Walking in Dorset
Dorset offers an amazing variety of unspoilt scenery and many wonderful opportunities for walking. There are no mountains but there are high places with magnificent views. The county is rich in geology and wildlife.
The gentle, undulating countryside around Blackmoor Vale and the River Stour contrasts vividly with the heathland of mid-Dorset and the outstanding natural beauty of the rugged coastline. Rolling chalk hills with ridge-top footpaths provide splendid walking; so does the Dorset Coast Path with its huge cliffs and interesting features such as Golden Cap, Durdle Door and Chesil Beach. The coast is the most popular area for visitors so venture inland if you seek remote and quiet places.
The county has a fascinating history too, dominated by the remains of prehistory. Hillforts, tumuli, earthworks and other ancient monuments are scattered across the countryside. There are also many delightful villages and country towns which are well worth visiting.
Dorset is linked inextricably with Thomas Hardy, the poet and novelist, who was born in Higher Bockhampton in 1840 and lived most of his life in the county. Hardy adopted the name of the Saxon kingdom of Wessex to give territorial definition to the world his characters inhabited and to unite his series of novels. Hardy’s Wessex was an evocation of the Dorset landscape he knew so well, ‘partly real, partly dream-country’. Lovers of Hardy’s novels and poems come here from all over the world, and an awareness of his work will add immensely to the appreciation of this area, whilst enabling the walker, travelling in a way thoroughly recommended by Hardy, to really get to know ‘remarkably well’ this ‘little bit of the world’.
Walking is a pastime which can fulfil the needs of everyone. You can adapt it to suit your own preferences and it is one of the healthiest of activities. This guide is for those who just want to walk a few miles. It really doesn’t take long to find yourself in some lovely countryside. All the walks are five miles or less so should easily be completed in under three hours. Walking can be anything from an individual pastime to a family stroll, or maybe a group of friends enjoying the fresh air and open spaces of our countryside. There is no need for walking to be competitive and, to get the most from a walk, it shouldn’t be regarded simply as a means of covering a given distance in the shortest possible time.
What is Dorset ?
Dorset is a predominately rural county in southwest England bounded by Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Bournemouth, Poole and the English Channel. It has many small villages but few large urban or industrial areas and no motorways. The county town is Dorchester which is adjoined by the new urban development of Poundbury designed by the Prince of Wales. Traditional market towns of note include Shaftesbury, Sturminster Newton, Blandford Forum and Wimborne Minster, whilst on the coast are the holiday resorts of Lyme Regis, Bridport, Weymouth and Swanage. The Stour, Frome and Piddle or Trent are among numerous small rivers which which cut green fertile valleys.
One unique area of Dorset is the Isle of Purbeck; although described as an island it is in reality a peninsular of around 60 square miles (155sq.km) with water on three sides, the English Channel, the River Frome and Poole Harbour.
Dorset is noted for its agricultural and dairy produce and for Portland Stone, a white-grey limestone which has been used extensively as a building stone, notably in major public buildings in London such as Buckingham Palace and St Paul’s Cathedral. Stone has been quarried in the Isle of Portland and the Isle of Purbeck since the Middle Ages. Tourism is very important to the economy of Dorset and has developed due to the beautiful scenery and coastline, the proliferation of prehistoric remains and the connection with Thomas Hardy.
The county has a long history of human settlement. Cave dwellers lived in the area in the middle of the Ice Age, about half a million years ago, while agriculture has been dated back to 4000BC. By about 500BC present day Dorset was the territory of the Durotriges, who built impressive hillforts, such as that at Maiden Castle just outside Dorchester. They could not stop the Romans, however, who established their culture here for 400 years and founded the town of Dunrovia (Dorchester).
Geology
The varied Dorset landscape is due to its fascinating underlying geology. There are a number of large ridges of limestone which include a band of chalk which crosses the county from southwest to northeast including Cranborne Chase, the Dorset Downs and the Purbeck Hills. Between the limestone downland ridges are large, wide clay valleys with broad flood plains including the Blackmoor Vale (Stour Valley) and Frome Valley.
Southeast Dorset lies on non-resistant Eocene clays, sands and gravels, the thin soils supporting a heathland habitat. The River Frome estuary runs through this weak rock and its many tributaries have carved out a wide estuary. At the mouth of the estuary sand spits have been deposited turning the estuary into Poole Harbour. The harbour and the chalk and limestone hills of the Purbecks to the south lie above Europe’s largest onshore oil field.
Most of the Dorset coast (together with part of the East Devon coast) was listed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001 because of its impressive geological formations and textbook examples of features of coastal erosion. The coast represents much of the Mesozoic era (251-66 million years ago) with a sequence of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous rock exposures and it is commonly known as ‘The Jurassic Coast’. It has yielded a large number of animal and plant fossils including flying reptiles, marine reptiles and dinosaur footprints. The notable landforms include the sea stacks near Handfast Point, the cove at Lulworth and the natural arch of Durdle Door. The limestone island of Portland is connected to the mainland by the 18 mile pebble tombolo of Chesil Beach. The Fleet Lagoon, which Chesil Beach encloses, is one of the most important saline lagoons in Europe.
In the west of Dorset the chalk and clay begins to give way to marl and granite, more characteristic of the geology of Devon.
Wildlife in Dorset
The variety found in the Dorset landscape is reflected in its wildlife. Added to which, the southerly location and relatively warm climate make it possible for many species to survive compared with places further north in Britain. All six native species of reptile can be found here. The fragments of heathland left in Dorset are home to many rare plants and animals. In summer you may see an emperor dragonfly, or a silver-studded blue butterfly. The smooth snake, one of Britain’s rarest reptiles, has its home on the open heathland together with the sand lizard, while a marsh gentian may be seen amidst thicker vegetation. On the limestone cliffs, in summer, look out for the adonis blue butterfly. Gulls, including kittiwakes, abound along the coast and the coastline provides many breeding grounds for seabirds, as well as habitats for overwintering birds. Portland Bill is a major bird migration point, spring or autumn being the best time to witness this spectacle. In summer the flocks of mute swans can be seen at Abbotsbury. Poole Harbour is a feeding ground for many birds, including a large colony of black-headed gulls. Information on wildlife in Dorset can be obtained from the Dorset Wildlife Trust as well as the location of nature reserves within the county.
Hardy’s Wessex
Thomas Hardy