Birthday honours

Our arrival at a fabulously appointed youth hostel to celebrate my Auntie Jenny's 80th birthday coincides with the launch of the Swanage Festival and a display of aerial acrobatics by the Red Arrows. The planes leave heart-shaped trails in the sky as if we’d put in a special request for my aunt's special day. Later on, there are fireworks over the bay and my intrepid auntie Elsie takes a nighttime dip in the water.

Sky diving

Ringside seats for the Red Arrows

Swanage, at the eastern end of Dorset's Jurassic Coast, is new to me. Once a port and fishing town, it became hugely popular as a seaside holiday spot for Victorians and has flourished with the bucket-and-spade brigade ever since. 

Swanage by name

They're out in force on Studland beach, where we head on Saturday, but there is enough room to swim and create curvaceous mermaids in the sand out of pebbles and seaweed. A few of us stroll out to Old Harry Rocks, dramatic fingers of chalk poking up from the sea, and along the cliffs.

80th birthday dip

Clifftop crew

There’s a trip to Corfe Castle, not just a spectacular ruin on a hilltop with more than 1000 years of history, but a thriving little village with a quaint square and a smattering of historic pubs and tearooms.

The reenactment girls

Castle rocks

Before heading home we visit Durlston, a quirky National Trust place perched on the clifftop, just south of Swanage. The castle was built by Victorian entrepreneur George Burt, known as the 'King of Swanage'. The gardens hug the coastline and there are trails and sculptures, including the Great Globe, an enormous carved sphere showing the world as it was perceived in the 19th century. The south coast path continues from here along the Jurassic Coast, but we stay put, enjoying cream tea on the terrace.

An oversized Africa, as mapped in the 19th century

Everyone together