The Dorset Landscape, October 2020

When my intended Autumn trip to a folly in South Wales fell through thanks to epidemic restrictions I was extremely lucky to find an alternative in Dorset - a flat in the centre of Swanage, not my usual holiday fare but a strange pleasure to sit in the bay window and watch the good citizens of that seaside town go about their business, and then emerge from my secret doorway into the street. Access to the Isle of Purbeck can either be gained by going through Wareham to the west, or via the old chain ferry between Sandbanks and Shell Bay on the east. I chose the latter, for time's sake.

There are several Purbecks. Heathlands of sand and gravel slope towards Poole Harbour to the north of a narrow band of chalk hill - almost a single one, in fact - and then a small strip of fertile farmland separates that from the limestone plateau on the south which finally collapses into the sea. I spent a bit of time walking all of them!

Shipstal Point at Arne felt a bit like Barbados-in-Dorset.

Before the tourists arrived to paddle at Swanage or goggle at the ruins of Corfe Castle, the economy of the limestone area in south Purbeck rested on stoneworking. The landscape is still pitted with the remains of tiny shallow mines, like this one. Men and boys sweated and sometimes died in them. Loads of stone were piled on carts below ground and then winched to the surface by donkeys walking around great wooden windlasses. Heaven help anyone below if the chain broke.

Of course the economy is different now. There are great cruisers moored in Bournemouth Bay at the moment, surreal and slightly terrifying. They have nowhere to go.

This unexpected trip re-acquainted me with places I hadn't seen for decades: some were the same as ever, and others deeply altered, and I'll post about more of them later. Even the same place, of course, can alter significantly depending on the weather, as Ballard Down did on Thursday; on the way out, windblown and rain-shrouded, and on the return journey, bathed in sun (still windy, though).