STUDLAND

In Kingdom By The Sea, a book by the American writer Paul Theroux describing a tour around the British coast, he describes with some distaste how he came face to face with a naked person while walking along the dunes at Studland Beach. What he apparently failed to realise was that the northern part of Studland Beach contains one of the country’s premier “naturist beaches”, and in fact there is a sign warning approaching “clothed people” that they may encounter naturists here. This must provide an interesting ending for those who have trekked the 630 miles of the magnificent South-West Coast Path from Minehead – Studland is the other terminus of the route. Fans of the rock band Coldplay may or may not be aware that the video for the song Yellow was filmed on Studland Beach.

The path heading out of Studland village towards Swanage rises gently up to an area of rough heathland leading to a headland from which the chalk sea stacks of Old Harry Rocks can be observed. Harry, named after an infamous pirate called Harry Paye according to a local legend, used to have a “wife”, a smaller seastack, but she collapsed in 1896. The rocks make a perfect base for colonies of breeding sea birds, and peregrine falcons can also be found here. Further round on this path there are magnificent views over the bay at Swanage.

Map of the area.

"Old Harry" - geograph.org.uk - 391865. Photo by Gary Radford, via Wikimedia Commons.

SWANAGE

Swanage may not be one of the best-known or premier resorts in Britain, but it recently received a boost when it came tenth in a list of Britain’s best beaches. The setting of the beach is certainly attractive, backed by a sloping green and with lovely views along the coast and across to the Isle of Wight. The town is located at the end of a chunk of coast known as the “Isle of Purbeck”, although, like Portland, it is not an island at all, or even a peninsula, but more of a rounded protruberance, the northern side forming the southern edge of Poole Harbour.

The town used to be an important quarrying port, and if you walk along the seafront towards the harbour and look down to the ground, you can still see the rails which were used to transport stone between the quarries and the port. There are many fine stone buildings in the town centre, which were built by stone merchants and developers John Mowlem and George Burt. One of the attractions Swanage is best known for is that it is the terminus of the Swanage Railway, a short but highly scenic heritage railway which includes among its stops the delightful village of Corfe Castle, dominated by the romantic ruins of the eponymous castle.  Swanage is home to Britain's oldest diving school, Divers Down, with the opportunity to explore wrecks from the two World Wars.

Map of the area.

KIMMERIDGE BAY

When you think of oil and nodding donkeys, which places spring to mind? Saudi Arabia? Dallas Texas? Azerbaijan? Dorset? Eh, what? Yes, that’s right: there is a nodding donkey on the cliff top at Kimmeridge Bay which has been producing oil since its discovery in 1959, over 3 million barrels to date. The oil came about as a result of organic matter buried within rocks laid down on a stagnant sea floor. In fact, such is the geological significance of this place that the type of clay found here and in a band stretching across England is named Kimmeridge Clay. We are still firmly in fossil territory here, and visitors to the bay will no doubt encounter plenty of people wandering around heads down, looking for relics from the Jurassic era.

If you dare to venture down to Kimmeridge Bay at night, be sure to listen carefully for the sound of screaming. Allegedly, the source of this spinechilling sound is the ghost of a smuggler, who was shot dead by a trigger-happy revenue man. If you are really lucky (or unlucky, depending on your viewpoint), you might see a shadowy figure standing waist-deep in the sea.

Map of the area.

Kimmeridge Bay - geograph.org.uk - 579392. Photo by Jim Probert, via Wikimedia Commons.

DURDLE DOOR/LULWORTH COVE

Being a Preventive officer in the heyday of smuggling should have attracted danger money, for a risky job it most certainly was. In my previous post, I told the story of the Preventive officer who had a narrow, smoky escape after the pub landlord he was investigating tricked him into hiding in a chimney. Another Preventive officer called Lieutenant Knight met a far worse end at the famous beauty spot known as Durdle Door when he was beaten senseless by smugglers and thrown over the cliff. Further round the coast at Mupe Bay, there is a natural cave which was used to store contraband.

Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove are probably Dorset’s answer to St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall, in that they are almost certainly the most used images in promotional tourist material for the county. And rightly so, because they each make a striking sight: Durdle Door an almost perfect archway sticking out from the main cliff at the end of a golden beach, being formed by the weathering of the limestone which makes up this coast, and, a short distance further along the coast the near perfect horseshoe shape which is Lulworth Cove, again a product of the area’s geology. An interesting diversion can be had by walking east from Lulworth Cove along the coast path to a “Fossil Forest”. This is basically the remains of a 144-year-old Jurassic Jungle, which manifests itself as large doughnut-shaped lumps of rock. Meanwhile, for castle enthusiasts, the 17th century Lulworth Castle lies just inland from Lulworth Cove.

Map of the area.

Durdle Door - geograph.org.uk - 80. Photo by Paul Allison, via Wikimedia Commons.

OSMINGTON MILLS

It was while John Constable was staying in the Osmington area for his honeymoon that he painted the Bowleaze Cove painting referred to in the previous post. He also produced another painting around this time called “A View of Osmington Bay, Dorset”. This little village, nestling in a wooded valley, dwarfed by the surrounding hills, must have been an idyllic, peaceful spot in those days. Lately though, that peace has been shattered due to extensive work being done on the holiday park in the locality, causing tension among the locals living there. According to the local press in May 2010, local residents were threatening to chain themselves to trees and blockade the roads in protest at plans to cut down or reduce the size of around 100 trees at the holiday park. They were also deeply unhappy with changes which had been made to the park, giving it the look of a “concentration camp”.

There is an ancient pub in Osmington Mills called the Smugglers Inn, parts of which date from the 13th century. In the early 19th century, the landlord of the pub was the leader of the area’s most notorious gang of smugglers, Emmanuel Charles. It was said that the brandy imported by Charles was so disgusting that the locals refused to drink it, so it had to be transported inland to be redistilled. Charles had a sidekick nicknamed French Peter, real name Peter Latour, who used to anchor his ship, the Hirondelle, in the bay below the pub. One day Charles received a visit from an officer of the Preventive, the anti-smuggling force of the time, and plied him with drink, then told him terrifying tales about the ferocious nature of French Peter, so that when the latter turned up at the inn the Preventive was persuaded to hide in the chimney, only to be smoked out when the two smugglers set about lighting a fire in the grate, upon which he was sent back to Weymouth, still drunk and reeking of smoke.

Map of the area.

Beach and Cliffs, Osmington Mills, Dorset - geograph.org.uk - 958951. Photo by Tim Marshall, via Wikimedia Commons.

BOWLEAZE COVE

As you gaze across Bowleaze Cove, looking towards the east, your eyes cannot help but be drawn towards a rather startling long, low blue and white building in a distinctly dated architectural style, with a two rows of arches and a strange little tower in the middle. This building, which completely dominates the east side of the bay, is the Riviera Hotel, built in the 1940s, and operated for several decades by the “holiday camp” company Pontins. It is meant to be Spanish-style, but I don’t recall seeing anything quite like it in Spain. Still, it’s an interesting architectural relic all the same.

This spot on the Dorset coast had its moment of fame in the art world when John Constable painted “Weymouth Bay: Bowleaze Cove and Jordon Hill” in 1816-17. It is a slightly moody view of the bay, with angry-looking black and grey clouds rising up from the horizon. The painting is housed in the National Gallery in London. The hill named as Jordon Hill by Constable, houses the remains of a 4th century Romano-Celtic temple.

Map of the area.

Bowleaze Cove - geograph.org.uk - 1444209. Photo by Andrew auger, via Wikimedia Commons.

SARK AND HERM

The island of Sark was once described as “the last bastion of feudalism in the Western world”, having had a 450-year-old feudal system. The system began when Elizabeth I granted the island’s feudal lord, or Seigneur, the right to run the island as a “royal fief”. Recent attempts to modernise the system were overturned by the Supreme Court, however this was challenged in the European Court of Human Rights, and the island now has universal suffrage. This peaceful, car-free island is mainly dependent on tourism, and makes a lovely escape from the clamour of the modern world.

Herm is the smallest island in the archipelago that can be visited by the public, although not the smallest inhabited island. Like Sark, it is blissfully car-free, but unlike Sark the island even goes so far as to ban bicycles. However, the locals are allowed to use tractors. Herm is 3 miles from the coast of Guernsey and measures just a mile and a half by half a mile, so a visitor would have to be supremely lazy to want to drive around the island! There are a number of accommodation options for anyone wanting to stay overnight. 

Webcam views of Herm.  

Map of Sark.

Map of Herm.

La Coupee - panoramio. Photo by Jan Hazevoet, via Wikimedia Commons.