We were firmly based in Swanage after the long day of travel and ready to explore our new surroundings. However, we were still pretty tired so we stuck close to home and made it an easy day. Swanage sits near the eastern end of the 96 mile (154 km) Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. That made it an ideal spot to explore dramatic seaside scenery including the famous cliffs and features carved by erosion without having to travel far.
Geologically, much of the underlining rock dated back to the Jurassic period of 150-200 million years ago, although not exclusively. Obviously the whole Jurassic Park franchise translates into a tourism opportunity here. That aside, there is a genuine dinosaur connection throughout the region and fossils are common. The groundbreaking palaeontologist Mary Anning made many of her foundational discoveries along these same shores during the early 19th Century.
Durlston Country Park
We decided to split the day, focusing immediately south of Swanage in Durlston for the morning. Then we could focus in Studland a couple of miles further north in the afternoon. Durlston’s primary attraction is Durlston Country Park and National Nature Reserve and it features strolling paths and amazing scenery along the cliffs. The 630 mile long South West Coast Path also runs directly through the property. A small portion of that appears in the photo, above.
Durlston Castle
The park centers on Durlston Castle, which isn’t really a castle. They always intended as a tourist attraction even back in the 1880’s when a local developer first envisioned it. Actually it’s a “folly” in the classic architectural sense with no negative connotations (“constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose“). Today it includes a little café with a patio, some exhibit space and a popular wedding venue, all with excellent views. However — more important for our purposes — it provided a car park and easy access to the trail network.
So let’s take a brief tangent and talk about parking. It’s much harder to find than in the United States and it’s rarely free even in the smallest towns. Some car parks use apps so you may have to download a bunch of different ones for your phone. Some use coins which you may not even have because you made every other purchase with a credit card. Just keep that in mind before driving to, well, basically anywhere.
The Great Globe
I’m a geo-geek so we needed to visit the Great Globe directly behind Durlston Castle, downhill by the cliff. This is another late 19th Century artifact and we enjoyed finding wildly out-of-date geographic references. It looks like concrete but it’s actually Portland stone from the nearby Isle of Portland and it weighs 40 tons. But enough of the geekery! Let’s get walking.
Anvil Point Lighthouse
Well, I’m also a sucker for lighthouses and Durlston included one of those along the path too. The Anvil Point Lighthouse provides a nautical waypoint along the English Chanel and it remains an active light today. It’s protected mariners since 1881 although it’s been fully automated since 1991. Apparently the property also contains two holiday cottages. So if you’ve ever want to stay overnight at a lighthouse you can do that here.
Durlston Cliffs
The scenery steals the show here. Every corner brings another amazing cliffside view. But a closer look also reveals blemishes of a coastline inhabited for untold millennia. The rectangular holes in this photo mark Tilly Whim Caves, which aren’t really caves. They’re the remnants of an abandoned quarry from the 18th Century that provided Purbeck Stone, a type of limestone used since Roman times.
Studland
I wondered what made Studland the Land of Studs, and apparently my sarcastic comment was more accurate than I imagined. Its etymology was a “tract of land where a herd of horses is kept“. Studs, of course, are breeding stallions so my offhand guess made perfect sense. Anyway, that’s where we spent the afternoon although I didn’t see any horses.
Isle of Purbeck Brewery
But first we needed lunch. We pulled into a car park at Studland near a trailhead, paying by app. It sat conveniently near the Bankes Arms, an inn and pub occupied continuously since the 1500’s. But more importantly — for me anyway — was the beer. The Isle of Purbeck Brewery resides here so I added my first brewery visit of the trip. With a pint of Real Ale hand-pulled from a cask combined with a nice meal, I could hit the trail again.
Fort Henry
I’ve talked a lot about history, some of it quite ancient, so it’s important to acknowledge more recent events too. The whole Swanage area is quiet, remote and scenic and yet it figured prominently just a couple of generations ago during the Second World War.
The Allies feared a German invasion and felt Studland Bay was a likely beachhead. That led them to fortify it with defensive structures and observation bunkers such as Fort Henry. Much of it still remains along the trails, undisturbed and available for exploration. Later in the war the Allies also used Studland’s beaches as a practice area for the D-Day landing at Normandy.
Old Harry Rocks
Lots of people come to Studland for its popular beaches and many of them also want to see Old Harry Rocks. These are large chalk formations carved into sea stacks and pinnacles over time by water and weather. It’s about a mile walk from the Bankes Arms to the Old Harry Rocks overlook, on a wide, easy trail. Unfortunately it doesn’t offer much shade which normally isn’t an issue, but we happened to be there on an unusually warm day. It was still well worth the trek.
Articles in the England Series
- Do Over
- Jurassic Coast
- Dorchester
- Bristol
- Isle of Purbeck
- Bournemouth
- Tankfest
- Onward to London
- Atypical London
- More Typical London
See Also: The Complete Photo Album on Flickr
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