We’ve been talking to Fiona Elliott from Dorsetmums. When her children were quite young, Fiona started up her own website, social media and blog to share her family's experiences visiting Dorset attractions and businesses. Fiona’s children are now 8 and 12 years old, and have visited many of the area’s tourist attractions and activity centres, so as a family they know what makes for a good day out! Last summer they visited the Nothe Fort in Weymouth: check out how their family got on.

FAMILY FUN AT NOTHE FORT

Nothe Fort in Weymouth is a brilliant family day out whatever the weather. We visited back in the summer (2024) and the kids had a great time exploring the indoor and outdoor areas, especially meandering through the underground tunnels, not knowing where they would lead.

The Nothe Fort sits right at the end of the Nothe peninsula, with stunning views across the harbour and out to sea. There’s a large council car park, or it’s only a 10-minute walk from the harbour if you’re visiting via public transport. The history of the Nothe Fort spans over 160 years, from Victorian coastal defence to local authority nuclear bunker, and is now an award-winning family attraction.

We arrived just before lunchtime, and grabbed some drinks from the Fort View Café to enjoy with our picnic; it was a sunny day, so we headed high up on the ramparts to find a bench and take in the views. We spent a good hour up here; the kids loved how interactive everything was, taking a close-up look at the anti-aircraft weapons and the control tower then the chance to look out of the telescope, binoculars and try on some WWII outfits.

On the 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month you can watch the Nothe Fort Artillery displays which includes musketry and cannon firing drills, which we were lucky enough to catch. I’d recommend timing your visit with this if you can, and if little ones are sensitive to loud noise then you can pick up some ear defenders from the staff, as the bangs might make them jump.

Before we went exploring in the underground passages I explained to the kids that we needed to find and count all of the little Nothe Fort mice that were hidden around. My son just wanted to explore, but my daughter loves a challenge, and whilst I know we didn’t find them all, we did pretty well.

The tunnels and ground level rooms are amazing, there’s so much to see and do. We found tons of interactive buttons to press, films to see, and informative boards to read (that’s my husband’s job while I concentrate on not losing the kids). The children really enjoyed learning how to send Morse code messages, and navigating the tunnels, nuclear bunker, and rooms full of history and displays. The funniest though was the dark Ghost Passage which my son quickly went through a few times but my daughter was too scared so she chose to go round.

When we came out of the tunnels it was time for a nice cold drink and a treat. The café has hot and cold lunches, sandwiches, soup, snacks, kid’s meals, ice cream and homemade cake, all at very reasonable prices. When we finished, my daughter wanted to do some crafts and my son wanted to go back up to the ramparts so we split up for final bit of fun.

Before we left, we told the staff how many mice we counted, and my daughter received a certificate and we bought a souvenir mouse to paint at home.

Good to know:

Toilets and baby change facilities are located near the cafe.

There is lift access for the upper and lower level.

Dogs are welcomed but must be kept on short leads.

If the little darlings aren’t quite exhausted when you leave then there’s a lovely play area in the gardens – win, win!

The Nothe Fort has lots of exciting child-friendly events during the school holidays and there are also special events on selected weekends.

I thoroughly recommend a day trip to Nothe Fort, there’s so much to see and do and the views are just incredible. Possibly the best part though is that your day ticket becomes an annual pass, which means you can go back again and again through the year!

Fiona – Dorsetmums

For more info visit: Nothe Fort