Bournemouth International Centre

The BIC sits right on Bournemouth's seafront, and if you're staying at Sandhills Holiday Park near Christchurch, it's well worth the short drive over. This is a proper convention and entertainment complex - the kind of place where you'll find everything from West End theatre productions to comedy nights, ballet, classical concerts, and the occasional wrestling match. It's a sprawling venue with multiple auditoria, so what's on matters more than the building itself.

For families, check what's showing before you go - pantomimes at Christmas are packed with kids, and they do children's theatre too. If you're after a night out beyond the caravan park routine, the BIC usually has something decent on. Theatre buffs will find touring productions here; music lovers get decent acts rolling through. You won't find the intimacy of a smaller regional theatre, but the production values are solid and the range is genuinely broad.

It's not free - ticket prices vary wildly depending on what you're seeing, anywhere from a tenner for some events to fifty-odd quid for major touring shows. Allow a couple of hours if you're catching a show, including parking and a poke around the foyer. The seafront location means you can grab fish and chips afterwards or take a walk along the beach before heading back to your holiday park.

On a rainy Dorset afternoon when the kids are climbing the walls, the BIC could be your salvation. Just don't expect it to be the reason you come to Bournemouth.