Walk · Dorset

Durlston Head and Anvil Point

Swanage · BH19 2JL

3.2MILES

1h 45mON FOOT

130mCLIMB

CircularSHAPE

Off-road 88% 12% shares tarmac with cars

Field & moor path 62%Lane & track 26%Road with traffic 12%

Our drawing of the route — the shape of the walk, not a navigation aid. Carry OS Explorer on the hill. Off-lead information here is what walkers reported or what signage allows — never our advice. Whether and when a dog is off the lead is the owner’s decision and legal responsibility; keep dogs under control near livestock and follow signs on the day.

Starts at

Durlston Country Park car park, Lighthouse Road, above Swanage BH19 2JL

Parking

Paid, £1 per hour up to £3 all day, around 150 spaces; bring coins as the card machine often has no signal, and the park fills on fine Sundays

Directions to the start →

A 3.2-mile hour-and-three-quarter loop round a national nature reserve, past the Great Globe, along the cliff above Tilly Whim Caves to the lighthouse at Anvil Point, then back inland through limestone meadow. Good stone paths and steps, 130 metres of climb, and guillemots on the ledges below from March to July. Start from the Durlston Country Park car park at the top of Lighthouse Road: £1 an hour to £3 all day in winter, coins preferred because the card machine struggles for signal. Cattle graze the meadows with electric fencing when they do, the whole clifftop is unfenced above a big drop, and the park keeps water bowls by the castle and the learning centre with dog treats and bags in the shop.

THE SMALL PRINTDogs must be on a short lead inside Durlston Castle and its gardens, and on a lead or genuinely reliable recall elsewhere: this is a national nature reserve with unfenced clifftops, ground-nesting skylarks and cattle grazing behind electric fences.

House rules, decoded

Off-lead allowed

Livestock — leads on

Water bowls

Treats

REGION · DORSET

GRID · 50.6018, -1.9560

SOURCE · HTTPS://WWW.DURLSTON.CO.UK/DOGS

Durlston Head and Anvil Point

House rules, decoded

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