Family cottage & garden near Jurassic Coast

We love our family cottage: three generations have explored this beautiful part of Dorset, relaxed around the kitchen table and enjoyed the garden. We're 3-4 miles from Durdle Door & Lulworth Cove and a perfect jumping off point for walks, swimming, wildlife, castles, fossils, forts, beaches & cliffs. The kitchen is great for lazy breakfasts & relaxed dinners. The two living rooms & library provide plenty of space for everyone to do their own thing - board games, TV/videos, reading & relaxing. The space Dairy Cottage is a Grade II listed Dorset Longhouse, dating from the 1700s. The cows were milked & fed in the barn and the dairy farmer's family lived in the rest of the cottage. It has low ceilings & doors (6-footers beware!) and very thick walls, making it cosy in winter and cool in summer. The cottage is next to the farm at the edge of the village, which is still a working dairy, so there are farmyard smells and noise at milking time. The cows love a visit, so do walk round and say hello. Winfrith is a friendly village, with a shop, post office, school, village hall and church. The shop is a good source of up to date news on local activities. The beautiful beaches and dramatic cliffs of the Jurassic Coast are wonderful, and the South West Coast Path is good to walk. Durdle Door, Lulworth Castle, Lulworth Cove, the Tank Museum, Corfe Castle, Thomas Hardy's Cottage, Monkey World, Lawrence of Arabia's Cloud's Hill, Rhododendron Mile and several RSPB bird sanctuaries are nearby. Weymouth's bucket-&-spade beach and marina is popular, especially at about 6pm when the yachts come into harbour under the drawbridge. There are two living rooms: the barn, which is more formal and has a log fire & TV/DVD, and the playroom, which is ideal for younger members of the household, has its own TV and is next to the kitchen. At the foot of the stairs is a library, with a desk for working and a chair for reading. The farmhouse kitchen & an extra loo is on the ground floor. The back door leads out from the kitchen into the garden. Upstairs there are three bedrooms: the master bedroom with a king size bed next to the bathroom, a twin room which has its own extra staircase, and a single study bedroom. The bathroom is next to the master bedroom and study bedroom. They are all under the thatch. The bedroom which overlooks the garden and the dairy has a super king size bed. It is not under the thatch and therefore can be noisy at milking time during the night if the window is open. If you are a light sleeper, we recommend you close the window before you go to bed. There is a blackout blind on this window: when it is hot outside, close the window and lower the blind during the day to keep the room from getting too hot. The garden is mature, well stocked and has a lawn, rose beds, trees, shrubs and climbing plants. There are shady spots for hot days as well as sunny areas, and a terrace with a table and chairs for outdoor meals. Please help yourselves to flowers in the summer and fruit in the autumn; there are vases in the cubby-hole in the playroom. Our gardener comes on alternate Monday afternoons; please let us know if you would prefer him not to visit. There are board games, cards and puzzles for family entertainment in the drawers under the drinks cabinet in the playroom. There are wooden toys & books for younger children under the stairs. There's a high chair and travel cot for little ones. We are a cycling and walking family, so please let us know if you'd like any tips about Purbeck and Dorset. The library has plenty of up to date books and maps for exploring Dorset. We also like eating out. There are excellent restaurants not far away, as well as more homely traditional pubs with good food: the Red Lion is in Winfrith and the Sailor's Return is in the next village. The Square & Compass in Purbeck is famed for its ambience, beer and home-made pies. Guest access You are our guests at Old Dairy Cottage and you have access to all the rooms and the walled garden. Other things to note Light sleepers will want to choose one of the three bedrooms under the thatch, rather than the superking bedroom over the garage, which looks over the garden to the dairy farm and can be noisy during the night time milking if the bedroom window is open. The shower is over the bath, so most people angle the showerhead so that they don't need to be right underneath it. Our gardener cuts the grass & looks after the garden 2pm-4pm on alternate Monday afternoons. If you would prefer him not to come during your stay, please let us know in advance and we will re-arrange his hours.