As its the Summer holidays we have been finding it harder and harder to provide entertainment for my five year old daughter without spending an astronomical amount. To be honest she is more than happy to spend time in our back garden.
About two weeks ago on a Saturday my wife decided that it would be a good idea to visit The Blue Pool near to Wareham. I have lived in Weymouth my whole life I am 38 now and can vaguely remember visiting this magical attraction as a young child a few times. What I remembered of it was that it wasn't really blue and it was more of a lake than a pool.
So we set off not really knowing what to expect. When we arrived we went down quite a narrow track to find ample parking at the end in a clearing surrounded by lots of forest. We walked over to the entrance and prices were as follows:
Adults
£5.50
Children 5 - 14 years
£4.00 (under fives free)
Seniors & Concessions
£4.80
Family Ticket - 2 adults and up to 4 children
£15.00
Season Tickets Are Available
Not too bad we thought. We then walked through past the Teddy Bear Museum and The Tea Rooms and onto what was just an unbelievable sight to be sat in Dorset
you can see it looks more like an tiny slice of an American National Park . You literally feel that you have walked into another country. It helped that it was very much like an Autumn day and everything was filtered golden brown except the trees which were still a lovely green. We then walked through the forest stopping at various view points along the way all better than the first. We finally got round to area where we could get down on to the Shore of the Pool itself.
Even a young child can enjoy herself here. It is said that the Pool was manmade from a clay bowl and this is why the colour itself changes from Blue to Green to Brown at times.
We carried on round and just before we made our way back to the refreshments my eagle eyed daughter spotted a well stocked Play Area with 3 different parts to it. There was also an area to view Corfe Castle from here but the trees were so tall we could not make it out.
After we dragged my little girl away from the park kicking and screaming as usual. We had a look round the Wareham Bears shop which was a cute little shop with Teddy Bears set up in glass cases in various scenarios. Such as builders or Fireman etc. http://www.bluepooltearooms.co.uk/the-wareham-bears
Quite fun really.
Next we headed to the Tea Rooms that had ample seating inside and out Good fun for the kids is a Teddy Bear hunt which is based in the Tea Room and the Museum. This keeps the kids busy for around 15mins if you're lucky. The museum from what I could gather in between looking for bears shows the history of Clay Mining in the area. We had the obligatory Cream Teas but hot meals were available the price was pretty average .
We were at the attraction for around 3hrs in total but never felt bored and like we wanted to leave at all. You could easily spend the day there and have a picnic. It is truly one of the most beautiful spots in Dorset, If not the UK.