Bagwell Farm Touring Park, Weymouth
| Best for | Exploring Weymouth, Portland and the Jurassic Coast |
| Access | Very easy. A doddle with a twin-axle caravan |
| Strength | Excellent base for exploring |
| Roam Home verdict | Practical, quiet and very easy to reach |
I’ve stayed at Bagwell Farm several times over the years, both on the main touring park and on the rally field. One of those visits was particularly memorable, when the rally field was being used for a Veterans’ Parade, and I arrived with my 1944 BSA motorcycle in the back of my Vito while towing the caravan.
The site is easy to reach, even with a larger caravan, and it is quiet at night. The facilities have always done what I’ve needed them to do, and, crucially, the site puts Weymouth, Portland, Chesil Beach and a large chunk of the Jurassic Coast within very easy reach.
If you’re looking for a tiny hideaway, a boutique touring park or a campsite where every pitch looks out over the sea, this probably isn’t it. If, on the other hand, you want a straightforward, well-run base from which to explore one of Dorset’s most popular coastal areas, Bagwell Farm makes a lot of sense.
Roam Home verdict
Quite a few campsites are booked because they happen to be close to where you want to go. Bagwell Farm gets the balance right: Spending time on site is relaxing and great for kids if you’re travelling as a family, but should you wish to explore, its position means you are rarely far from somewhere worth visiting.
The access is a strong point. Parts of Dorset can be challenging when towing, especially when a campsite is reached by narrow lanes or sits on the far side of a village that was never designed for modern traffic. Bagwell Farm is refreshingly uncomplicated. I’ve towed a twin-axle here without any real concern and would happily recommend this approach to someone who is still gaining confidence with a caravan.
Once you are pitched, the location does most of the work. Head downhill from the campsite and, at the traffic lights, turn left for Weymouth or continue ahead for Portland.
The campsite itself slopes in places, although I wouldn’t describe it as steep. Some areas are more open than others, and some pitches have a better outlook, but I wouldn’t book Bagwell Farm purely for the views. I would book it because it puts you in the right place.
Why choose Bagwell Farm?
There are plenty of campsites in Dorset, so Bagwell Farm has to make a case for itself.
As mentioned, access is simple. My route was from the Dorchester direction on the A354. The route is straightforward, and the roads are suitable for larger outfits. Even with a twin-axle caravan behind me, I never found myself wishing I’d chosen something smaller.
Its second major advantage is the location. Weymouth is close enough for an evening visit rather than a full-day outing. Portland is equally straightforward. Head west, and you can work your way towards Abbotsbury, West Bay and other parts of the Jurassic Coast.
Is Bagwell Farm right for you?
Bagwell Farm works well if you want to explore the area by car, tow a larger caravan, travel in a sizeable motorhome, or prefer a campsite that is easy to get in and out of.
Families should find plenty nearby to fill a week, while couples can just as easily spend their time walking, visiting the coast or heading into Weymouth for an evening meal. Dog owners are well catered for on site, and the surrounding area offers a wealth of coastal walking.
If your ideal campsite is tiny, adults-only and hidden at the end of a lane, Bagwell Farm will probably feel too large and organised. If you want to step directly from your pitch onto a beach, there are other options. And if you are booking because you have seen a photograph of the Fleet Lagoon and expect that panorama from every pitch, manage your expectations: some parts of the site enjoy much better outlooks than others.
The campsite layout and pitches
Bagwell Farm is a sizeable site, and different parts of it have a slightly different feel.
The land slopes in places, but not in a way to make pitching difficult. Many pitches are level or terraced, and the internal roads are straightforward. If you have particular mobility requirements, want to stay close to a shower block or would prefer a quieter corner, it is worth saying so when you book rather than leaving everything to chance.
Some pitches look towards the Fleet Lagoon and Chesil Beach, while elsewhere the outlook is more typical of a large touring park.
My experience of Bagwell Farm hasn’t been limited to the main touring pitches. I’ve stayed on the rally field several times, when it hosts the Veterans’ Parade.
What are the facilities like?
Bagwell Farm has always covered the basics well during my stays.
I used the showers and found the water hot, with decent pressure. That may sound like a small detail, but it is one of those basics that matter.
The site has two main toilet and shower blocks, an additional smaller summer block, private bathrooms and accessible shower rooms. There are also laundry and dishwashing facilities.
Wi-Fi, mobile signal and TV
I can’t give you a meaningful assessment of the site Wi-Fi because I didn’t need to use it.
Mobile signal was good enough during the stay that I used mobile data. Campsite Wi-Fi can vary dramatically depending on where you pitch and how many people are trying to use it at the same time, whereas a decent mobile connection gives you another option.
I also didn’t test terrestrial TV reception.
Again, I’d rather be clear about that than pretend I conducted a laboratory test from the awning.
Some fully serviced pitches currently include TV aerial points, which may be useful if television matters to you, but I didn’t need them during my visits.
Quiet at night
Despite the size of the campsite, I found Bagwell Farm quiet at night.
Obviously, any campsite can be affected by who happens to be staying next door, and a school-holiday weekend will have a different atmosphere from a Tuesday in October. But I wouldn’t hesitate to describe my own experience as peaceful once the day had wound down.
The Red Barn
Bagwell has an on-site bar and restaurant, and I’d describe the food as straightforward pub grub. Being able to walk to an on-site restaurant rather than getting back into the car is a genuine benefit. The meals I’ve had have always been decent quality.
The current menu includes evening meals and breakfasts during its main operating season, with locally sourced beef featured prominently. Vegetarians and vegans are catered for too.
For me, though, the appeal is convenience. You can have a drink, order something uncomplicated, walk back to the caravan and be done for the evening.
Shopping and supplies
Morrisons was our supermarket of choice during the stay.
There are other places to shop in and around Weymouth, but Morrisons worked well for us and was easy enough to reach that forgetting something didn’t become a major inconvenience.
That is another benefit of Bagwell Farm’s location. You are in the countryside, but you are not isolated.
The campsite itself also has a shop for the basics, which can save you a trip if all you need is milk, bread, or something you forgot to pack.
For a longer stay, I’d still plan a supermarket run rather than relying entirely on the campsite shop, but it is useful to have both options.
Using Bagwell Farm as a base
If someone asked me what they might miss about Bagwell Farm by simply reading the facilities list, I’d say this: it is an excellent base from which to explore.
That sounds obvious. Plenty of campsites describe themselves as “ideally located”. But here, it is genuinely true.
Leave the site, drive down the hill, and you reach a set of traffic lights. Turn left, and you are heading towards Weymouth. Go straight ahead, and you are heading towards Portland.
It also makes spontaneous trips easy. Weymouth doesn’t have to become a military operation involving packed lunches and a 9 am departure. You can decide at five o’clock that you fancy an ice cream on the seafront or fish and chips near the beach.
Likewise, Portland is close enough that you can go purely for a walk, a coffee, or a sunset, rather than feeling you need to spend the entire day there to justify the drive.
That flexibility is what makes a good touring base.
A day in Weymouth
Weymouth has changed over the years, as every seaside town does, but it still has the ingredients that make it an easy place to enjoy.
The beach is the obvious starting point. It is broad, sandy and, on a decent day, exactly what many people want from a British seaside holiday.
But I prefer Weymouth when you treat the beach as only part of the visit.
Walk along the seafront, head towards the harbour and allow yourself time to wander rather than rushing between attractions.
Rossi’s is one of my regular stops. The ice cream is made on the premises and the business has been part of Weymouth’s seafront for generations. For me, it has become one of those small traditions that gets repeated automatically whenever I’m in town.
Then there are fish and chips.
King Edwards is opposite the Jubilee Clock. It is exactly the sort of location that suits a seaside meal: buy your fish and chips and enjoy it while sitting on the sand.
There are many other good places to eat in town, particularly around the harbour, but there is something difficult to improve upon about fish and chips by the sea.
Weymouth Harbour
If you only visit the beach, you miss a great part of Weymouth.
Boats come and go, cafés and pubs occupy the waterfront and the whole area has a more lived-in feel than the main Esplanade.
It is worth walking around both sides rather than simply arriving, having lunch and turning around.
Depending on how much time you have, you can combine the harbour with Nothe Fort, wander back through the town centre or find a table and watch the boats.
That is one of the advantages of staying at Bagwell Farm. You don’t need to cram everything into a single visit. Weymouth is close enough that you can return in the evening or come back on another day.
Portland: Go straight on at the lights
Where Weymouth is traditional seaside Dorset, Portland feels very different.
Continue straight ahead at the traffic lights below Bagwell Farm and the road eventually takes you onto the Isle of Portland.
Portland has a tougher, more exposed feel. The stone cliffs and industrial history give it a character completely different from Weymouth’s, even though the two are only a short drive apart.
Most first-time visitors will head to Portland Bill, and there is nothing wrong with that.
The lighthouse is the obvious landmark. You can visit the visitor centre and, when tours are operating, climb the lighthouse itself. But I wouldn’t treat the lighthouse as the sole reason to go.
The landscape around Portland Bill is the real attraction.
On a calm day it is a lovely place to walk. In rougher weather it can be even more impressive, provided you treat the coastline with respect.
The Lobster Pot
It sits at Portland Bill near the lighthouse and has been there in one form or another since the mid-20th century.
I like it because it suits the setting. You can have a coffee, a cream tea, or something more substantial to eat, and look out over the sea.
A trip to Portland Bill followed by a stop at The Lobster Pot is the sort of easy half-day outing that works particularly well from Bagwell Farm. There is no long drive home afterwards, so you can take your time rather than constantly watching the clock.
Exploring more of Portland
It would be a shame to drive to Portland Bill, photograph the lighthouse and then immediately leave.
Portland has much more going on.
Tout Quarry is worth seeing, particularly if you are interested in the island’s stone-working history and the sculpture work scattered around the former quarry landscape.
Portland Castle adds another historical dimension, while the coastline provides walks ranging from short ambles to much longer stretches of the South West Coast Path.
Chesil Beach and the Fleet
Bagwell Farm sits close to one of the most recognisable landscapes on the Dorset coast.
Chesil Beach stretches along the edge of the Fleet Lagoon and forms part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.
You do not need to understand the geology to appreciate it.
There is something about Chesil that feels very different from a conventional seaside beach. It is exposed, dramatic, and often best enjoyed as a place to walk and look rather than as somewhere to spread out a towel for the day, since it is a shingle beach.
The Fleet, meanwhile, gives the area a softer side.
This combination of lagoon, shingle bank and open sea is part of what makes the area around Bagwell Farm so interesting. You can spend the morning on Weymouth’s sand, the afternoon on Portland’s cliffs and the evening looking out towards Chesil, all without covering particularly large distances.
Further afield: Abbotsbury and the coast road
One of the obvious days out from Bagwell Farm is west towards Abbotsbury.
The village itself is attractive, and the area is home to Abbotsbury Swannery and the Subtropical Gardens.
From there you can continue towards Bridport and West Bay if you want to make a longer day of it.
Bagwell Farm with dogs
Bagwell Farm is dog-friendly and currently offers a dedicated dog-walk meadow as well as a warm-water dog wash. Should your dog find the muddiest part of Dorset, it’s a handy campsite facility.
There are also plenty of opportunities to walk beyond the site, including routes towards the Fleet and the wider coastal path network.
Families
Bagwell Farm works well as a family base because you have so many options.
That is often more important than having dozens of activities on the campsite itself.
If the weather is good, Weymouth Beach is close.
If everyone wants a change of scenery, Portland is easy to reach.
If you want an attraction rather than a beach day, the wider Dorset area gives you plenty to work with.
On-site, there is a play area, animals near The Red Barn, and enough open space that the campsite doesn’t feel completely built over.
At the same time, couples without children should not assume Bagwell Farm is a noisy holiday park. That certainly hasn’t been my experience. As mentioned earlier, I found evenings quiet.
What I would improve
This is normally the point in a review where you are supposed to produce a list of faults to prove you are being independent.
I don’t really have any.
There are campsites where I’ve immediately thought, “I’d move that”, “I’d rebuild this”, or “I wouldn’t put those pitches there”.
At Bagwell Farm, not much springs to mind.
I would perhaps make clearer during booking which parts of the campsite offer the better outlook, simply because people seeing photographs of the area may arrive expecting every pitch to have a view towards Chesil Beach.
But that is relatively minor.
The site does not need to reinvent itself to work.
If anything, that is part of the attraction.
A suggested 48 hours at Bagwell Farm
If I only had a weekend here, I wouldn’t try to cover the whole of Dorset.
Friday evening would be simple.
Arrive, pitch up and get settled. If I didn’t feel like cooking, I’d walk to The Red Barn for dinner and leave the serious exploring until the morning.
Saturday would be Weymouth.
I’d head in early enough to enjoy the seafront before it became too busy, walk along the beach and then continue towards the harbour. Lunch could be fish and chips – King Edwards if I fancied the seafront location – followed at some point by a Rossi’s ice cream.
I’d leave enough time to wander around the harbour rather than treating it as an afterthought.
Saturday evening would depend on the weather. If it were fine, I’d be tempted to return to Bagwell Farm, eat at the caravan and keep the evening relaxed.
Sunday would be Portland.
Straight on at those familiar traffic lights, up onto the island and towards Portland Bill. I’d walk around the lighthouse area, stop at The Lobster Pot and spend a little time exploring the coast before heading home.
You could cram in far more.
I wouldn’t.
The advantage of Bagwell Farm is that the main attractions are close enough that you don’t need to rush.
A longer stay: How I’d spend a week
A week allows you to spread things out.
Day one can be Weymouth without any pressure to see everything.
Day two could be Portland.
Day three might take you towards Abbotsbury and further west along the Jurassic Coast.
Then I’d deliberately leave a quieter day in the middle of the trip. Holidays don’t need to become endurance events. Stay around the campsite, nip into Weymouth for lunch, or decide what you fancy that morning.
Another day could be spent following the coast eastwards towards places such as Lulworth, depending on traffic and how far you want to drive.
If children are involved, one of Dorset’s larger visitor attractions can fill another day.
And I would still leave space for a return visit to either Weymouth or Portland. One of the mistakes we make when travelling is thinking that every day needs a new destination. Sometimes the best part of staying somewhere for a week is going back to the place you enjoyed most.
Practical touring notes
- Approach: I recommend using the main route from the A354/Dorchester direction, which is also the route Bagwell Farm advises for caravans and large motorhomes.
- Avoid when towing: I would not choose the B3157 through Abbotsbury as the main towing approach with a larger outfit.
- Site gradient: Sloping in places, but I did not find it particularly steep.
- Large caravans: I have stayed with a twin axle and found access straightforward.
- Night-time noise: Quiet during my stays.
- Showers: Hot water and good pressure when I used them.
- Wi-Fi: I did not properly test it because mobile signal was good enough for me to use mobile data.
- TV reception: Not tested.
- Supermarket: Morrisons was our choice.
- On-site food: The Red Barn is convenient for straightforward pub-style food when you do not want to cook.
- Best hidden strength: The location. Bagwell Farm is a great base from which to explore Weymouth, Portland and the surrounding coast.
Frequently asked questions
Is Bagwell Farm easy to reach with a caravan?
Yes. This is one of its strongest points. I have towed a twin-axle caravan to the site and found the approach straightforward. I would use the A354/Dorchester approach rather than trying to reach it via narrower sightseeing roads to the west.
Is the site steep?
It slopes in places, but I would not describe it as steep overall. Many pitches are level or terraced.
Do all pitches have views of Chesil Beach?
No. Some parts of the site have a much better outlook than others. If a view matters to you, mention it when booking rather than assuming every pitch looks towards the coast.
Is Bagwell Farm quiet?
It was during my stays. Despite being a large touring park, I found it settled down well at night.
Are the showers good?
When I used them, the water was hot, and the pressure was good. The site has more than one shower block as well as private and accessible bathroom facilities.
Is the Wi-Fi good?
I can’t give a fair first-hand judgement because I didn’t use it much. Mobile signal was decent enough for me to use my own data instead.
Is Bagwell Farm suitable for twin-axle caravans?
Based on my experience, yes. I have stayed there with a twin-axle and had no issues with either the approach or getting around the site.
Is there somewhere to eat on site?
Yes. The Red Barn serves food and drinks during its operating season. I would describe it as reliable, straightforward pub-style food and a very handy alternative to cooking.
Where is the nearest supermarket?
We used Morrisons. There are several shopping options around Weymouth, and the campsite itself has a shop for everyday essentials.
Is Weymouth easy to reach?
Very. Head down the hill from the campsite and turn left at the traffic lights. This convenience is one of the main reasons I rate Bagwell Farm so highly as a base.
How do you get to Portland?
At the same traffic lights, continue straight ahead rather than turn left for Weymouth. Portland Bill, the lighthouse and The Lobster Pot are all straightforward to reach.
Would I book Bagwell Farm for the views?
Not specifically. Some pitches have good views, but that is not consistent across the whole campsite. I would book Bagwell Farm for its location, access and practicality.
Would I stay again?
Absolutely.
The on-site bar and restaurant are a big plus, as is the ease of reaching the campsite with a larger leisure vehicle.
It’s also a great base from which to explore the local area. All ages are covered, too. For example, if you want to entertain the kids, visit the beach and the arcades. History buffs will enjoy Weymouth’s rich WW2 past, much of which remains unchanged.
Bagwell Farm makes a holiday incredibly straightforward, which is a much bigger compliment than it sounds.