The Dorset walk – Bloxworth-Woolsbarrow Fort
Published in February ’19
This route takes in mixed landscapes of deciduous and coniferous woodland, heaths, fields and Woolsbarrow Fort. It is largely flat with a few mild slopes. There is a good chance of seeing deer, plenty of squirrels and other wildlife.
The tracks and paths are pretty good underfoot
There is earthwork evidence of human activity dating back millennia
Bere Lodge
1 Head back down the cul-de-sac passing St Andrews Church on your left followed by the Bloxworth Village Club and Memorial Hall. When you reach the road continue straight ahead in the direction of East Bloxworth passing a small thatched, red brick structure on your left that looks like a bus stop. Keep going and pass Bloxworth Lodge on your right. You will come to a wide grass verge on the right of the road and some telegraph wires. Along the verge there is a footpath marker indicating a footpath next to a large oak tree. Follow this narrow earth path keeping the hedge on your right. The path leads to a gap in a hedge into another field with a short wooden bridge. Go over this. Although the map would indicate a diagonal route across the field to the bottom corner there is a path immediately left with a hedge on your left. Follow this down to a wood, turn right and walk down a gentle slope keeping the wood on your left. At the end of the wood is a wooden railing and wooden footbridge. Turn left here and go over the footbridge and follow an earth footpath keeping the wood on your left with an open field on your right. The path leads to some houses on your right and a hard track. Keep going until the track meets another. Turn right here and keep following a stony/earth track. It bends to the left, with a track ahead blocked by a tree trunk. Keep following around to the left. You will pass a large, white thatched house on your left before passing on your left some more buildings. Keep going until you soon reach the A35.
2 Go straight over the A35 onto a wide track and soon you will cross a bridge over water and almost straight after the track splits into two separate ones. Take the right hand one. Soon it curls round to the right and there is a metal barrier. Before the barrier is a narrow earth footpath up a short slope – take this. Keep going and it leads through mixed deciduous woodland and pines. Woolsbarrow Fort should appear on the horizon. The path meets a broader stone/gravelled track-turn left here in the direction of the fort. Ignore any turnings until the track approaches the fort where it splits into two paths; take the right fork. Almost immediately it becomes a path which forks again, take the right fork and continue with the fort on your left. Follow the path and as you are starting to leave the fort the path meets a broad earth track. Turn left here and keep going. After a distance the track splits into three with a left and right turn; keep going ahead on the middle track heading for some power lines. Keep going under the power lines and the track gets grassier but stays broad. The track gets more indistinct and grassy but keep following and you will see a wood ahead of you and the track leads to a car park.
3 Turn right on reaching the car park and you will see a road. Turn left here and walk along the road and after about 40 yards you will go over a bridge with small brick walls on either side of it. Immediately after the bridge is a right turn down a track, take this. You will see buildings/houses ahead – and in the middle between them a grass track with a hedge either side – follow this. This track is flanked by rhododendrons and continues like this for some distance. Eventually the rhododendrons peter out and you will start seeing pine forestry. Keep going straight ahead ignoring any turnings to the right or left. Keep going and pass the turning for Trent Farm on your left followed by left turnings to The Barn and Hyde Beeches. The track curls around to the right, keep following and pass open fields on your left. The track becomes hard and you will see a wooden fence in a hedge on your left. The track meets a road on a bend. Turn right here and almost immediately you will see a broad gravelled track entrance and Bere Lodge. Follow the track passing Bere Lodge on your right. The track briefly becomes a path that leads to a metal barrier. Go round this and the path meets a gravelled track. Turn left here heading for some power lines. Keep going and there is a convergence of tracks; ignore any left or right options and keep straight ahead. You will reach a staggered crossroads, a track to the left and a rougher grassier track to the right.Ignore them and keep straight ahead. You will then reach a metal barrier and a small car park next to the road.
4 Cross the road and follow a broad gravelled track that soon bends round to the right. On the bend is a grassy opening on the left and a grassy/earth path, follow this. You will meet the A35 again. Cross it and follow the road back to Bloxworth. You will see the brick and thatched structure ahead of you. Turn left here and follow the road back to your car.
Distance: About 6.6 miles.
Terrain: Forest trails and gravelled tracks. Not much in the way of climbs and descents. Normally good going underfoot unless following sustained periods of rain.
Start: Park considerately in the cul-de-sac opposite village church in Bloxworth.
Maps: OS Explorer 118 (Shaftesbury & Cranborne Chase, South Sheet), OS Landranger 194 (Dorchester & Weymouth) and OS Landranger 195 (Bournemouth & Purbeck).
Refreshments: None on route
