Must-see attractions in Dorset

  • Corfe Castle

    Dorset

    The massive, shattered ruins of Corfe Castle loom so dramatically from the landscape it's like blundering into a film set. The defensive fragments tower…

  • Sunrise behind Durdle Door, on the Jurassic Coast.

    Durdle Door

    Dorset

    Durdle Door is the poster child of Dorset's Jurassic Coast. This immense, sea-fringed, 150-million-year-old Portland stone arch was created by a…

  • KINGSTON LACY, UK - SEPTEMBER 29, 2012: A view toward the country house at Kingston Lacy with landscaped gardens in Summer; Shutterstock ID 1033498075; your: Bridget Brown; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI Image Update

    Kingston Lacy

    Dorset

    Dorset's must-see stately home looks every inch the setting for a period drama. It overflows with rich decor, most famously in the Spanish Room, which is…

  • Clouds Hill

    Dorset

    The tiny cottage that was home to TE Lawrence (1888–1935) provides a compelling insight into a complex man. The British soldier became legendary after…

  • Maiden Castle

    Dorset

    Occupying a massive slab of horizon on the southern fringes of Dorchester, Maiden Castle is the largest and most complex Iron Age hill fort in Britain…

  • Tout Quarry

    Dorset

    Portland's white limestone has been quarried for centuries and has been used in some of the world's finest buildings, such as the British Museum and St…

  • Cerne Giant

    Dorset

    Rarely do you find such a nudge-nudge, wink-wink tourist attraction. Nude, full frontal and notoriously well endowed, this hillside chalk figure is…

  • Dorset County Museum

    Dorset

    The Thomas Hardy collection here is the world's largest, offering extraordinary insights into his creative process. You can see from text in Hardy's…

  • Abbotsbury Swannery

    Dorset

    Every May some 600 free-flying swans choose to nest at this swannery, which shelters in the Fleet Lagoon, protected by the ridge of Chesil Beach…

  • Portland Lighthouse

    Dorset

    For a real sense of Portland's remote nature, head to its southern tip, Portland Bill, to climb the 41m-high, candy-striped lighthouse. It offers…

  • BF16MP The Chained Library housed in The old Treasury of Wimborne Minster church which was established in 1695

    Wimborne Minster

    Dorset

    A monastery was first founded in Wimborne, 10 miles north of Bournemouth, in around AD 705 by St Cuthburga. Most of the present-day Wimborne Minster was…

  • Sherborne Abbey

    Dorset

    At the height of its influence, the magnificent Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin was the central cathedral of 26 succeeding Saxon bishops. Established…

  • Brownsea Island

    Dorset

    On this small, wooded island in the middle of Poole Harbour, trails weave through heath and woods, past peacocks, red squirrels, red deer and a wealth of…

  • Chesil Beach Centre

    Dorset

    This centre at the start of the bridge to Portland, is a great gateway to Chesil Beach. The pebble ridge is at its highest here – 15m compared to 7m at…

  • Lyme Regis Museum

    Dorset

    In 1814 local teenager Mary Anning found the first full ichthyosaur skeleton near Lyme Regis, propelling the town on to the world stage. An incredibly…

  • Sandbanks

    Dorset

    A 2-mile, wafer-thin peninsula of land that curls around the expanse of Poole Harbour, Sandbanks is studded with some of the most expensive houses in the…

  • Sherborne New Castle

    Dorset

    Sir Walter Raleigh began building the impressive Sherborne New Castle in 1594, but only got as far as the central block before being imprisoned by James I…

  • Poole Museum

    Dorset

    The building alone is worth seeing – a beautifully restored 15th-century warehouse. The star exhibit is a 2300-year-old Iron Age logboat dredged up from…

  • Sherborne Old Castle

    Dorset

    These days the epitome of a picturesque ruin, Sherborne's Old Castle was built by Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, in 1120 – Elizabeth I gave it to her one…

  • Lulworth Castle

    Dorset

    A confection in creamy, dreamy white, this baronial pile looks more like a French chateau than a traditional English castle. Built in 1608 as a hunting…

  • Forde Abbey

    Dorset

    Built in the 12th century as a Cistercian monastery, Forde has been a private home since 1649. The building boasts magnificent plasterwork ceilings and…

  • Weymouth Beach

    Dorset

    The nostalgia-inducing offerings along Weymouth's fine sandy shore could see you marvelling at highly skilled sand sculptors, renting a deckchair or…

  • Roman Town House

    Dorset

    The knee-high flint walls and beautifully preserved mosaics here powerfully conjure up the Roman occupation of Dorchester (then Durnovaria). Peek into the…

  • Max Gate

    Dorset

    Novelist Thomas Hardy was a trained architect and designed this attractive house, where he lived from 1885 until his death in 1928. Tess of the D…

  • Stair Hole Bay

    Dorset

    Stair Hole Bay sits just a few hundred metres west of Lulworth Cove. This diminutive semicircle is almost enclosed by cliffs that feature tiny rock arches…

  • Dinosaurland

    Dorset

    This joyful, mini, indoor Jurassic Park overflows with fossilised remains; look out for belemnites, a plesiosaurus and an impressive locally found…

  • Chained Library

    Dorset

    The Chained Library, in Wimborne Minster, was established in 1686 and is stacked with some of the country's oldest medieval books, 12th-century lambskin…

  • Old Wardour Castle

    Dorset

    Six-sided Old Wardour Castle was built around 1393 and suffered severe damage during the English Civil War, leaving these imposing remains. The views from…

  • Cobb

    Dorset

    First built in the 13th century, Lyme's iconic, curling sea defences have been strengthened and extended over the years, and so don't present the elegant…

  • Hardy's Cottage

    Dorset

    This picturesque cob-and-thatch house is the birthplace of writer Thomas Hardy. It features evocative, sparsely furnished rooms and a lush garden. It's in…

  • Town Mill

    Dorset

    An atmospheric, creaking, grinding, 14th-century working watermill. Cafes, art galleries, a jewellery workshop and microbrewery sit alongside.

  • Monkey World

    Dorset

    An appealing sanctuary for rescued chimpanzees, orang-utans, gibbons, marmosets and some utterly adorable ring-tailed lemurs.

  • Shaftesbury Abbey

    Dorset

    These hilltop ruins mark the site of what was England's largest and richest nunnery. It was founded in 888 by King Alfred the Great, and his daughter,…

  • Sea Life

    Dorset

    Highlights include sharks, penguins and seahorses, and talks and feeding demonstrations are held throughout the day. Tickets fall to £14 for adults and …

  • Nothe Fort

    Dorset

    Weymouth’s photogenic 19th-century defences are studded with cannons, searchlights and 30cm coastal guns. Exhibits detail Dorset’s Roman invasion, a…

  • St Martin's on the Walls

    Dorset

    This 11th-century church features a 12th-century fresco on the northern wall, and a marble effigy of TE Lawrence. If it's locked during normal shop hours,…

  • Jurassic Skyline

    Dorset

    A 53m tower which rotates to reveal expansive Jurassic Coast views.

  • Lucetta's House

    Dorset

    Some say this grand Georgian house with ornate doorposts was an inspiration for Thomas Hardy as he imagined the home of the character Lucetta Templeman in…

  • Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre

    Dorset

    The centre has engaging displays about the Jurassic Coast and also runs between one and seven fossil-hunting walks a week (adult/child £8/4). They're…

  • Mayor Of Casterbridge's House

    Dorset

    A red-brick, mid-18th-century building (now a bank) that's named as the inspiration for the home of Thomas Hardy's mayor of Casterbridge, in his book of…

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