MY two sons were complaining like hell when we first put in to the Knoll House Hotel near Swanage last summer: where, they wanted to know, was the TV? It is very rare indeed these days to come across a family hotel which does not have a TV in every room. But the Knoll House prides itself on being a delightful throwback to the 1960s. They still have only the one TV, and that’s in the TV lounge, which looks like something out of an old people’s home. I first went to this hotel over forty years ago; twenty-five years ago I worked there as a waiter; and now the wheel has turned full circle and I’m taking my own kids there. It has hardly changed a bit – though these days they do have Wifi, just in case you’re desperate to get online.
The Knoll House is a reminder of what a real family holiday is all about – not being stuck in front of screens, or spending a fortune on children’s rides, but rather, just larking on the beach with your kids, and falling in the sea at the Dancing Ledge, and trying to climb the only mildly hair-raising Agglestone, which is on the heath nearby to the hotel. In some respects, the Knoll House is still very old-school. At supper-time, young kids are banned from the dining room, which means that you can actually have a civilised dinner without being hectored by children demanding a fourth helping of pudding. (The pudding table is gargantuan; it’s self-service and you can have as many helpings as you please.)
While the adults have dinner, the children are all tucked away upstairs, where the corridors are patrolled by an army of nannies. If the screaming gets too much, they’ll come down and fetch you. This part of the Jurassic Coast is, like the hotel itself, beautifully undeveloped. Just over the water at Sandbanks in Poole, the prices are astronomical and every single square inch of land right up to the sea-front has been built on. But over on the Isle of Purbeck, things are still pretty much as they’ve always been. It’s still exactly the Famous Five country that Enid Blyton was writing about when she used to stay at the Knoll House fifty years ago – Corfe Castle is Blyton’s Kirrin Castle and Brownsea Island is her Whispering Island. And, of course, there are still the nudists on Studland beach, which has been Britain’s naturist capital for well over a century. George Bernard Shaw is said to have stripped off there, as did Enid Blyton herself. Who ever would have thought it?
I recently had published a love story that’s set at The Knoll House – a young waiter has a steamy one affair with one of the rich clientele. And in The Woman Who Knew What She Wanted, I do happen to kick off with some mass skinny-dipping in the sea at Studland. So after a quick trawl through the internet, it’s nice to see that nudism is still a huge part of Studland life. In fact, after reading about some of the exploits that are going on today in the Studland dunes, I’d have to say that it seems to be flourishing… * William Coles’
The Woman Who Knew What She Wanted is published by Thames River Press, price £8.99.
