Slightly overshadowed by the more famous Watling Street and Fosse Way, Ackling Dyke is Dorset’s most prominent Roman Road. Running for around 22 miles (35 km) from Old Sarum (Sorviodunum) to Badbury Rings, this spectacular Roman road survives in places as a substantial raised agger, still clearly visible in the landscape. But Ackling Dyke was … Continue reading Ackling Dyke
Explore a landscape shaped by thousands of years of human activity, from Bronze Age burial mounds and great prehistoric cross-dykes to Romano-British fields and a lost medieval settlement. Skirt Dole’s Ash, Thomas Hardy’s inspiration for Flintcomb-Ash in Tess of the d’Urbervilles, before climbing the ancient ridges surrounding secluded Lyscombe Bottom and returning across the open … Continue reading Dole’s Ash
Climb to the peak of one of the Isle of Purbeck’s hidden gems. Wander through woodland before emerging onto sandy heath and gorse, climbing over the earthworks that scar the hillside on the way. From the summit, enjoy panoramic views across the blue waters of Poole Harbour and the forests of northern Dorset, stretching as … Continue reading Creech Barrow
Circle the ancient burial landscape of Parley Common. Explore its liminal edges, steeped in heathland folklore, where echoes of execution sites, smugglers, and river‑magic still haunt the air. From affluent estates to the roar of the airport boundary, discover a mythic landscape, filled with prehistoric barrows, and edged with an Iron Age hillfort. Distance: 4miles/6.5km … Continue reading West Parley
Wander through the wilder lands of Cranborne Chase. From the little whitewashed church at Chalbury, cross the old turnpike road into the Crichel estate. Follow the River Allen upstream past lost villages and the remnants of forgotten mills. Continue through the valley to the estate’s most crucial mill before reaching Stanbridge, an infamous river crossing … Continue reading Stanbridge
Explore the high valley of the Bere Stream as the springs emerge from the slopes of Bulbarrow. Discover the church built from the remains of lost Milton Abbey, where treasures still decorate the walls. Follow the valley shaped by Capability Brown, watching the surviving church and manor appear beneath the woodland. Climb up to the … Continue reading Hilton
From a landscape carved by the river, follow lakes and lanes into a spiritual environment. Weave around modern housing, the pylons that mark the edge of Bournemouth’s urban sprawl, and between hidden Bronze Age burial mounds. Skim the ghost of a faded country manor, once home to a single family, now an estate of hundreds. … Continue reading Dudsbury
Enter the thick woodland of Puddletown Forest to find the raised agger of an important Roman road cutting through the county. Follow in the footsteps of Roman soldiers across open heathland, with wide views over the Frome Valley and Thomas Hardy’s Vale of the Great Dairies. Discover the Rainbarrows, once gleaming white with chalk and … Continue reading Puddletown Forest Roman Road
