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
Follow the valley of the River Stour through the heart of the Blackmore Vale. Circle the edge of the meadows beneath Sturminster Newton before crossing the Victorian Colber Bridge. Climb out of the Stour valley before dropping into the valley of the River Divelish, its name deriving from its dark waters rather than anything devilish. … Continue reading Colber
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
Travel through the layered landscape of Shaftesbury. Begin high on its chalk peak, and descend the iconic Gold Hill to the mills, manors and woodland that once sustained the great abbey founded by King Alfred. Follow forgotten lanes back up to the heights to circle the earthworks of the Iron Age hillfort that later rose … Continue reading Shaftesbury
From deep within the explosive landscape of the old Cordite Factory, where heathland meets the edge of Wareham Forest, discover the scattered ruins of both defence and industry. Cross the faint lines of forgotten tramways and follow paths named after colourful local characters, from witches to wayward clergy. Skim the thick woodland edge to the … Continue reading Holton Heath
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 medieval landscape of Sherborne. Climb down from the terraces to the River Yeo to discover the ruins of West Mill, crumbling into the water that once gave it its power. Rise out of the valley to circle the woods and drop back down to the railway where a Roman villa once stood. Cross … Continue reading Lenthay
