There’s only one possible topic for the blog this week – the arrival of the Spirit of Corinth rowers at their finish line in Barbados, after a month and a half rowing day and night across the Atlantic Ocean.

Six weeks ago Tony, Eliot, Brian and Christopher , the team of four rowers from Lyme Regis, set out from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to take part in the world famous Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, a gruelling 2500 mile rowing race across the Atlantic.

On Sunday, the four friends reached the end of their incredible journey, coming in at 6th place in the race after 48 days at sea. With a combined age of 231 years, they are the oldest team ever to row the Atlantic, which makes their achievement even more mind-blowing!

As long time friends of the Lyme Regis rowing club, we’ve been rooting for the Corinthian boys from the start, and it’s been really exciting to see how Lyme has got behind them in the past few weeks – it’s been a real talking point around the town. We even had fireworks at the little celebration here in Lyme Regis to cheer the team across the finish line!

The guys are now taking a well deserved rest in the Caribbean before returning back to Dorset soon (fortunately they won’t have to row on the way back as well!)

There are lots of fantastic photos of their voyage on the official Atlantic Challenge website (see if you can spot the Newlands logo on the boat in the shots of them reaching the finish line!) and you can still donate to the causes supported by the Corinthians on the Spirit of Corinth website.

First Eshot of 2012

We’ve just sent out our first eshot of the month – full of the latest news and special offers from the park. If you’d like to see our most recent eshot in web page form rather than as an email, click here.

That’s it for this week folks – new blog week!

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Dorset might be primarily seen as a summer county by many of its visitors, but it has plenty to recommend it in the winter months too. Here are a few things we love about Dorset at this time of year…

Country Walks

In winter the Dorset countryside can be at its prettiest and most striking. While it can be tempting to stay indoors in the coldest months, if you do you will miss the opportunity to see all the beautiful winter sights Dorset has to offer, from frozen streams and ponds to mist-covered hills and valleys.

The Visit Dorset website has some great information on country pathways you can use to see the best of the county’s wonderful rural landscape, and if you’re staying here at the park, feel free to ask us and we’ll be happy to share some suggestions for the best walking routes.

Dorset Wildlife

Apart from dormice, bats and hedgehogs, very few of Dorset’s native wildlife actually hibernate in winter. In fact, native bird species are joined in the winter months by others from the rest of the UK and overseas, attracted by the county’s relatively mild winter climate.

This means that nature enthusiasts are treated to a wealth of magnificent birdlife and other creatures in January and February, and with the countryside largely free of the tourists who flock to the county in summer, they will have the place largely to themselves!

Jurassic Coast Fossils

While fossil hunting is always a popular activity for people who come for a holiday in Dorset in the summer, the best time to do it is undoubtedly in winter, when the ancient cliffs  are lashed by rough seas and bad weather, causing them to erode and give up the prehistoric treasures embedded in the rock. At this time of year, fossils can be found simply scattered on the beach or among rocks, particularly after a big storm.

Dorset Food and Drink

Nothing takes away the winter blues like a warm, hearty meal, and Dorset is spoilt for choice in terms of great eateries and fabulous local produce. Our own restaurant is part of the Taste of the West scheme, which supports local fisherman and farmers by ensuring that as many ingredients as possible are sourced from the Dorset and Devon region.

The Newlands restaurant specialises in West Country reared meat and locally caught fish. We have an interesting and exciting specials menu utilising the best in-season and sustainable products from the area.

And if you’d like to bring out your own inner chef, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s River Cottage in West Dorset runs regular cookery courses for the public, covering a variety of topics such as traditional bread making, meat curing and smoking, and organic vegetable growing.

Our Dorset holiday park is just a ten minute drive from River Cottage, so we are the perfect place to stay if you decide to take part in one of these unique foodie courses!

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As this is our first post of 2012, we’d like to begin by wishing all Newlands Holiday Park guests a very happy new year! Thanks to everyone who visited us in 2011, and thanks also to all of you who got in touch with us via Twitter, Facebook and email throughout the year.

As we look to the year ahead, it’s clear we’ve got a tremendously exciting twelve months in store. It’s going to be an especially packed summer, with the Queen’s jubilee, the Euro football tournament and of course the 2012 Olympics, on top of all the usual summer events in West Dorset and East Devon.

More immediately though, we’ve already had a lot of interest about the February Half Term week  and the Grizzly Run in March, and we’re taking bookings for those dates now. Head to our special offers page to see all our best deals, including ensuite rooms from £45.00 a night over the Grizzly Run weekend.

We’ll be officially opening the doors of our Dorset holiday park at the end of this month (a little earlier than normal!), to welcome a party of geology students who’ll be staying with us while they explore the fossil-rich Jurassic Coastline. We hope they’ll be the first of many guests to enjoy a fantastic stay with us this year, and go away with big smiles and warm memories of their time on the Dorset coast!

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