Driftaway Camping Woodlands

The pretty flint and stone town of Chard, five minutes’ drive away, is your nearest port of call for shops, pubs and eateries. The museum is also worth a mooch, not least for the tale of local inventor John Stringfellow, whose steam aeroplane was the first vehicle to fly under its own power way back in 1848. Head further back in time at Dinosaurland Fossil Museum in Lyme Regis, and top it off with digging up your own ammonites and scaphites on Charmouth beach. For coastal walks interrupted by swims and paddles, Axmouth to Lyme Regis is a fine stretch that's home to birds and wildflowers, and occasionally swathed in sea mists. All are half an hour's drive from the site. Sidle over to Seaton, also within half an hour, if you’d prefer to see the sea from the comfort of an old electric tram, or trek across the nature-filled marshlands alongside the River Axe on a well-signed boardwalk. To view the coast from the crest of a wave Jacob’s Ladder beach outside Sidmouth (45 minutes) is where the surfers do it. Thrillseekers can screech their hearts out at the rides, go-karts and splash zone at Crealy Adventure Park (45 minutes) as well as taking more sedate trips on the miniature train, and meeting the meerkats for cute and furry encounters.