Corfe Common and the castle ridge

A three-mile hour-and-a-half loop over the unimproved common south of the village, up onto the ridge for the postcard view back to the castle, and home down the old drove lanes. Level to gently rolling, 100 metres of climb, on grass and stony lane, wet in the flushes on the common all winter. Start from the National Trust car park on West Street, free to members and pay and display otherwise, about eighty spaces, with the Norden park and ride and the steam railway as the better bet in high season. Ponies and cattle graze the common under commoners’ rights, so a lead across it, and there is no swimming water although the stream at Boar Mill will do for a drink.