Dog-friendly walks in Child Okeford

Hambledon Hill from Child Okeford

A 3.2-mile hour-and-three-quarter climb of the finest iron age hillfort silhouette in Dorset, 200 metres of ascent up a rugged path from the village onto a national nature reserve of terraced ramparts and chalk grassland. Steep, uneven and slippery in the wet, with the spur walk north along the ridge worth the extra half mile. Park in the lay-by south-east of Child Okeford village, which takes only a few cars, so the village hall or on-street in the village is the fallback, with a walk of five minutes to the gate. The reserve is grazed by cattle and sheep to keep the flowers, so a lead is needed throughout, and the rampart ditches are deep and steep-sided with no water anywhere on the hill.