Wessex. We are an hour away by car from Exeter in one direction and Bournemouth in the other, so lots of attractions and places of interest in the near regions. We are on the Jurassic coast and there are some great dinosaur museums and fossil hunt things nearby. Very locally, in a neighbouring village, there is a great children's farm and a swannery. In Weymouth there is a Sea Life Centre and a golden sandy beach which is especially safe for children (gently shelving over a great distance) . Within a five mile radius there are some excellent local fish restaurants, family-friendly eating and drinking venues and spectacular places to visit such as Portland Bill and lighthouse. You can take day trips to the Channel Islands and St Malo (France) on the hydrofoil from Poole. London (Waterloo) is a direct train line and about 2 hrs 20 by the fast train. The first train is about 5am and trains run twice an hour through waking hours. Day trips to the capital are easy - Waterloo puts you out on the south bank and within an easy walk of Shakespeare's Globe, the London Eye etc. Other cities Exeter, Southampton and historic Bath all within drivable distance.