NATURAL BEAUTY LINES DORSET’S JURASSIC COAST
Fancy a stroll? This stretch of southwest England has history, sights and a trail that just keeps going
Dorset is a special corner of southwest England, full of outstanding natural beauty. With its chalk cliffs, limestone ridges and truly spectacular coastline, it is a delightful county for walking.
From our base near Lulworth Cove village, we enjoyed several guided walks along sections of the 1,010-kilometre South West Coastal Path, one of Great Britain’s longest national trails, part of which runs along the rugged, rocky stretch known as the Jurassic Coast.
Lulworth Cove, once known as a hangout for smugglers in the 1920s and ’30s, became the haunt of the Bloomsbury Set, an influential group of associated English writers and artists. Today, carefree tourists wander about enjoying ice cream cones or sipping cool drinks. Lulworth Cove’s horseshoe shape was formed over millenniums by the abrasive action of wind and water against rock. We looked down on the glittering blue water dotted with moored fishing and sailing craft. The setting was bucolic.
Our first walk started in the pretty village of Worth Matravers on Dorset’s Isle of Purbeck. In the local churchyard is the tomb of Benjamin Jesty, a farmer who was the first person to inoculate his family against smallpox in the 18th century. We climbed steadily upward to a memorial commemorating radar development during the Second World War, a factor that proved decisive in the Allied victory. En route, we visited tiny St. Aldhelm’s Chapel, a square stone building constructed in Norman times, topped by a cross. In the dimly lit interior were several well-worn wooden pews.
Next, we headed to the Coastwatch Lookout Station at St. Aldhelm’s Head, 90 metres above sea level, where maritime data is tracked by retired volunteer coast guards. Leaving the lookout, we joined the South West Coastal Path, originally created by the coast guards to hunt down smugglers. In single file, we followed every twist and turn of this undulating cliffside trail, with views of dramatic seascapes and hidden coves. Our band of walkers negotiated its way through innumerable kissing gates and wandered through flower-filled grasslands.
By lunchtime, we had reached Dancing Ledge, a flat area of rock where onshore waves shimmy and dance along the surface. In olden days, the renowned Purbeck limestone was quarried here and loaded onto waiting ships.
Refreshed, we headed toward Anvil Point Lighthouse, whose bright light has flashed warnings to ships since 1887. Next, we peered into the dark depths of three disused limestone quarries, now home to bats and nesting seabirds.
Our journey ended in Swanage, a popular tourist resort, where we treated ourselves to a taste of sunshine: a delicious pineapple sorbet.
Our second hike commenced on a windswept hilltop. We idled a while to take in the sweeping vistas of the green and gently rolling countryside, then strolled past grazing sheep and bushes of gorse in brilliant yellow flower.
Soon, we approached the deserted village of Tyneham. Over 70 years ago, the government ordered the population to vacate their dwellings to permit military training ahead of the D-Day landings. Believing this was a short-term directive, a notice was posted on the church door requesting respect for the community’s homes and possessions. The Ministry of Defence never left, and the area is now used as a firing range. All that remains of Tyneham are roofless buildings, a centuries-old farmhouse, a oneroom schoolhouse and the church. We wandered about, absorbing the aura of mystery that exudes from these long-uninhabited buildings, the once well-used fireplaces and the glassless window frames, all of which summon up a way of life lost to time.
Leaving the village, we sauntered along a wide trail to peaceful Worbarrow Bay, where once again we joined the coastal path. Rising in front of us was a steep climb. The path didn’t wind its way heaven-bound in a pleasant zigzag — it went almost vertically upward for close to 150 metres. But what a view we had atop the ridge. All that exertion had been worthwhile.
There were a couple more challenging ups and downs during the afternoon, which gave everyone a good appetite for the evening’s dinner, sourced from local produce.
Setting out from Osmington Mills, we enjoyed a third gloriously sunny day along the wellmarked path. We puffed up one grass-covered rise after another. We recognized many wildflowers, including yellow sea kale, stinking iris and swaths of pink sea thrift. Atop their favourite bushes, little stonechats twittered and chirped a happy tune and six-spot burnet moths fed on the nectar of the colourful blooms.
We passed many points of interest: a small desanctified church, an area where an underground oil-shale fire smouldered in the early 1800s, prehistoric landslides, whitewashed coast guards’ cottages, a Second World War pillbox and a navigational stone obelisk.
Eventually, in the distance we glimpsed the famous Durdle Door. This natural archway is Dorset’s most remarkable landform, created around 10,000 years ago.
We had just one last uphill push before signposts directed our weary feet across a grassy clifftop path and then down some wide gravel steps into Lulworth Cove for an ice-cold glass of Dorset ale. We could now claim to be among the over 200,000 people who walk this route every year.