Lie of the Land

Above: Looking out towards Toller Porcorum

Above: Marshwood and Powerstock Vales

Above: Mangerton River near Mangerton

Above: An example of a sunken footpath

Above: The harbour at West Bay

Above: Golden Cap, seen from Seatown

Above: Looking towards Thorncombe Beacon and West Bay

The recent TV mini-series by journalist Piers Morgan on the millionaire lifestyles of the residents of the Sandbanks peninsula could have made Dorset seem like a place available only to the rich and famous. In four years’ time, it will be intriguing to see how the county is portrayed in its role as the sailing venue for ‘London 2012’.

But say the word ‘Dorset’ to most people and the mental image conveyed is unlikely to be of either Britain’s Cote d’Azur, or of a world-famous yachting centre; far more likely it would be of miles of some of the finest coastline in Britain, of thatched cottages and picture-postcard villages, and of rolling, unchanging, unspoiled landscapes.

Dorset boasts an amazing variety of scenery, but according to the Countryside Agency, now Natural England, contains 10 Landscape Character Areas: locations that carry a distinctive ‘sense of place’ and which are far more than single landscapes. Of these, perhaps the one that most closely meets the rural idyll envisaged by someone new to the county might be Marshwood and Powerstock Vales.

Set completely within the county boundary (half of Dorset’s Landscape Character Areas run into neighbouring counties), Marshwood and Powerstock Vales are remote enough from the nearest ‘conurbations’ to have remained largely undeveloped, giving the area a feeling that time has largely passed it by.

What little significant change that has happened has occurred in the relatively low-key urban settlement of Bridport that now extends from Bradpole in the north to West Bay on the coast.

West Bay is at the mouth of the River Brit, the place where this short river that spent most of its life in the Powerstock Vale ends its journey; the Marshwood Vale, further to the west, being the home of the even shorter River Char.

Both rivers rise in the many hills that surround the two Vales; indeed, the two river mouths represent possibly the most notable breaks in a ring of high ground that includes some of the best-known and charismatic hills in Dorset.

Whether inside the Marshwood and Powerstock Vales Landscape Character Area, or just on the boundary, the hills leading north from Charmouth start most notably with Coney’s and Lambert’s Castles, before swinging east to take in Dorset’s highest point at Pilsdon Pen, some 908 feet above sea level. Breaking the run of Iron Age hillforts with stunning views across the Vales, is the wooded Lewesdon Hill. Next, there is a succession of worthy, if lower peaks, before perhaps the very best location from which to drink in the atmosphere of the Marshwood and Powerstock Vales, especially with the setting sun as a companion: Eggardon Hill.

And it is not as if the peaks end at the sea, with the circle back to Charmouth from West Bay taking in such memorable landmarks as Thorncombe Beacon and Cain’s Folly; sandwiched between them the highest sea cliffs on the whole of the south coast at Golden Cap. The 618-feet rise from sea level below is impressive enough, but this mighty coastal feature earns its name from the Upper Greensand top to its foundation of Lias clay cliffs, in one location summarising the geology of the area most effectively.

Within the Marshwood and Powerstock Vales themselves, hills are far from rare; indeed they are an essential component of the area. Many are characteristically domed in shape, with the aptly-named Round Knoll, near Mangerton, undoubtedly less well-known than the sparsely pine-topped Colmer’s Hill, that looks benignly down on shoppers walking along West Street in Bridport.

Journeys through some of the most undulating ground in the Vales can be wonderful experiences in their own right, along narrow lanes cut deep into the surrounding hills that result in travel times more typical of an urban environment. If out walking in this area you’ll probably also experience the many sunken footopaths so typical of this area. Away from the only two ‘A’ roads that serve the Vales, a new surprise can be possible around any corner, such as that relatively rare landscape feature in Dorset: the commercial orchard.

Of course, even in these vales, apple-growing is small business, with farm incomes reliant instead on arable crops in the Brit valley, although more widely, extensive pasture supports both sheep flocks and beef herds. Sheep are typically found on the more open, steep slopes, and cattle within the well-ordered network of fairly even-sized meadows that abound, each one surrounded by thick hedges that support many mature trees. One of the best locations from which to admire the characteristic field systems of the Vales is from the summit of Golden Cap, looking out over the deserted village of Stanton St Gabriel.

Woodland is scattered and largely confined to narrow strips along river valleys, or to the steep slopes of some hills. For more level strolls, the conifer plantation at Langdon Hill, west of Chideock, stands out, as well as the wonderful, broadleaved woodland at Prime Coppices in the Marshwood Vale, through which bridleways pass.

Nothing seems to have grown overly large within the Marshwood and Powerstock Vales, so it is no surprise that the patchwork of land uses has been supported by a network of small farms, hamlets and small villages. Size doesn’t matter, though, when each settlement seems to be more attractive than the last, even if the Countryside Agency describes the lovely thatched cottages of the area as built of ‘local rubbly limestones and sandstones’.

Where money was less constrained, beautiful manor houses were built across the Vales, again never the largest in the county, but undoubtedly some of the finest that might include Parnham and Mapperton within a particularly long and outstanding list.

Marshwood and Powerstock Vales is a Landscape Character Area that has stunning features such as thatched, stone cottages, neat fields with thick, mature hedges, and bubbling streams under woodland canopies, which collectively are of the highest quality.

So, to choose the ‘best in breed’ is not easy, but maybe within this timeless area, ‘the farm that time forgot’, Kingcombe Meadows Nature Reserve at Lower Kingcombe, is as good as it gets, with its flower-rich meadows some of the finest in England.