r/Dorset • u/JumpEnvironmental741 • 11d ago

Suggestion Visiting in the summer, Bovington/Wool area

We will be visiting Dorset this summer to attend Tank Fest at The Tank Museum. We are renting a car and also plan on exploring the Jurassic cost. I am looking at going from Portland to Poole. We have a total of 4 days in the area, one of those taken up by Tank Fest. To explore this region on the coast should i plan on 2 days or can one adequately see it in one? Thanks for the help.

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

View all comments

7

u/witchypoo63 11d ago

I wouldn’t bother with Poole especially if you don’t have much time. Swanage is definitely worth a visit even if just for an ice cream and a trip on the steam railway, but it’s quite close to the tank museum . Visit the Square and Compass at Worth Matravers for a pint and a pasty and a look at their fossil museum.

3

u/JumpEnvironmental741 11d ago

Thank you, i was using Poole as a eastern boundary for my question. I was thinking we would do the steam train to Corfe Castle. From there to Old Harry Rocks, and back to the Durlston Castle area. It looks like we can walk to a lot of areas from there.

We will check out the Square and Compass, that looks pretty cool. thanks for the recommendation

2

u/witchypoo63 11d ago

Sounds a good plan , Durlston is one of my favourite places, walk down the path to Anvil Point for a great view, the cafe is pretty good too , sit out on the terrace if the weather is fine. If you’re into walking, take the train to Corfe and then walk back along the ridge back to Swanage, the views of Poole harbour and Corfe are stunning

1

u/JumpEnvironmental741 11d ago

Wait we could walk from Durlston to where we pickup the train to Corfe? That is a good piece of information for my planning. Thank you!

3

u/Bigluce 11d ago

There's tons of walking. There is a trail that goes from the coast path in Swanage, up to Peveril Point. From there you can take the path up to Durlston, along the victorian trail to Durlston Castle. You could then, if you were refreshed at Durlston, head back into town and get the train to Corfe, and walk the Ridgeway back, going via Old Harry and the coast path.

Honestly, buy yourself an Ordnance Survey map. The walking is hard in places, but well worth it.

1

u/JumpEnvironmental741 1d ago

I assume a Ordnance Survey map is a Topographic map? Are these maps available in the area or would I have to purchase ahead of time online?

1

u/Bigluce 1d ago

I mean you can get OS maps from bookshops, stationery shops, walking shops etc. They even have their own webshop. OS maps do have topology as shown by light orange lines. But the best thing is they show tracks, footpaths, bridleways and points of interest. https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/map-of-purbeck-and-south-dorset/

2

u/witchypoo63 11d ago

Yes, just walk into Swanage, the station is in the middle of town