After a glorious spring, summer 2025 is set to be a scorcher - so why be anywhere other than the sunny south coast?  With some fabulous festivals on the horizon, Upton House Food, Drink & Music Festival and Poole Harbour Festival, there’s plenty of outdoor family entertainment ahoy.

The don’t miss days out in Dorset:

THE BIG ONE: Poole Harbour Festival

Dates: Friday 25th - Sunday 27th July 2025

Back for its 9th year, Poole Harbour Festival, will wow with a whopping 60 live music acts across six stages.

Headlined by none other than UB40, Feeder and Happy Mondays!  Poole Harbour Festival delivers ingredients for a fabulous, family friendly summer by the sea.

The rest of the line-up is also impressive - with We are Scientists, The Hoosiers and Vengaboys, Dub Pistols taking to the stage.  And, let's not forget the throwback dance vibes this festival brings - with appearances on stage 3 from DJ Sash!, Judge Jules, N-Trance, Baby D, Tidy Boys, Dave Pearce and Brandon Block.

Plus there’ll be plenty of kids' activities, entertainers, circus skills workshops, performances, family tents and funfair rides!  Family ticket prices start from just £75 for 2 adults and 2 children.

If you don’t live locally, or want the full outdoors experience, there are off-site camping tickets available too, weekend parking and drinks bundles all bookable in advance, it's the weekend that Poole is now famous for!

The festival opens 5pm on Friday 25th July and noon on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th July, closing at 11pm Friday and Saturday, and 8pm Sunday.

Tickets can also be purchased using Klarna’s pay in 3 interest free installments, so you can spread the cost to make it a more pocket friendly weekend to remember for the whole family!

For more information and to book your tickets, please visit Poole Harbour Festival.

THE LOVELY LOCAL ONE: Upton House Food, Drink and Music Festival

Dates: Friday 20th - Sunday 22nd June 2025

Set to the picturesque backdrop of Upton House and Country Park, Poole, the event boasts being the south’s best food, drink and live music festival.

There’s plenty of free kids entertainment from Count Backwards, Mad for Animals, Jamie Jambo and Mr Merlin, as well as funfair rides and attractions.

The food offering is jam packed with street food stalls, craft beer, ales and ciders, gin and cocktail bars - with plenty of veggie and vegan food options too.

You can enjoy all the culinary delights on offer at the festival, while listening to your fave tunes, delivered by a mix of tribute acts (Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian and more) as well as some of the well known, big local talent - such as Chris Payne, Sixteen String Jack and Mother Ukers.

You can bag yourself a discount by pre-booking your tickets online before the event, and are from as little as £23 for a family ticket (2 adults and 2 children) with under 5's going in for free - they’re a bargain!

For more information and to book your tickets, please visit Upton House Food and Music Festival.

THE ROARINGLY GOOD VALUE ONE: Jurassic Fields Festival

Dates: Friday 8th - Sunday 10th August 2025

A family of 4 can bag a 3 day festival + camping ticket for under £200 if purchased before 6th July at Super Early Bird prices.

Jurassic Fields Festival offers a three-day live music event from Friday 8th - Sunday 10th August at West Bay Fields, near Bridport, with on-site camping pitches and FREE shuttle bus services to local areas are available.

The festival is an absolute bargain, for a full bill of chart topping headline acts Reef, The Hoosiers, Space, Republica, Toploader, and Artful Dodger, plus plenty of kids entertainment and rides.  Tickets from - Adult day £25, Weekend £53, Kids 5+ £9 and Under 5’s Free.

A roaringly good value gathering for family and friends by the Jurassic Coast!  Grab your tickets or find out more on Jurassic Fields Festival.

Portland's Church Ope Cove is a secluded pebble beach on the sheltered east coast of the island.  The beautiful cove has a history linked to pirates, smuggling, Viking attacks, and the area is known for its hidden passages and smuggling activities.

Our route started at the small road between Portland Museum and The Pennsylvania Estate and we followed signs down the road towards Rufus Castle.  We went under a huge arch and the views of Rufus Castle and the sea were just incredible.

Rufus Castle (aka Bow and Arrow Castle) is a 15th century castle (some parts are known to have dated back to the 1100’s) which is built on the rocky promontory of the island.  It is likely that the first castle on this site was built for William II, who was known as William Rufus, however more recent assessments also identify Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester (the Red Earl) as a possible origin for the name.  Rebuilt in the 15th century, the remains today date from this time with the exception of the single arch which you walk through.  Interestingly, the nickname ‘Bow and Arrow Castle’ is due to the fact that the 7 foot thick walls are dotted with arrow slits which allowed archers to fire at any invading forces.

From here we descended down the many steps which led us to Church Ope Cove.  I did try counting them but then one of the kids distracted me and it went out the window haha.  Let’s just say there’s quite a few.

The cove itself is so pretty and all you can hear are the waves crashing, birds singing in the distance and the odd child throwing stones in the water.  There’s hardly any sand to make your own castles but we spent a while looking for fossils and had a go at cairn building which is where you balance rocks one on top of the other.

On the way down we’d spotted another path up to St Andrew’s Church ruins so we walked back the way we came and then took the alternative path which led us to the Pirates Graveyard.

The kids were super excited to find the graves which date back to the 18th century and it didn’t take them long.  A lot of the writing on the ancient headstones is hard to read but the skulls and crossbones are clear and it was a perfect place for their dad to make up some stories about the pirates who were buried here.

Some say they are not ‘real’ pirate graves as it is written that in medieval times, the skull and crossbones represented the mortality of mankind, and thus it was a popular symbolism on graves.  This was appropriated by pirates, and therefore we automatically make the link.  Personally I’m not fussed either way and thoroughly enjoyed making the discovery.  The views from this vantage point are stunning and if you’re lucky you might spot some lizards lurking on the stones.  It’s certainly a great place to stop for a rest, that is until one of the kids say they need a wee!

We followed the path back up, through another pretty archway and woodland before coming back up alongside the Pennsylviania Estate and back to the main road.

While we were there we met lots of lovely walkers who were happy to point us in the right direction but one thing I won’t recommend is a buggy as there’s lots of steps to take on the route.  Our trip took us nearly 2 hours but we stop a lot so the children could play.

Good to know:

• This route is not buggy or wheelchair friendly.

• Re toilets, online forums informed me there are toilets on the beach but I couldn’t see them to confirm if this is true.

• Portland museum was closed when we visited but it would be well worth the visit before or after heading to the Cove.

• If you’re peckish after then you can head to The Hayloft (open summer only) which is situated within the grounds of The Pennsylvania Castle or jump in the car and drive over to the Jailhouse Café where we had a fantastic meal.

• A bus stop can be found near Portland Museum and a small car park is also nearby.

Update: I have been informed that the pathway that leads down to the Cove has been closed from the 6th June 2025 and this is expected to last for approx 26 weeks.  This is due to high risk rock falls.  It's is unclear though if you can still take the pathway to the pirate graves and church ruins.

Need more ideas for things to do on the Isle of Portland?

A Family Stay at The Penn Estate

Exploring Tout Quarry Sculpture Park and Nature Reserve

High Angle Gun Battery

Fancy’s Family Farm