Studland Bay by Poole Harbour in Dorset is a simply stunning sandy beach. With our January walk it outlived all our expectations. We have often visited it in summer, but never at this time of year usually opting for a bracing cliff top walk to match the time of year. We started our trip at the very aptly named Shell Bay which is right on the tip of the Studland peninsula, where it almost touches Poole at the other side. We don’t usually visit this part of the beach in the summer because part of it is designated as a nudist ( or as the National Trust signs state a ‘naturalist’ beach) and not really suitable for family participation.
We had superb views of the Poole Ferry.
All the children on the beach were running and turning and twisting with a real feel of freedom and ours was no exception. We found out that he could do a pretty mean karate kick.
During our outbound walk the tide was out and we came across this large jelly fish. One of the largest I have ever seen as it was about 18 inches across.
When you visit a sandy beach in the summer, you sit down and usually stay put. You may go for a swim, build a sandcastle and go for a wander passing by lots of other sedentary groups, but essentially the feel is static. Today the beach was quite busy, but there was a fluidity and energetic feel to the whole area, because everybody was upright and moving. The south west coast path runs right along this part of the beach and it really did feel like a pathway.
It truly was a magical walk. We will be visiting again, and I think all of our preferences will be for a winters walk rather than a summers day dip.
I am linking up this post with the Outdoor Play Party and Countrykids @coombemill where you will find lots of other families in the great outdoors.
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