Jurassic coast - Tyneham

The majestic Dorset coast Jurassic coast is Famous Five territory, especially on a gorgeous December day between Christmas and New Year, although a picnic of crab sandwiches, plum cake and lashings of ginger beer might not be so romantic under a cold, crisp sky. This is the land of Lulworth Cove, Durdle Door and military gunnery ranges, perhaps mixed in with the odd cream tea. Poole or Bournemouth are good bases to explore this area. If you take a ride out from Poole towards Swanage, and turn right at Corfe Castle, an ethereal spot in its own right, where you have to resist the temptation to imagine legions of medieval knights storming the castle slopes, narrow country lanes take you into the heart of Jurassic coast territory, where majestic cliff scenery vies with isolated villages, quiet green valleys and an extensive military training area. Because the military use this area for live firing, you have to take your opportunity when they open up the ranges to the general public. Fortunately today all is accessible.

A minor road takes you up and down through the valley for a few miles until a tiny lane slips off the main route down to the left to Tyneham, a ghost village hidden in the valley scooped out down towards the sea, and surrounded by rollicking hills and undulating cliff scenery. This is all part of the Lulworth  military firing ranges so you can only go in when the gate is open at the top of the lane. A sign tells me that it will close at 5pm, so careful timing is necessary if you're planning a long walk, unless you want to sleep in your car for the night.

The lane snakes down the valley until you reach a dead end with a large car park to the left which on a great day such as when I went is brimming with punters. There is a recommended two pound donation parking fee. To the right you find the abandoned village, complete with schoolhouse, church, row of cottages, and sundry other buildings. The village was taken over in 1943 during the Second World War and the villagers evacuated on the understanding that they would be able to return one day, but it never happened as a compulsory purchase order was placed on the land by the army in 1948. This is a sad story as quite a fight was put up to restore the village to its owners, but the fight was lost.

Many of the old cottages have lost their roof and the walls are crumbling, but the church and schoolhouse are still complete. Each building has a display board explaining the history of the farm labourers, tradesmen and assorted personages and their families, complete with black and white photos. The schoolhouse is decked out as if the children have just stepped out into the playground on some 1930s morning break and left all their schoolbooks open on the desk. Ancient wall posters from the nineteenth century explain things like weights and measures.

This valley would have been their world in the thirties, a quiet backwater at the heart of what was the British Empire. Here their lives would have been much more entwined with nature, a direct link with the soil, the sea and the flora and fauna of coastal Dorset. Obviously far less sophisticated and savvy than children today, on the either hand they would have had a much stronger knowledge of the natural world.

A totally romantic looking white and red painted telephone box in front of the row of cottages looks like it belongs on a Christmas card rather than in front of this collection of ruins. The church is still 100% complete and has resisted the ravages of time, perhaps because more effort has been made to conserve it. There used to be a Manor House in the area, but now it's falling down in some local area of woodland. To be honest you couldn't imagine a lovelier spot to live in, surrounded on three sides by gentle hills, and the sea just licking at the heels of the village. It must have been an idyll in its heyday, although life would have been tough.

Talking of the sea, if you walk to the other end of the car park from the village a wide path takes you through to toilets to the left and a well used path to the right down to Worbarrow Bay. This winds for a mile or so down to the sea shore where you can enjoy a picnic or sit on the beach.

For many people this would be enough of a Sunday afternoon stroll, sit down and admire the view with a hamper and a bottle of wine. In front of you is a mound for you to walk up, in fact a little pimple of a promontory jutting out into the sea for you to explore. To the right is the wide sweep of the bay, whilst to both the left and right the shore rises steeply up from the seashore.

For those of a more adventurous bent, you can walk from here to Lulworth Cove, although you'd need to start out early, and mark well the roller coaster route you are about to conquer. The path is well marked, and climbs steeply up to the west from the bay, not for the faint hearted or casual walker, but the views at the top are more than enough of a reward. Once you arrive breathless you can trace the Jurassic coast snaking away towards Portland like the undulating back of a dinosaur, sheer cliffs making for some good camera shots, whilst the fair Dorset countryside falls away to the north, particularly lovely on this cloudless blue sky day. Here at the crest is an old hill fort with display board. In the distance the towers of Lulworth castle can be seen.

One is reminded at all times by notices that this is a military zone with unexploded ordinance buried off the path, so it's wise to keep between the yellow markers as you progress. From the top where the hill fort is situated you can descend another quite steep slope to a bay, and then up another steep slope. At the bay a road snakes inland through military training grounds. Tanks and other armoured vehicles can be seen perched on hillsides. When you reach the top again a path follows the cliff top away to the west. By now my time is running out and I'm wary of arriving back at the car park in darkness and facing a closed gate across the road. The lure of dinner with family far outweighs the prospect of spending the night in a cold car in a ghost village, I shall retrace my steps. In the end I arrived back in plenty of time, there were still a few folk lingering at Worbarrow Bay, and a couple were even heading down to the sea from the car park. 

Give yourself two to two and a half hours to do this itinerary, although I'm not a slow walker. A walk to Lulworth Cove would need a day. Perhaps lashings of plum cake and ginger beer would recuperate you for the journey back!

Incidentally, another spot worth visiting is the Tank Museum. You don't have to be a tank nerd to enjoy this. I never had the Observers book of tanks on my bedside shelf but there's loads here to enjoy. You can get a year ticket for unlimited repeat visits, which I fully intend to take advantage of. Even spending a couple of hours or so there is far too little time to do it justice. The whole place is expansive and modern, with a large, elevated cafe to break your wanderings. I went just after Christmas when not that many people were around, worth bearing in mind.

There is a great exhibition on the history of the tank, which was a British invention which took off in the First World War, taken up by other nations who perhaps forged ahead later. Another exhibition takes you through a mock up of the First World War trenches, with accompanying guns and tanks. Here you can sit in an old tank and hear an interesting talk about what life was like making war in a tank. Interesting facts like the tank's armoury, how the tank managed to turn, and how they used to use shell casings to relieve themselves always pop out. Another exhibition concentrates on how horses were used in battle, so if you've seen Warhorse this should all make sense.

I had a quick look at the large Second World War shed which contains a bewildering number of these giant steel beasts, some of which have become icons. Here is the famous German Tiger tank painted in a sort of matt green colour, perhaps the most iconic of all Second World War tanks. Those Germans certainly knew a thing or two about technology.