Holiday rentals in Christchurch

People come to this riverside Dorset town with a coastal harbour to ease back into a relaxed pace of life and enjoy simple pleasures. Christchurch is a place to go sailing, fishing, and windsurfing; take riverside walks; or relax on the six sandy beaches that stretch for four miles along the coast, or head into the lovely nearby New Forest. Christchurch’s cheerful centre, retaining the original Saxon street layout, is full of independent shops, old smugglers’ pubs, craft ale bars, and tea houses.

There’s much enjoyment to be had around Christchurch Harbour, where the estuaries of the rivers Avon and Stour meet and form a wide expanse before eking out through a narrow gap into Christchurch Bay and the English Channel. At the upper end of the harbour at Christchurch Quay, Place Mill watermill has been turned into an art gallery, and kids can play on the Quomps, a grassy area with a playground and paddling pool. Hire a boat here, take a ferry across the river, or follow the pretty Convent Walk by the stream.

In summer, Christchurch turns into a playground filled with families staying in the area’s holiday cottages. But there’s a milder climate in this South Coast spot than much of the rest of the country, albeit one that experiences lots of wind. Those who enjoy wind-propelled water sports have their run of the calendar, with dinghy sailing, kitesurfing, and windsurfing thrills best enjoyed from Avon Beach. For a fun event that borders on silly, come for Dorset Dinghy Day in June, when people float down the River Stour on inflatables of all sorts, from rubber rings to flamingos. May sees a food and drink festival come to the pedestrian-friendly shopping centre of Saxon Square (which also hosts a weekly market on Mondays) and Mudeford Quay’s seafood festival. August’s Stompin’ on the Quomps festival fills the air with jazz on the harbour.

Mudeford Quay

At the entrance of Christchurch Harbour, Mudeford Quay has spectacular sea views, fishermen unloading their catch, restaurants, and shops selling crabbing gear. You can take a ferry to the golden beaches of Mudeford Sandbanks, a spit lined with colourful beach huts, and walk to the Hengistbury Head nature reserve, an important archaeological site that dates back to the last Ice Age.

Castles

Christchurch Castle and Norman House is a rare remaining example of Norman architecture, where you can explore a mound-top tower and a domestic home with its circular chimney miraculously intact. An infant by comparison, the lavish Highcliffe Castle, built in the 1830s in the Romantic style, was the former home of the founder of a famous department store in London.

Red House Museum

This former Georgian workhouse, which employed poor women and children, is now a museum that tells the story of Christchurch’s history, starting from the Ice Age, covering Saxon rulers and life during the Victorian era.