Weekend in pictures: Cars, litter, parades and ponies

This was the scene on Bournemouth beach by 11am on Saturday.... Bournemouth council reported all car parks full by 11.40am, and the traffic in Sandbanks had pretty much ground to a halt. 

The car park was closed and motorists warned to stay away

Meanwhile, the beachpolo crowd were enjoying their fenced off patch of beach (see the full story and pictures here)

Lovely day xo pic.twitter.com/p8f4wCHqY8

— Nicola Roberts (@NicolaRoberts) July 13, 2013

In Bournemouth, the Bourne Free parade drew cheers and waves (see the full story and gallery here)

The Pavilion hosted the BTown Throw Down: 

And Slades Farm Family Festival drew hundreds of BMXers (full story here)

Hundreds turned out for Upton Carnival (full story and pictures here)

The Cherries lost to West Ham but it didn't really matter, because Steve Purches, who got a standing ovation for his ten years of service at Dean Court, called it a perfect day. (See all our pictures here)

This crowd were certainly enjoying themselves at Grooves on the Green...

and X Factor winner Joe McElderry tried out a new career, driving a Yellow Bus (he was playing at the BIC on Saturday night)

... but by early evening, those left on Bournemouth beach found themselves playing among piles of litter.

Not that it put off beachgoers -  this was the scene on Sunday morning 

.. and hundreds turned out for the Pier to Pier Swim (read the full story with pictures and video here)

In New Milton, the pedal car racers were taking their jobs very seriously (full story here)

While in Wareham, the carnival parades featured this pair of donkeys. (Full story here)

Over in Swanage, where the beach was also busy, the streets were filled with tap dancing jazz marshalls (full story on the Swanage Jazz festival here)

But sooner or later, the inevitable happened: everyone tried to go home.

Still, at least the Red Arrows brightened everyone's weekend. Here's to the next one...