Sometimes, the bleakest days on holiday can be the most memorable

Wet and hungry in Dorset, Will Gore and his family try to find reasons to be cheerful

Both the windscreen wipers and Will Gore were trying their best (Getty Images)

With a holiday comes pressure to have fun, or at least to do something different. Never mind that the children would rather just look at a screen in much the same way they would at home; nor, by the same token, that I’d be pretty happy just drinking tea in the kitchen as I might on a normal weekend. Different kitchen, I suppose. And different screens. Still, sometimes you have to force the issue, ignoring pleas about the weather being bleak, or there being an important video to watch on YouTube.

This is how, on Wednesday, we came to be driving through tippling rain and mist on the old Roman road that links the villages north of Bridport to the county town of Dorchester. The low cloud around Eggardon Hill ironically helped to lift the mood in the back seat, albeit only because it apparently raised the possibility that we might have to turn around and head back to the warm holiday cottage. No chance, I told them grimly.