The Dorset walk – Burton Bradstock & Shipton Gorge
Paul Quagliana takes a stroll along the West Dorset coast and its hinterland
Published in August ’19
The first section of the walk takes us from Burton Bradstock towards the sea
Burton Bradstock is a pretty village that was home to the West Country’s first flax swingling* mill, Grove Mill, built in 1805. It’s home to two pubs, a post office & village store, a farm shop, and a Bronze-Age round barrow near Burton Beach called Bind-Barrow. The heart of the village alone has sixty listed buildings and if you are so minded before or after the walk, there are delightful narrow lanes to explore on foot.
There is no gorge in Shipton Gorge; it is named for Ralph de Gorge who held it in the late 13th century and had previously been known as Shipton Maurewarde.
* A swingling mill was a mechanised factory for separating the usable fibres from the woody substance of the flax plant, hitherto done manually with a scutch or swingle.
THE WALK
1 Park considerately in Burton Bradstock and make your way west along Barr Lane gently uphill along the road passing a sign for Manor Farm on your left. As you start to leave Burton Bradstock and the road curls gently to the right there is a footpath marker on the left. Cross the road and go down some steps and through a metal gate. Turn left and follow the path. The road you came up will now be above you and to your left. Follow the path to a metal gate which enters low woodland – keep going. The path passes through a short patch of lowland before leaving the woodland and reaching a metal gate. Go through the metal gate and continue, keeping a fence on your left and a wide field on your right. Follow the fenceline until you come to a bridge over the River Bride. Cross the bridge and turn right. The path is initially stone and then earth. Follow the path as it curls around to the left at the base of a hill. You will see a holiday park ahead of you. Keep following the grassy path and you will see the sea ahead of you, the beach and a wooden kissing gate. Go through the gate and turn left following earth paths uphill with a fenceline on your left. The broad grassy and earth path flattens out. You will reach a wooden kissing gate, go through it, cross a road to another wood and metal gate and continue across a grass field towards houses. You will reach another small wood and metal gate signposted to Coast Path Burton Beach – follow this with a small fence and hedge on your right. You will see a small gate ahead of you, in a corner with a dry stone wall on the left side and a section of wooden fencing on the right side. Go through it and you should see a grassy car park ahead – beyond this is a gravelled car park. At this point you can bear right to visit Hive beach or continue with the walk and bear left towards houses and Beach road. Walk down Beach road passing houses on either side. At the bottom of Beach road turn left where it meets the main road. There is a thatched cottage across the road and shortly after it a bus stop.
The Church of St. Martin stands on a small plateau in Shipton Gorge. Its 15th-century tower stands in stark contrast to its 19th-century back-end
2 Just beyond the bus stop is a metal gate and just before it a footpath marker. Cross the road and follow the footpath. You will head gently downwards on a broad grassy track with Larkfield Holiday Park on your right and woodland on your left. You will come to a lane with a metal kissing gate on the other side. Cross over, go though it and continue following a broad grassy path through a grass field. Keep following the grass path until you come to a bridge. Do not cross the bridge over the River Bride but turn left, keeping the river on your left. You will see a small metal gate – go through it and continue with the river on your left. Continue ahead following a grassy path as the river bends away to the left. Continue ahead with a slow stream now on your left to a large opening next to a hedge and a wooden stile on the left and wooden telephone poles ahead. Go through the opening keeping the field edge on your left passing a wooden telephone pole on your left. There is a hedge ahead. When you reach it, turn sharp right keeping the hedge on your left. You will soon reach a track and opening into another field, Bear right here following a footpath marker. You will reach a small metal gate in a hedge. Go through it and continue ahead. Continue on an earth path across the field towards wooden telephone poles in a hedgeline. You will pass the corner of a hedge and beyond it is a metal kissing gate in a hedge. Go through that kissing gate in the hedge. Turn left and walk down the road and before some large farm buildings on the right is a narrow wooden bridge. The bridge is at first hard to see concealed in the hedge. Go over the wooden bridge and through a wooden kissing gate. Go straight ahead, initially with a hedge on your left. The hedge turns sharp left but continue ahead across the field. You will reach a bridge over the River Bride. Go over it. A stony track leads to a lane, but before the lane, turn sharp right on an earth path. The earth path leads across the field to the corner of Graston Wood holiday park which is visible ahead. Go over a double wooden bridge and turn left. You will now be on a broad mown, grassy path with the Graston Holiday Park on your left and a wooden fence on your right. Keep going ahead on the grassy path which becomes gravelled. The holiday park ends, go through a small wooden gate staying on the grassy, mown path now with Graston copse on your left. At the end of the copse go over a wooden stile and continue ahead on the edge of a field keeping a a hedge on your left. In the corner of the field you will come to a large metal gate. Go though it. You will immediately see another large metal gate to your right. Go through this. Follow a narrow grassy path across a grass field towards Graston farm aiming for the corner of a large barn. Go around the barn and continue. Leave the barn behind and continue across the grass field curling slightly right following the grass path. You will reach a stone track, bear left here and shortly you will come to a lane. Cross straight over. Follow a broad track with fencing either side and a large white bungalow on your right.
3 Follow a stone track and continue passing through a metal gate. The track becomes grassy and goes through another metal gate. The path gets narrower and eventually reaches a stream and some stepping stones with a metal gate after them. Cross the stepping stones and bear left on a grassy path with the stream now away to your left and a wood on your right. You will come to a wooden footbridge and metal gate. Go through this and turn right. Keep following the edge of the wood keeping it on your right with a grassy field that slopes uphill on your left. You will come to a wooden stile set in a hedge at the end of the wood. Go over the stile and follow an earth path through bushes to a wooden stile and wooden footbridge. Go over this into an open grass field. Cross the field to an opening in the hedge, Go through this into the next field and bear slightly left as you cross the field aiming for the Church on the hill. Go over a wooden stile set in a fence, and shortly after another set in a fence next to a track. Directly over the track is a gap in the hedge with a small metal gate and stile. Go over it. There is a sewage works on your left. Continue straight ahead to a hedge. Continue straight ahead to a hedge. On reaching the church go through a wooden gate at the side of it and follow the path up the side of the church until you come to a metal gate. Go through the metal gate to enter the church grounds and graveyard. Walk around to the left following a stone path through the graveyard to another metal gate. Go through it. You will find yourself on a lane with a thatched cottage ahead and to the right. Walk downhill and the lane curls to the right before reaching the road. Turn left here by a post box heading uphill. You will reach a T-junction but with a track ahead forming a cross roads. Cross the road continuing ahead up the gently ascending track. The track continues to ascend slowly and becomes stony. As the track curls gently to the right there is a metal gate and foot path marker on the left.
This newly re-thatched cottage stands on the right just as you get into Shipton Gorge proper
4 Go through the gate and head downhill following a grassy path. Go through a double metal gate in a hedge into the next field and follow the path. Go through another double metal gate into the next field and follow the path. Follow the grassy path to another double metal gate in a hedge. Go through. Keep following the grassy path as it crosses a grass field curling gently right. Go through another double gate and enter a large grass field. Head slightly right following the grassy path towards Bennet’s Hill farm. You will reach a metal gate. Go through the gate and turn left walking gently uphill on a stone track passing Bennet’s Hill farm on the right. You will come to a broad stoney area and a lane that runs left to right. Ahead are two stone structures covered in ivy with a small metal gate between them and a large metal gate next to the right hand stone structure. Go through the large metal gate. Head downhill across a grassy field passing an old wooden gate post. Here, bear left as you continue to the fenced edge of a wood. Continue uphill keeping the fence on your left. At the brow of the hill you will see the sea ahead of you. Continue keeping the fence on your left and start heading downhill passing through a small metal gate. Keep following the grassy path next to the fence until it becomes stony and there are some wooden telephone poles to your right. Continue straight ahead and the track becomes more gravelled and heads downhill. Start heading downhill on a stony track with trees either side. The track meets a lane and housing. Turn right here. Keep going along Shadrack. You will meet the main road through Burton Bradstock and the Anchor Inn will be on your right. You can now return to your transport.
Total distance 5.95 miles
Total ascent 608 feet
Total descent 606 feet
Max Height 339 feet
Min Height 8 feet
Terrain: Some of this walk is on the coast path and some in the rural hinterland. The latter can be muddy in wet periods. There is a single significant (1:10) climb near the end of the walk.
Start: Park considerately in Burton Bradstock. OS Reference SY487895. Postcode DT6 4QS.
How to get there: From any direction it’s probably easiest to go via Bridport then stay on the A35 then take Burton Road (B3157 marked as Jurassic Coast Road to Weymouth via Abbotsbury)
Maps: OS Explorer OL15 (Purbeck & South Dorset) and Landranger 194 (Dorchester & Weymouth) AND 193 (Taunton & Lyme Regis)
Refreshments: Three Horseshoes and Anchor Inn in Burton Bradstock and The New Inn in Shipton Gorge on route and the Hive Beach Café if you extend the route in Section 1.
