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Old town on the left.

Poole Quay is a great place to stay in Dorset as it is central to most activities you may want to do.These include boat trips around the harbour to Swanage and Brownsea Island and open top buses taking you from Bournemouth to Swanage via the Studland ferry.

The pleasure boats going to Brownsea Island and Swanage and the chain ferry going to Shell bay from Sandbanks.

Pleasure boats start at £10 return .If you go to Brownsea there is an entrance fee as it is run by the National Trust and is a great place to see the red squirrel. Poole is also a fantastic place for all watersports including paddle boarding, jet skiing and kayaking

Poole harbour has a vibrant nightlife at any time of year; we visited the Jolly Sailor for drinks and some real ale .We had dinner at Da vincis, an Italian restaurant with a great atmosphere.I gave the restaurant 5/5 for playing Dean Martins “Amore” but sadly 3.5 /5 for the food.

Our hotel was the Holiday Inn Express which was good value at £240 for 3 nights .However we had to pay for parking, taking it up to £258.