Weymouth beach, Dorset
Weymouth's long, curving bay, handily protected by the massive Chesil Beach stone barrier and Isle of Portland, is a fine, traditional holiday resort and has seen fit to change little since - according to local people - King George III chose it as his favourite seaside destination from 1789 to 1805, bought a home and swam here regularly.
Sadly recent BBC research begs to differ: George III didn't go to Weymouth for his holidays, he stayed there because the Duke of Gloucester had a residence nearby. The king didn't swim and was forced to leave smartly when someone tried to kill him. Later 'Mad' King George visited Weymouth a few times, but only for political reasons, not, to admire the seafront.

Weymouth beach is renowned for sand castles, but usually bigger than this one!
Weymouth council claim that their climate is the best in Britain, with mild winters and hot summers, though Bournemouth council would argue the point. Still, Weymouth is unarguably less developed than Bournemouth though reaching it by road in the summer season can mean sitting in a long and tiresome queue of cars. The train is the low-stress way to reach to town, though a car is useful to explore Dorset's attractions and the spectacular coast around.

The beach's Punch and Judy show.
This is one of the few traditional remaining P & J shows in the UK - perhaps at least partly due to the remarkable and politically incorrect violence used by Punch on his spouse?
Weymouth Bay in the background is the venue for Olympic sailing events in 2012, hosted by the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy on the Isle of Portland.

Weymouth promenade, stretching along most of the beach and lined with attractive guest houses and small hotels.

A less popular - for obvious reasons - section of Weymouth beach with increasing amounts of pebbles as the bay heads towards Bowleaze Cove, where the main watersports activities take place, including windsurfing, scuba diving, jet skiing, and not-very-big surfing.

A quieter suburb of east Weymouth.

Chesil beach looking east towards the Isle of Portland, with Weymouth a couple of miles to the left.

Chesil beach looking west with Wyke Regis on the right, en route to Weymouth. The next sizable seaside resort west along the coast is Lyme Regis.
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