Dog-friendly walks in Blandford Forum

The Milldown and the Stour, Blandford

A four-mile two-hour circuit out of the Georgian town over the species-rich chalk grassland of the Milldown, down to the Stour and back along the river past Bryanston woods, with 120 metres of climb on mown grass, stony track and riverside path. Easy underfoot, though the meadow section floods in winter. Start from the Marsh and Ham car park by the bridge in Blandford, pay and display, several hundred spaces and rarely full; the Milldown is a fifteen-minute walk uphill from it. The Milldown is a Dorset Council nature reserve where the grassland is grazed and mown for orchids, so leads across the sward when stock are in, but the river path gives easy shallow access for a swim below the bridge.