Before making Bournemouth your new home, its good to know the city and its attraction. One of the most popular ones are, of course, the magnificent gardens but that is not all that this town can offer its inhabitants. The place to visit and relax after a stressful house relocation or a long day of work is the Bournemouth Pier. It is the heart and soul of the town. You can do so much there. The Pier is surrounded by seven miles of sandy beaches and offers a marvellous panoramic view to the Isle of Wight to the east and the Purbeck Hills to the west.
The Pier has a long history of reconstructions and remodelling throughout the years. The first structure was built in 1856 and in the next almost fifty years it suffered a lot. The wooden base of the pier was attacked by termites. It was rebuilt a couple of times and in the end, it was demolished. The new Pier was opened by the Lord Mayor of London on 11 August 1880. During the years before WWII, the Pier was elongated multiple times and just before the war, it was almost 100 ft long. Unfortunately, as a precaution against German invasion, the pier was destroyed on 5 July 1940.
After the war, the Bournemouth Pier was once again repaired and it was officially opened in 1946. In the next sixty years, a lot of reconstruction was made in order to reinforce the structure and make sure the pier can uphold the weight of the various attraction located on it.
And speaking about attractions you will need at least one weekend to try most of the things the pier can offer. It is packed with tourists and locals all year around. Its visitors can enjoy the amusement arcades, try out their courage at one of the many adrenalin rising activities or just relax under the sun at one of the many restaurants and Barista coffees.
If the house relocation hasn’t raised your heartbeat enough, the Bournemouth Pier has something that will definitely succeed. The PierZip is the world’s first pier to shore zip wire with a 250-metre dual zip wire. This means you can ride with your family or friends and you can even organise a race amongst yourselves to see who will reach the shore first. You need to climb a 25-metre tower to the starting point and then enjoy the thrilling 30 seconds of flying above the waves and peoples heads. This adrenaline-pumping attraction is not even that expensive however a few rules must be followed in order to ensure the safety of its visitors. You need to be at least 130 centimetres tall with a minimum weight of 30 kg and maximum -120 kg. Keep in mind that this is an open attraction which means it depends on the weather conditions. Are you excited yet? Grab your family and have a nice day gliding above the sea and forget all about the stress from the recent house move.
Another tourist magnet is the famous Rock Reef indoor adventure centre. This large complex is a heaven for all those who love rock climbing and seek adrenalin. The centre in opened all year round and can offer 28 climbing walls with different degree of difficulty, a HighLine high ropes aerial obstacle course, a Vertical drop slide, a ‘Leap of Faith’ jumping challenge and a 65-linear metre indoor Pier Cave. The attractions are suitable for ages from 4 to 94, as the site of the Rock Reef centre advertises. Even if outside is cloudy and rainy, you can always have a great family time indoors.
Relocate to Bournemouth – the Arcade TownAn old-time favourite is, of course, the amusement arcade. No pier would be ever compleated without it and Bournemouth Pier is no exception. You can find the classic arcade games like PacMan and Space Invaders alongside the newer Walking Dead Pintable, Star Wars battle pod or Time Crisis 5. The arcade centre is located at the entrance of the pier and its opened 364 days a year. It is closed only on Christmas day. This is a great place to spend some quality time with your children and show them the benefits of their new hometown.
