This Easter Holiday, take inspiration from the best selling children’s book and winner of the Costa Children’s Book Award The Explorer, by Katherine Rundell and have some epic adventures with your families. Discover our guide to the top Easter-egg hunts and wild adventurers for you and your intrepid explorers.
“You should always dress as if you might be going to the jungle. You never know when you might meet an adventure.”
–The Explorer, Katherine Rundle
If there are a few things that we here at Dorset Adventure Park appreciate it is a great trail, an epic adventure and some awesome exploring. I recently read a children’s book The Explorer, by Katherine Rundell and was surprised by how quickly I became completely engrossed in the adventure and blown away by its wisdom and humour. The Guardian summarised the story best in their review, describing how: “readers are plunged, quite literally, into a wildly exciting adventure when four children crash-land hundreds of miles from civilisation after their pilot suffers a heart attack. They are alone and in absolute peril, without food or water, at the mercy of the ferocious jungle. But it’s also a place of wonder.” Set in the Amazon rainforest, the story reminds us of the need in our lives for adventure and the outdoors – especially for children. If your children have enjoyed racing through the mud trail and battling over the inflatable floating obstacle courses at Dorset Adventure Park, then they will love the story that echoes those leaps into the wild. The Explorer is dotted with beautiful lines like these: “I just like the idea that there’s still some things we don’t know. At school, it’s the same thing, everyday. I liked that it might be all right to believe in large, mad, wild things.”
While having a break from ‘everyday’ school, this is the perfect time to entertain your family and seek out the large, mad wild things we all need. Dorset Adventure Park does not open up to visitors for another month and so we thought we would recommend some amazing adventures for Dorset days out and things to do in Durdle Door, Swanage and Purbeck.
Fossil Hunting
“You don’t have to be in the jungle to be an explorer,’ he said. ‘Every human on this earth is an explorer. Exploring is nothing more than paying attention, writ large. Attention.”
–The Explorer
If you are looking for places to visit near Durdle Door this Spring holiday, why not swap easter egg hunting for fossil hunting at Lyme Regis and Charmouth. Both are perfect and good safe spots for young adventurers who are at the early stages of their palaeontology explorations! Even if your family members are not avid dinosaur enthusiasts but you know they enjoy a fun trail and hunting for Easter eggs, then they will really enjoy this activity. A lot of the fun of an Easter egg hunt is the hunt itself. Fossil hunting will have the same competitive challenge and the reward may not be chocolate but an impressive and exciting piece of history. After all, it is literally a treasure hunt. You can all still enjoy a sweet treat after your hunting efforts, courtesy of At The Beach Charmouth, a mobile catering unit with an evolving menu and continual stockists of Baboo Gelato and New Forest Ice Cream – perfect. Find out more by clicking here for the Jurassic Coast Trust website.
Egg Hunting
“Goosebumps rose on his arms. Fred knew the power of maps. They gestured to hidden things. They were line drawings of the world’s secrets.”
–The Explorer
If you are more of a traditionalist when it comes to Easter activities, we recommend the Easter Adventure at Corfe Castle. The spectacular and ancient hilltop castle overlooks the lakes and trails of Dorset Adventure Park like a stoney guardian of old legend. This Easter, Corfe Castle has designed a special adventure that all starts with a map and a story; “in 2022 the Corfe Castle dragon lost some of her possessions, brave explorers hunted the ruins locating her lost items. This year she has asked you to return to the castle where she has some activities for you to complete. Use your trail map to locate and complete the dragon’s activities.” The trail and activities are available to explore from 10am-4pm from the 1st-16th of April. Tickets for the trail cost £3 and, ‘includes an Easter trail sheet, pencil, and Rainforest Alliance Certified dairy or vegan and Free From chocolate egg.’ The Free From chocolate egg is helpfully free from ingredients such as milk, egg, gluten, peanut and tree nut allergies. Book your tickets here.
Eggciting Easter Fun on Swanage Pier
“Extraordinary things are rarely simple.”
-The Explorer
There is a lot for families to do at Swanage Pier this Easter. Running from the 1st-16th of April there is the Swanage Pier Easter trail. For this activity families are instructed that, “the Easter bunny, along with his friends are hiding on Swanage Pier, find them all, collect the words and arrange them into a rhyme to earn your reward.” To take part in this adventure it is £1 per trail and the normal adult pier entry fee.
Additionally, there is also a host of specific Easter themed craft activities and games for children as part of the ‘Eggciting Easter Fun’. These will be available from Wednesday 5th, Saturday 8th and Wednesday 12th April; between 11.00am and 3.00pm for a fun-filled day of Easter activities. Families do not have to book to participate in the activities which cost: £2.00 per child for the crafts, £1.00 per child for Easter Games, or try both for £2.50 per child.
We hope that you all have a great Easter Holiday exploring lots of local activities and we look forward to seeing you soon for some epic adventures. As you enjoy your Easter eggs, we will leave you with this last pearl of wisdom from The Explorer:
“If you get hungry enough, you will start feeling that your bad ideas are good ones.”
–Words by Olivia Lowry
