PLACES YOU NEED TO VISIT IN DORSET

Saturday

Since I have been studying in Bournemouth for the last couple of years, I've visited a lot of nice places in Dorset. We are lucky here to be surrounded by lots of beautiful places, and to be right by the sea. I've put together a list of all of my favourite places in Dorset that I have visited so far. There's still some places I haven't been to and things I haven't done, so I'm going to be making a bucket list for my final year of university. I may post it on my blog and tick it off as the year goes by so keep a look out for that.

Places you need to visit in Dorset after lockdown

Bournemouth Beach

Obviously, I have to put Bournemouth Beach as the first destination on the list as I live in Bournemouth. It's one of my favourite places to go in the country. It's such a lovely beach to visit all year round, that's why it's so popular. There's also lots of things to do nearby like the Oceanarium and the arcade.

Sandbanks

Only 3 miles from Bournemouth Beach, Sandbanks is one of the most expensive places to live in the UK. Sometimes, I like to go there just to drive past the huge houses there. It's half beach, half harbour at sandbanks and it's just an all round nice area.

Hengistbury Head

Still on the beach, Hengistbury head is a great place to go for a walk and you will usually see lots of cute dogs. It's basically just a big hill on the beach and once you get to the top, you can see amazing views of the sea and you can see all the way to Christchurch and Mudeford too.

Poole Harbour

I really love going to Poole harbour and pretending I'm rich and deciding what boat I'd have if I was. Maybe one day, I can dream! They usually run cool boat trips from Poole harbour too, with some going to Swanage and Brownsea Island. I would check that though because of Covid.

Corfe Castle

Corfe Castle had been on my list of places to visit for a while and it's such a lovely village. The actual castle is really high up so has great views of the rest of the village.

Swanage

Swanage is just your typical seaside town which I love. There are lots of little independent shops there and it's just a really pretty place. The arcade there is really fun too!

Sculpture by the Lakes

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to visit Sculpture by the Lakes near Dorchester on a PR trip. It's such a tranquil place and a really great day out. Read all about my trip to Sculpture by the Lakes.

Tyneham Abandoned Village

Tyneham is a village that was abandoned during World War II and no one ever returned. It's an interesting visit but is a very little place so it doesn't take very long to look around. I believe it is only open to the public for visiting on Saturdays but it's really interesting to see.

Durdle Door

Durdle door is one of the most beautiful places in the whole of England in my opinion. I don't feel like I need to explain this one - the picture says it all.

Do you live near any nice places to visit? Until the lockdown is over, stay safe x

Join my mailing list for exclusive content and resources here.

Related Read: 48 Hours in Hastings

Wool of the King

read article

GET TO KNOW ME Q&A

*This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through this link, I will receive a small commission that is no extra cost to you. For more information, see my disclaimer.

I recently asked on my Instagram for questions that could form a Q&A blog post and I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of questions I received.

I was asked all sorts of questions about blogging and just about life in general, so without further a do I will start answering them!

Get to know me!

1. How did you get into blogging?

I started my blog in 2016 while I was in college. Back then, it was just a way of me writing my thoughts and I didn't know how long I'd actually stick to writing. It wasn't until this year that I've started keeping up with regular posting and this year has been my best year stats and opportunities for things like reviews and press events.

2. What are your tips for coping mentally at uni?

This is a hard one because university can be really draining sometimes. My advice would just be to force yourself to stay motivated and on top of everything. A lot of the time I won't feel motivated, but as soon as I get the tiniest bit of motivation to do work, I will force myself to try and do as much work as possible, just to make the most out of feeling motivated.

It can be so hard to balance everything so I would recommend keeping a diary and staying really organised. If you feel like you have your life together, you will feel better about university. And if you don't, then it's a fake it til you make it kind of situation. Read my tips on how to stay organised at university for more information.

3. What is your favourite trip away that you have been on?

Definitely either my trip to Sorrento, my trip to Amsterdam, or the Christmas markets in Germany. I find it so hard to pick a favourite because then were all so different. I hope to go on many more trips away but then it would make it even harder to pick a favourite!

4. What's the best food you've had abroad?

I have had some really good food abroad but I'd have to say the pizza in Sorrento was the best. You just can't beat Italian pizza!

5. Who is your favourite blogger?

Again, so hard to pick a favourite but I can give you my top 5 in no particular order:

6. What do you enjoy writing about most?

My favourite thing to write about is Travel. I just love going on trips away, writing about it and taking lovely pictures. I wish I could travel more so I could write about travelling more. For now, I will just try to do what I can in terms of Covid and my student budget.

Lauren Kenny on Stonehenge Chair Salisbury

7. What is the best way to increase traffic to your blog?

Basically just promote, promote promote. Twitter is the best source of traffic for me at the moment. I have dabbled with Pinterest because I know some people get millions of clicks form that, but I haven't gotten on with it just yet. Generally, the more effort I put into promoting my blog, the better results I get. If you want to learn more about how I promote my blog, you can read how I got 10k blog views in one month.

8. What is the most difficult thing about uni life?

For the most part I love uni life. It can get really tough at times though. The hardest thing is probably that you can feel quite lonely at times but you are surrounded with lots of people who are going through the same thing so that's comforting. Also, I was not ready for the third year workload and I can't cook very well so it's difficult when I don't have my mum to cook for me anymore. Joking aside, I do like uni life and everyone is probably feeling the same as you if you are finding it tough.

9. What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?

This is a hard one because I am always trying to be the one who's always in a good mood and I normally find myself giving the advice rather than someone giving me advice. There's currently nothing that stands out to me apart from obvious things like don't compare yourself to others. If I think of anything that stands out, I'll add it to the post.

10. What's your favourite animal?

Dogs!!!

11. What is your favourite memory from your first year of uni?

Probably when me and Joe got dumped in the same week, then our flatmate Kitty, got us a cake that said "Dumped and Dumpeder" and now me and Joe have almost been together for 2 and a half years!

12. Greatest blogging achievement?

Reaching 11k monthly views in August! I used to have such Impostor's Syndrome with my blog and that nobody read it, so to see so many people actually reading it makes the time and effort I put into blogging worth it.

13. How do you keep the motivation to write?

Honestly, with some difficulty. Sometimes when posts don't do as well as you'd like them to it can be hard. However, even though it feels good to reach goals and get good stats, stats aren't everything. I really enjoy getting positive comments mainly. Blogging is also just something I enjoy doing anyway, even if no one reads my posts.

I mostly find that keeping organised helps me with motivation too. Using a blog planner definitely helps! Here is The ULTIMATE Blog planner from Of a Glasgow Girl that has everything you need to stay on top of blogging.

14. How are you feeling about final year of uni?

Truly terrified. I am excited to be living with my friends but I know how quickly time goes and I really don't want to finish uni. I'm also just not feeling too positive about online uni and the workload but I'm going to try my best. I'm definitely more confident after having a year's marketing internship though.

15. What do you enjoy most about blogging?

I love writing and I love going out and taking pictures for my blog. It's also made me connect with a lot more people to. There are so many great bloggers out there that have so much in common with me. I would have never connected with them if I wasn't blogging.

16. If you could have 3 people round for dinner, who would it be?

Hm so the first person would have to be Gordon Ramsay so he can make the food because I can't cook. Clever! I've also always wanted to try Michelin Star level food. Secondly, I'd invite Lana Del Rey because she's my favourite. And the final person would have to be David Attenborough because I just find him so interesting and cool.

That's the end of my questions. I really enjoyed answering these so if you have any more questions for me, feel free to leave them in the comments.

Join my mailing list for exclusive content and resources here.

Related Read: 20 Facts About Me.

Wool of the King

read article

THE GOLDEN BLOGGERZ AWARD

What is the Golden Bloggerz Award?

It’s an award made by Golden Bloggerz to motivate and reward all these amazing bloggers that work daily to serve their audience and they worth more recognition. Their priority is to do their best to help their readers solve their problems & reach their goals!

Rules

1. Place the award logo on your blog.

2. Mention the rules.

3. Thank whoever nominated you and place a link to their website.

4. Mention the awards creator and add a link to that too.

5. Tell your audience three things about you.

6. Answer your nominator’s questions.

7. Nominate 10-20 people who deserve this award.

8. Let the nominees know by messaging/commenting on their social media or their blog.

9. Ask your, nominees, any five questions that you want.

10. Share 2-3 links to your best posts.

Thank you to Nic's Adventures for the nomination. Be sure to check out her Golden Bloggerz nomination post. Also a big thank you to Chris from Golden Bloggerz for initiating the award.

Three Things You May Not Know About Me

1. I have been blogging since 2016.

2. I can't ride a bike.

3. I am a really fussy eater.

Visit my 20 Facts About Me post for more.

Nic's Questions

What are your favourite seasons of the year?

My favourite season has always been and will always be summer I think. It just brings me so much happiness. I feel like there's so much more to do and the sun just brings everyone's mood up. I love everything associated with summer too like the fashion, travel and of course Pimms and Sangria.

Dark or Milk Chocolate?

Definitely milk chocolate. I could eat dark chocolate, but it really wouldn't be my first choice. My favourite chocolate is Cadbury's giant buttons. When it's ladies week, nothing else will suffice.

What does blogging do for you in terms of happiness?

Blogging in general makes me really happy, especially when I receive positive comments on my blog. It's just so nice to know that people read what I have to say. Even if no one read my posts, I still really like writing about what I've been up to and to share my advice. It's a nice thing for me to have to keep all of my memories in one place if nothing else. Sometimes, I will get stressed about what to write, as everyone does but overall, I really love blogging.

What are your favourite desserts to make?

I am not really a baker and I don't eat dessert that often, so I would have to say cheese and charcuterie. I know that's technically not made and isn't a dessert but it's something people often eat in the evening. I would just love to choose all my favourite cheeses and put on a spread.

Tea or coffee?

I don't drink either and this is something I have to explain to people a lot. I just don't like tea or coffee. The only hot drinks I'll have are hot chocolates or chai lattes in the winter.

My Nominees

1. A Girl with a View

2. Luci Barker

3. The Unpredicted Page

4. Mind the Gap Graduates

5. Female Original

6. Sincerely Students

7. Liz Loves

8. Becc4

9. Lauren Hollie

10. Inside the Voyage

My Questions

1. Why did you start blogging?

2. What is one piece of advice you would give to your younger self?

3. What's your favourite way to spend a self care day?

4. Dogs or cats?

5. If you knew you would have your last meal tomorrow, what would you choose to have?

Some of my favourite posts

A Day at Sculpture by the Lakes in Dorset

I wrote this blog about my first ever blogger press event and I had so much fun there. I loved taking pictures of all the sculptures and was so glad I had the opportunity to go.

My Experience at Auschwitz-Birkenau

This is one of my older blog posts from 2017. I had such a moving trip to the Auschwitz in Poland and I really enjoyed writing about my experience.

5 Cocktails to Try at Home

The cocktails post was a lockdown project for my mum and me. We had so much fun making the cocktails and getting pictures of them. I am hoping to do a part 2 soon with some more easy to make cocktails so keep a look out.

Join my mailing list for exclusive content and resources here.

Wool of the King

read article

THE HALLOTOBER TAG

This is my first ever tag blog post so I was super excited to try it out! Thank you to Laureny Loves, Liz Loves and Nic's Adventures for the tag. You can see their posts here:

Laureny Loves - The Hallotober Tag

Liz Loves - The Hallotober Tag

Nic's Adventures - The Hallotober Tag

The Rules

Thank the person who tagged you and link to their post
Put the rules at the beginning or after introduction
Answer the 13 questions
Tag 13 people to do the tag
Delete Question 13, add a new number one question of your own
You are free to use the tag image somewhere in the post

1. Halloween or Christmas?

Definitely Christmas! I just love everything about it so much. I only really dress up for Halloween if I have somewhere to go. Some years, I haven't even celebrated Halloween. I do like celebrating Halloween but sometimes I completely forget about it, whereas I will always celebrate Christmas.

2. What's your favourite thing about October?

I am more of a summer person, I just love summer and always feel like I have more fun in summer. I like Autumn colours though and being able to wrap up warm, and drink hot chocolates. My favourite thing about October is probably that it means it's only 2 months to go until Christmas.

3. Are you a big celebrator of Halloween?

Again, only sometimes. I will dress up to go to a Halloween party but on years were I haven't had plans, I won't do anything for Halloween.

4. What's your favourite horror movie?

I really don't like horror movies, I hate feeling scared. My favourite Halloween movie though would probably be The Addams Family.

5. Would you rather a cosy night in watching horrors of a big night out in a costume?

I would rather a big night out in a costume. I don't really like horror films but I do like an excuse for a celebration. Most of the time, I just find it so hard to think of something to dress as for Halloween though, but it is fun to be able to celebrate with your friends.

6. Which has been your favourite costume to date?

When I do dress up, I normally decide what I'm going to wear pretty last minute so I'll end up going as something basic like a devil or a dead something. My favourite costume someone else has worn would be when my nieces used to dress as pumpkins when they were babies. It was so cute!

7. Bobbing for apples of pin the hat on the witch?

I'm not really sure what pin the hat on the witch is but I'm going to choose that one, just because getting my face and hair wet would probably ruin my Halloween makeup.

8. How do you celebrate Halloween?

Sometimes I will dress up and go to Halloween parties, some years I have handed out sweets to trick or treaters and other years, I haven't celebrated at all. I'm quite chilled about Halloween, I will usually just go with the flow.

9. What's your least favourite horror?

Anything scary or gory, I'll just go with the Saw films.

10. Do you have a favourite trick or treating memory?

My favourite memory from trick or treating makes me laugh so much but looking back it was kind of bad. I can't remember what costume I had on but my mum made me put a jumper on underneath it because it was October and cold. The jumper puffed me out a bit and when I went to one house and said trick or treat, a man opened the door and was like "hmm... do you need anymore sweets?" He obviously thought I was fat because of the jumper. I can say I was a really skinny child so the fact that happened really makes me laugh even though he was rude.

11. What's your favourite thing about Halloween?

Probably Halloween parties, just because I always love to see what people are dressed as. I love looking at beauty gurus pictures on Instagram too because people get so creative around Halloween!

12. Scary costume or silly costume?

Definitely silly costume! I have seen so many funny ones lately. People have dressed up as characters from Gavin and Stacy and Eastenders on TikTok. I just think people putting effort to be funny gets a better reaction than people trying to be scary.

13. What's your favourite Halloween candy?

When you get the mixed packs of Halloween sweets, I love picking all of the parma violets out and saving those for myself.

Nominations:

1. Girly Gabble

2. A Girl with a View

3. Emm Joy Blogs

4. Naomi Rowan

5. Jaclynistic Vibes

6. Inside the Voyage

7. The Kelly Diane Report

8. Luci Barker

9. Exquisitely