If there is one thing I love about the summer months, it is a good carnival and Swanage Carnival is the best one locally, plus the Red Arrows almost always turn up too!!
A truly stunning location, you can either travel through Sandbanks and over the chain ferry past Studland to get there, or take the scenic route and go over the Purbeck Hills.
We chose the latter and decided that we would take the Swanage Railway into town, from Norden Station close to Corfe Castle. It isn’t a cheap option – £2 to park for the day and then £30 for the train, but we decided that taking the kids on a steam train is a must do experience and added to the magic of the day.
Sadly, on the journey into Swanage, we got a Diesel train but that didn’t bother the kids in the slightest as we happily chugged past a couple of steam trains which they got to see in all their glory!
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| Our ride into town |
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| On the train |
We made our way to the seafront, which is only a 5 minute walk from the station and made the decision to take the kids to the park and wait for the arrival of the Red Arrows there.
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| Swanage Bay |
The weather was warm but very very breezy and I ended up putting my jacket on at one point, and we had lots of fun whilst we waited for the Red Arrows to make their appearance.
……..and then in they roared to applause from the crowd…….
As always they produced a truly magical display, despite only flying 7 out of the 9 aircraft.
My favourite part is when the make the heart using there vapour trails in the sky and Isaac turned and said to me “They’re making that for you Mummy!”. My heart melted!
Once their performance ended, we went off to explore all the various events that were being held throughout the town. It was packed solid, so after a brief spell of watching the Bournemouth Carnival Band, we escaped to have a nosey at the floats where it was quieter.
The effort put into each float was amazing, and you could feel the excitement building as the procession time got nearer.
We decided to move closer to the Station so we could make a quick escape after the procession and waited for the action to begin.
First came the Beach Buggies, who roared through the town with their music blaring and horns beeping. This one was Kian’s favourite:
Then came the bikers!
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| Before they roared in! |
And then the Town Crier and the main procession:
The base on some of the floats was so loud but Eliza loved it and was boogying away.
And then we had a flypast from the Coastguard.
All in all the procession was a mile long, with marching bands, majorettes and oodles of floats, all of which have had hours of love attention showered on them. It really was a wonderful day out and we had the train journey back to look forward to – what can be wrong with scenes like this?
Can’t wait to do it all over again next year!
What a great carnival! Or local summer event took place on the only rainy day last Week! Typical!
It was forecast to rain, and there was a huge thunder cloud and storm over Bournemouth, but thankfully it missed us!!
Looks like a truely awesome day. What a great collection of photos
I could have put so many more on here too!
Looks an amazing day and you got some great pictures. I always remember the red arrows from when I was a youngster.
We love them too – cannot wait for Bournemouth Air Festival at the end of the month
Looks like a fantastic day! Love that heart photograph! 🙂
aww the heart comment melted mine too. what a great day out 🙂
Wow, that makes our local village carnival look a tad 2nd division! What a wonderful day and I love that you went in by train, so much more fun for the children. Amazing the way you captured the Red Arrows too. Thank you for linking to Country Kids.
Looks wonderful so English!!!
It looks like you had an amazing day. You’re photos are fab.
Wow, looks like a brilliant day out!! It’s got a very British feel to it and your photo capture everything beautifully!! Thankyou so much to linking up to #mybestofbritish xxx
Being a local here of Swanage I am pleased to see that the effort that our carnival commitee put in every year is appreciated by many more than just us locals. They give up a tremendous amount of their own time not just during carnival week but during the whole year. I am glad your family had a wonderful day out, you should come in winter too, although far quieter obviously 🙂 and the water not so inviting, its peaceful and you can still ride on the train and the santa special is always a treat for the children. Loved all your pictures they were great
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it for anyone on the fence in regards to buying one, do it now, you wont regret it