I’ve wanted to visit Dorset for years – specifically, I’d been brainwashed by Instagram into wanting to visit Durdle Door, a natural arch on the South West coast near Lulworth. The county’s gently rolling countryside isn’t our normal cup of tea, being somewhat lacking in craggy mountains and sandy beaches completely devoid of people, and it was somewhere I’d ideally have liked to spend a weekend – but being such a long drive, this was impractical. Thus, when we were invited to stay at Mill End Hotel and The Valley in the South West, I spied an opportunity to tag on a few days in Dorset en route: being able to visit the county without committing to a longer stay. It turns out that there were quite a few things I’d wanted to visit for a while which were in Dorset too…
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Maiden Castle
If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you’ll know that I am a hillfort fan. To date, the most impressive hillforts we’ve seen ‘in the wild’ have been in Northumberland, but no longer. Maiden Castle is one of the largest and most complex hillforts in Europe, dating back thousands of years and being continually inhabited for several centuries. Its ramparts are some of the best preserved you can find – I distinctly recall being shown a photo of Maiden Castle in a university seminar on hillforts and thinking ‘I’d like to see that’. 10 years later, I did!
Today the hillfort is looked after by English Heritage and is free to visit. There’s a reasonably sized car park at the foot of the ramparts as you approach from Dorchester, then it’s a short walk up the hill to reach the top. We stopped here on our way to our Airbnb to let the dogs stretch their legs after the drive, and it was the perfect length of excursion to squeeze into a day when you’ve got a lot of other stuff on: a circuit of the ramparts took us about an hour.
Dog friendly rating – 4/5. Dogs are welcome to explore the site with you, but please take notice of signs asking for them to be kept on leads around livestock. The majority of the dogs we saw were on leads, but we did get jumped on by an off lead Labrador (which had absolutely zero recall) which has unfortunately set Coal well back with his reactivity. However, this was just one bit of bad luck, and generally we had plenty of space, did not have to climb over a stile and didn’t need to walk down a road.
Durdle Door & Lulworth Cove
On day 2, our first full day, there were a few things reasonably close together that I wanted to see, namely Durdle Door, Lulworth Cove and the Fossil Forest. Therefore we smooshed together two separate walks in our Pocket Mountains guide, trimming off the further reaches and combining the middle bits which covered these sites, for a walk of just shy of three hours.
We parked (pay & display) at Lulworth Heritage centre, and set off up the hill towards Durdle Door. This hill was surprisingly hard work (or may have been less hard work if we weren’t power walking up it to get to Durdle Door before it got busy). When we arrived, I found the arch itself a bit disappointing: yes, it’s pretty cool, but it’s not as good as the Hole of the Horses on Orkney.
You can drop down some steps to visit the beach at Durdle Door, but with a few miles left to walk we decided against this and carried on our way. We doubled back and picked up an inland track, walking along field margins before climbing another hill up over Lulworth Cove, eventually dropping down fairly steeply to the section of the walk which would take us to the Fossil Forest.
The Fossil Forest is within the boundary of Lulworth Ranges, so you will need to check firing times before you go if you want to visit. The rock here holds the remains of a 150 million year old fossiled forest, and was probably my favourite thing we saw on this walk. Be warned that there’s quite a few steps to descend to get down there and then some rather uneven ground to clamber across: and that’s after you’ve walked through the very very very muddy wood on the way up (which you also have to walk back through on your way back to the main route). It wasn’t deep mud, just the very sticky kind which accumulates rapidly on your boots as you walk and is therefore most likely to make you fall over (which I did, twice).
Even though the walk wasn’t really that long, by the time we dropped down to the beach we were both complaining of having tired legs. The return took us along the beach of Lulworth Cove, which was thankfully much quieter than the photos in peak summer. The beach here is dog friendly and both of ours dipped their toes in the sea, but we didn’t linger, with the thought of a sit down and hot drink just a short walk away luring us back to the car!
Dog friendly rating – 3.5/5. Much of this walk is along cliff edges where leads are required for safety, and you may also encounter livestock. There were no stiles, although there was a short section of road walking, while water loving dogs can have a run on two beaches – the beach at Durdle Door and then again at Lulworth Cove.
Corfe Castle
Another place in Dorset that I’d really, really wanted to visit was Corfe Castle: a dramatic ruin not too far from Durdle Door. The castle was first built by the Normans and remained in use until it was intentionally destroyed by Parliamentarians during the English Civil War (the name of which has always bothered me – ‘the’ English Civil War, as if there’s only been one. What about the Anarchy and the Wars of the Roses?).
Corfe Castle is managed by the National Trust, so as members we were able to visit for free (woohoo). I wasn’t expecting much – at most ruined castles, we’re in and out in twenty minutes. However, there’s lots more than I expected at Corfe, and we spent over an hour exploring the ruins. As well as the castle itself, there are some lovely views of the surrounding countryside, a National Trust shop and a cafe. It was surprisingly quiet, with just a few other people there are the same time as us – it was mid-January though! Parking is in a National Trust pay & display car park, which is about a 10 minute walk from the entrance.
Dog friendly rating – 5/5. The dogs were allowed everywhere with us, and we appreciated that dog water bowls had been left out for doggy visitors to drink from. As a reactive dog owner I always appreciate going to places like this, where all the other dogs are on leads and it’s not too busy. Merry enjoyed having a fuss off the lady at the entrance too!
Old Harry Rocks
With the end of our trip approaching, we just about had time to squeeze in one last stop before setting off for Dartmoor. After having a look at what was nearest, we drove across to see Old Harry Rocks, which was only a few miles from Corfe Castle. We parked in the National Trust’s Studland South Beach pay & display car park (free for members) and then picked up the South West Coast Path, which you follow for a mile to get to Old Harry Rocks. We did this as a linear walk, but it’s possible to extend it and turn it into a circular.
To see the impressive chalk stacks, you need to walk onto a promontory a little further on from them. I have to say I am not a fan of heights and I therefore did not spend long at all looking at them before I scarpered back to the safety of the track inland! Originally, Old Harry Rocks were linked with the Needles on The Isle of Wight via a series of chalk hills, but these were all eroded away during the last ice age.
Dog friendly rating – 3/5. The start of the walk passes through a field, where you could let your dog off lead for a short amount of time, before putting it back on when you get to the coast (it’s always better to be safe than sorry though, so we kept ours on their leads the entire time). There were no stiles on the route we did, and if you wanted to let your dog have longer off lead, you could include a visit to the nearby beach – although be warned that part of the beach is nudist!
Where we stayed
We stayed at Teals Den, a lovely little Airbnb close to Dorchester. The cottage sleeps two people in a beautifully done up ‘shabby chic’ apartment, with a spacious open plan living room/kitchen, double bedroom and stylish bathroom. The upper mezzanine level of the apartment is blocked off and is for the owner’s use only. Teals Den is situated on a working stables, but despite this it felt very quiet and private – and it was lovely to hear the horses clip clopping past occasionally.
Dog friendly rating – 4.5/5. This Airbnb had everything we look for: spacious, easy to clean floors, a HUGE securely enclosed garden (which was spaniel proof) and an outdoor tap with a hose where we could rinse the dogs off after a muddy walk (which was very handy after the mud fest at the fossil forest). There were some nice extra touches too, with a jar of dog biscuits by the front door, a cosy little dog bed which Merry adored and some spare poo bags too. I’ve just knocked off half a point as the extra charge of £5 per dog per night might get quite pricey if you were staying for a week or longer.
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