Walk · Dorset

Highcliffe Castle and Chewton Bunny

Christchurch · BH23 4LE

3MILES

1h 30mON FOOT

40mCLIMB

CircularSHAPE

The route A-road B-road Lane Track Path Water Woodland

Off-road 75% 25% shares tarmac with cars

Field & moor path 50%Lane & track 25%Road with traffic 25%

Our drawing of the route, over road and path data from OpenStreetMap. It shows where the walk goes and what it goes through. It is not a survey and 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

Highcliffe Castle car park, Rothesay Drive, Highcliffe BH23 4LE

Parking

Pay and display, about 150 spaces with tea rooms and toilets; free on-street parking on Wharncliffe Road five minutes away

Directions to the start →

Three level miles in an hour and a half through the grounds of a Gothic Revival castle, east along the clifftop to the wooded gorge of Chewton Bunny on the Hampshire border, and back inland through Steamer Point woods. Surfaced paths and mown grass, 40 metres of climb, with a long stepped zig zag down to the beach if you want the sand. Park at Highcliffe Castle, pay and display, about 150 spaces, with the tea rooms and toilets on site and free parking on Wharncliffe Road as an alternative. Highcliffe Beach allows dogs all year except between groynes H4 and H8 from 1 May to 30 September, and Friars Cliff between the wave wall and groyne H4 is open all year, so there is legal sand here in August; leads on the clifftop paths and in the castle grounds.

THE SMALL PRINTBCP: no dogs on Highcliffe Beach between groynes H4 and H8 from 1 May to 30 September; the rest of Highcliffe Beach, and Friars Cliff between the wave wall and groyne H4, are open to dogs all year. Dogs must be on a lead on the clifftop footpaths, the zig zags and in the castle grounds.

House rules, decoded

Off-lead allowed

REGION · DORSET

GRID · 50.7400, -1.7055

SOURCE · HTTPS://WWW.BCPCOUNCIL.GOV.UK/BEACHES-AND-SEAFRONT/WHAT-YOU-NEED-TO-KNOW-BEFORE-VISITING-ONE-OF-OUR-BEACHES/WHERE-AND-WHEN-YOU-CAN-BRING-YOUR-DOG-TO-THE-BEACH

Highcliffe Castle and Chewton Bunny

House rules, decoded

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