Inspiration

Bring the whole tribe for a gathering in Dorset: our best self-catering houses for groups

Guest Expert

5 min read

It can prove tricky to find the perfect place for groups of friends and families. Everyone has different ideas and needs, but if you can reach an agreement on location you’re halfway there. And we think it’s pretty much guaranteed that every member of your party will be delighted to holiday in Dorset. We’ve rounded up five big, generous houses for groups who want to gather together for convivial meals or games, but also have the space to fan out for quiet reading and napping. Big kitchens and dining tables are a must, plenty of bedrooms and bathrooms, enough sofas for everyone to lounge in style. And because this is Dorset you get wonderful walks from the door, the Jurassic Coast at your feet, and good pubs and restaurants at every turn.

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The Mount

A generous, fun house, just perfect for family gatherings, The Mount sits apart from the hustle and bustle of Swanage in quieter Durlston with views of rolling green hills tumbling down to long sandy beaches. Everything you need for a great get-together is here – a pool table disguised as a dining table, an ‘arty stuff’ drawer for budding artists and musical instruments for prodigies. Cooks will love the big colourful kitchen and there are long evenings to be spent crashed out on leather chesterfields heaped with velvet cushions in front of the glowing fire. For days out there’s Swanage town with some great up-and-coming eateries, a steam train for the kids, or if you just want to get away from it all, the coastal path is at hand for walking and wild swimming.

Owners Elaine & Carl: Swanage is a lively town with events year round. Festivals include walking, literary, arts, jazz, folk, strings, blues, fish, triathlon & even pirates!

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North Eggardon

In wonderful isolation, you and your tribe will want to stay lost in the folds of West Dorset forever. Rooms stretch to cathedral ceilings and flood with light: bedrooms are huge and have room for extra beds for happy family horde and the double room downstairs is perfect for wheelchair users. A Swedish wood burner and richly coloured sofas invite lazy evenings, and the farmhouse kitchen’s Esse range cooker and electric hobs make cooking a joy. Walkers, cyclists and twitchers will be in heaven, kids will love the hand-built swing and there’s a studio to play a game or three of table tennis.

Owner Victor: Eggardon Iron Age Hillfort – stunning walk straight up from the Carthouse to the top (15 mins). You may see deer or a buzzard on your way.

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Manor Farmhouse

A proper country house experience with plenty of space for big family get-togethers. Find leaded windows, flagstone floors and big old fireplaces, a library stuffed with books, a very comfortable sitting room and a family kitchen at this handsome old house. Delight in the garden at any time of year, with a mile-long trail through a unique collection of Himalayan Rhododendrons and Azaleas set among small lakes and waterfalls and dotted with places to sit. Do a few laps in the pool or knock some balls around the tennis court April-September. Walk through the valley and up into the hills, say hello to the Cerne Abbas Giant, then come back down the other side for a pint at The Giant Inn.

Owner Henry: Cerne Abbas, just two miles away, is a small but pretty Dorset village with three pubs and a well stocked village store.

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Old Red Lion

A treat in the middle of a thriving town. Step into a friendly place, awash with warm colours, art, market finds and funny little nooks and crannies. There’s heaps of space and this is an easy home you can share with friends and family. Downstairs there’s a big sitting room with a wood burner, books, comfy sofas, colourful rugs. This opens out to a sociable dining area with an old pine table and masses of cushions on benches. The kitchen has a two-oven stove, coffee machine and all you need to cook for a hungry hoard, and stone steps lead up to another elegantly furnished sitting room – a lovely spot to chat or read. Plus there are pretty bedrooms and a garden at the end of the lane.

Owners Hilary & Tim: There are some great places to visit in Blandford Forum including the Fashion Museum, the Town Museum and Victorian Garden. The Hall & Woodhouse Brewery offers tours.

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Sundial

Pitch up for fresh sea air, drowsy afternoons and nights of warmth and company against the backdrop of the sea in this bright, airy house on Lyme Bay. The kitchen with its long table is grand for gathering over morning coffee or cooking for a crowd with a bottle or two and the views through the bay window are mesmerising. Ditch the car and visit galleries, Hix Oyster & Fish House for perfect seafood or swim from the shingled beach below you or a sandy one a few hundred yards along. Return to idle on the sofa with a book, light the wood-burner and gaze out of the mullion windows. This house was made for socialising.

Owner Mark: Magnificent coastal paths and country walks from the house plus many water sports including paddle boarding, gig rowing, sailing and fishing.

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Carmen McCormack

Guest Expert

Carmen is a freelance writer specialising in travel. She once lived in a bus in north Wales, skipped off to study in Barcelona, and now calls Bristol home. When she’s not tapping away on her laptop, she can be found reading (a lot), lake swimming (a little), and pottering on the allotment with husband and two kiddos. She’s currently dreaming about cold cerveza and torta in Mexico.

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