Dorset shares its
borders with Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire, Hampshire, and the sea.
The jewel
in Dorset's crown is its coast, most of it designated a Heritage Coast .
Lulworth Cove, Durdle Door, Chesil Beach and Weymouth are well known, but
a short walk from these places leads to equally spectacular but much
quieter areas.
Inland are the chalk and limestone hills extending up to central
Dorset. Here are the wide spaces, the open skies and extensive views. Two ridge ways
extend across Dorset. The southernmost runs eastward from
Abbotsbury to the coast at Ringstead and eastward again across the
Isle of Purbeck to the chalk cliffs near Swanage. The northern ridge way cuts across central Dorset and links the East Devon hills to the
downs of Cranborne Chase.
The vales of Dorset, to the west, have retained
a pattern of small fields, mature hedgerows and small fields. This is a
more compact and secretive type of landscape with hidden villages and
lanes, lush meadows and rivers banked with willow and alder. The highest point in
Dorset Lewesdon Hill is in the west as is Pilsdon Pen
which many people mistakenly believe to be the highest (probably as a
result of differences in the positions of spot heights shown on
landranger and explorer OS maps).
In the east, around
the towns of Christchurch, Bournemouth, Poole also the valley of the river Frome north
of the Purbeck chalk downs, are remains of heath land - once part of a great area
of heath stretching from the New Forest into the heart of Dorset , andmuch featured in the novels of Thomas Hardy.
Dorset Facts:
The county covers 2653 square kilometres
1,126 sq kilometres of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty covering 50% of
the County
A coastline, virtually all of which is defined as Heritage Coast
143 Sites of Scientific Interest
9 National Nature Reserves
861 Scheduled Ancient Monuments
224 Conservation Areas
53% of the county is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural
Beauty
50 % of the population of the county is in the Bournemouth/Poole
conurbation
3,000 miles of rights of way made
up of approximately 4700 footpaths, 1700 bridleways and 37 byways open
to all traffic. The majority of these are maintained by
Dorset County Council, the remainder by the Unitary
Authorities of Poole and Bournemouth.
There is moor, heath and down, but no mountains
There are no motorways in the county
Dorset Jubilee Trail - A Rambler’s Guide contains a description of the route with newly designed,
detailed maps showing the route for each short section. Features of
interest are described alongside the route description.
A comprehensively
revised, third edition of the Dorset Jubilee
Trail - A Rambler’s Guide SBN
978-1-906494-10-0 is available. Price
£5.50 +£1.00 p&p from the Jubilee Trail Contact through this website or
from Tourist Information Centres in Dorset
and from bookshops.
Click here to find out more
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