This is a lovely, solitary Dewlish circular walk in Dorset. Ever-changing scenery from woodlands to broad fields, and plentiful hills, but none of them very long, or very steep, making for an easy-going route through the folded Dorset National Landscape
When we visited Dewlish to capture the ‘now’ shots for this month’s Then & Now feature, we were so struck with the quiet peace of the surrounding countryside that we opted to return for this month’s hike, plotting a route that circumnavigates the village. Half way between Dorchester and Blandford, Dewlish sits comfortably in the valley through which the Devil’s Brook runs. The landscape here is just as folded up as the rest of rural Dorset – like someone crumpled up the tablecloth – but the hills are not so steep as those in the west of the county, nor so high as those in the north or south, making this a lovely, not-too-taxing afternoon’s hike.
At the start point there is a wide verge which has space enough for two or three cars (do be careful not to block any gates). Failing that, park in the village itself and join the route at the nearest point.
The vast majority of the route follows bridleways, and navigation is very simple – much of it felt like ancient green lanes. A field or two had been planted and the farmer hadn’t left a path clear – we simply watched the app and stuck carefully to the public route.
Unusually for us, there is a fairly length road section: however it’s a very quiet back lane, and only one car passed us on the whole length.
As you walk along Pound Lane at the back of Dewlish on the final mile of the route, you come to a junction of field entrances and tracks. A bridlepath takes off to your right (not yours), a footpath to the left (also not yours) and you are faced with two potential tracks: take the right hand one, going straight on (we had to duck under a rope) and NOT the one that veers left and down towards the river!
Each month in The BV Magazine, we share a new Dorset walk through the beautiful countryside, under our ‘Take a Hike’ series. We walk and create every route ourselves — you can explore all our previously published Dorset Walks here, plus many more personal routes with downloadable GPX files on our OutdoorActive profile here.
We’d love to hear your feedback if you try one — and don’t forget to send us your photos!
All images © Laura Hitchcock.
