AS CHILDREN prepare to go back to school this coming week, many parents will be breathing a sigh of relief after what has widely been regarded as a washout of a summer.

Keeping the children entertained in unpredictable weather, deluges of rain and localised flooding is no easy task – there are only so many welly walks a toddler can take.

Mums and dads have been hitting days out with brollies at the ready. Sarah Sharkey, 36, from Warsash in Hampshire, said: “We went to a holiday in Spain for a week and when we got back on Sunday, we were greeted by the blasting rain.”

With the stormy weather preventing her from going out much, she said it is sometimes quite hard to keep her child entertained.

“We have been doing lots of arts and crafts just to get by and waste some time."

However, it is not just frustrated families that have been feeling the effects of the weather. Outdoor attractions across the South coast have also been feeling the effects with the rain putting off visitors.

Daily Echo:

Bosses at the region’s biggest theme park – Paultons Park at Ower on the edge of the New Forest – are hoping for a settled spell of weather.

Commercial Director of Paultons Park, Stephen Lorton, said: “The weather may not have been ideal for outdoor attractions during the last few weeks of August but as soon as the rain clears I am sure things will improve. We are all looking forward to what will hopefully be a drier bank holiday weekend and September and October period.”

Ice cream sellers have been hit badly by the rainy weather.

Beverley Davies, manager of Carlo’s Ices at Wellow, near Romsey, said: “It’s had a really bad effect on our sales. You cannot sell ice creams in rainy weather, we need some sunshine.”

More than double the average rainfall fell across many parts of Hampshire this month – making it the wettest August since 2011 when 152mm was recorded at Mottisfont Abbey near Romsey.

Despite being a primarily outdoor attraction, bosses at Mottisfont say the dismal weather has had the opposite effect and in fact, more tourists visited the former Augustinian priory this August than the previous one.

Mottisfont’s visitor experience and communities’ manager Louise Govier said: “Rain of course always does affect us, but actually, we’ve done even better this August than we did last year - and it was a bumper year last year. So far this August, we’ve had 28,038 visitors, compared to 27,148 for the same days last year.”

Louise added: “We’ve been finding firstly that on the non-rainy days we’ve been really busy. The Lauren Child Charlie and Lola exhibition and trail is bringing in lots of families, and also that even on our rainy days, we’ve still had more visitors than expected.

"Anecdotal evidence suggests that holidaymakers still need somewhere to go when it’s wet and don’t go to the beach then, so more of them come to us, as there’s a mix of indoor and outdoor things to do.

"Our British visitors always seem to be well-equipped with rain coats, and I don’t think they let the weather stop them.”

Daily Echo:

Some local B&Bs reporting having fewer visitors than usual at this time of the year including Mike Wrona, at Temple Lodge Guest House, Lyndhurst, who said: “We’ve been ok. The weather has been really bad here but we haven’t got any bookings cancelled or fewer visitors, but we don’t get any additional bookings either. Normally, at this time of the year, we would be full.”

It seems the rain has not put tourists off coming to the South East coast, but and has also brought more profits to indoor attractions.

In fact, the Romsey Museum of Army Flying has seen the striking increase of 37 per cent in visits during August compared to this time last year.

Their spokeswoman Lucy Johnson said: “We have recently made a number of improvements to the Museum and revisited our marketing strategy, but the weather this month has produced a noticeable increase in families visiting the Museum during the summer holidays.”

Holly Austen, from Tourism South East, told the Echo that even though prolonged periods of rain during the summer peak season are “not good” for businesses that provide outdoor activities or events.

Nowadays, many attractions and accommodations providers have indoor facilities and tend to do well in this type of weather, so overall the economy “can balance out”.

Holly Austen from Tourism South East said the bad weather wasn't necessarily a disaster for the region's tourism.

She said: "Lots of attractions and accommodation providers do nowadays offer indoor or undercover facilities so on occasions they can do well in this type of weather so overall across the economy it can balance out."

She said that the weather could perhaps put people off returning to the area but added: "It is worth noting that the wettest summer on record was in 2012 but overall numbers holidaying in the South East was actually higher in 2014 primarily because of the growth in overseas visitors and most UK visitors take more breaks and day trips throughout the year than have just one holiday in the summer.

"The industry is much more capable than it used to be in coping with and recovering from periods of poor weather."

  • SOGGY weather hasn't put a damper on visitor numbers at a top Hampshire tourist attraction.

Bosses at Mottisfont Abbey near Romsey say the dismal wet August has had the opposite affect and more tourist visited the former Augustinian priory this August then the previous one.

Mottisfont’s visitor experience and communities’ manager Louise Govier said: “Rain of course always does affect us, but actually, we’ve done even better this August than we did last year - and it was a bumper year last year!

So far this August, we’ve had 28,038 visitors, compared to 27,148 for the same days last year.”

Louise added: “We’ve been finding firstly that on the non-rainy days we’ve been really busy. The Lauren Child Charlie and Lola exhibition and trail is bringing in lots of families, and also that even on our rainy days, we’ve still had more visitors than expected.

"Anecdotal evidence suggests that holidaymakers still need somewhere to go when it’s wet and don’t go to the beach then, so more of them come to us, as there’s a mix of indoor and outdoor things to do.

"Our British visitors always seem to be well-equipped with rain coats, and I don’t think they let the weather stop them.”

But officials at the region’s biggest theme park – Paultons Park at Ower on the edge of the New Forest are hoping for a settled spell of weather.

Commercial Director of Paultons Park, Stephen Lorton said: “The weather may not have been ideal for outdoor attractions during the last few weeks of August but as soon as the rain clears I am sure things will improve. We are all looking forward to what will hopefully be a drier bank holiday weekend and September and October period”

Ice cream sellers have been hit badly by the rainy weather.

Beverley Davies manager of Carlo’s Ices at Wellow near Romsey said: “It’s had a really bad affect on our sales. You cannot sell ice creams in rainy weather, we need some sunshine.”

More than double the average rainfall fell across many parts of Hampshire this month - making it the wettest August since 2011 when 152mm was recorded at Mottisfont.

Bad weather has not made local camping and caravan providers anxious either, with most of them reporting no downfalls of visitor numbers in the past month.

Stella Matthews, Sunnydale Farm Camping and Caravan Site, Southampton said: “Generally, I don’t think bad weather has put people off. I’m not worried about the upcoming weeks because Bank holiday is always extremely busy and we have got strong business anyway."

However, for local families the rain hasn’t proven to be great fun. Sarah Sharkey, 36, from Warsash in Hampshire, said: “We went to a holiday in Spain for a week and when we got back on Sunday, we were greeted by the blasting rain.

"With the stormy weather preventing her from going out much, she said it is sometimes quite hard to keep her child entertained.

“We have been doing lots of arts and crafts just to get by and waste some time."

Sarah Sharkey, 36, from Warsash, Hampshire: “We went to a holiday in Spain for a week and when we got back on Sunday, we were greeted by the blasting rain.”

It’s quite hard to keep the children entertained. We have been doing lots of arts and crafts just to get by and waste time.

A spokesman for Woodmill Activity Centre, Southampton, said: “It hasn’t affected us at all. Maybe there are not as many people coming during the day because of the rain but people still continue to do canoeing and kayaking in the rain.”

By Stefanie Tasheva