Dorset & Wessex Trails
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To think of Dorset is to think of Thomas Hardy’s Wessex, and Casterbridge (Hardy’s name for Dorchester). Although a fictional place, Wessex has been immortalised by Hardy in his novels ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ and ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’ and you can’t walk far without encountering places described by Hardy in his Wessex novels. Even in today’s hurly burly world, ‘far from the madding crowd’ is still an apt description of the many rural villages which lie peacefully unspoilt in Dorset’s hidden valleys and rolling hills. Generations of authors have been inspired by Dorset’s rich landscape including Jane Austen, and in recent times John Fowles who wrote ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’. The film of this book contained a famous scene of Meryl Streep walking along ‘The Cobb’ Lyme Regis, which is where we begin our walk.
Leaving Lyme Regis we follow the coast as it stretches eastwards, first to Charmouth, an area famous for its fossils and Jurassic connections, and then to the highest point on the south coast of England – the l90m headland of orange sandstone known as the Golden Gap. We then turn inland where we visit several historic and prehistoric sites: the British hill fort of Maiden Castle, sacked by the Romans in AD70; the Roman walls and historic town centre of Dorchester; and the medieval tithe barn of Abbotsbury, famous for its ‘swannery’ – a nature reserve for wild swans.
Day 6 begins with a walk from Dorchester past Hardy’s birth place on the edge of Egdon Heath to the 18th century village of Milton Abbas, which holds the distinction of being the first planned settlement in England, before returning by bus or taxi to Dorchester. We then return to the coast to walk past the natural arch of Durdle Door, one of the most photographed landmarks along the Jurassic Coast, then on to Lulworth Cove, a Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, with its sandy bay and outstanding natural beauty.
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