Walk · Dorset

Poole Park lagoon circuit

Poole · BH15 2SF

1.6MILES

45mON FOOT

15mCLIMB

CircularSHAPE

Off-road 55% 45% shares tarmac with cars

Field & moor path 35%Lane & track 20%Road with traffic 45%

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

Park Gates car park, Poole Park, off Kingland Road BH15 2SF

Parking

Pay and display with a free first half hour, several hundred spaces across three car parks inside the park; busy on summer evenings

Directions to the start →

A flat 1.6-mile circuit of the saltwater lagoon in forty-five minutes, all tarmac and mown grass with no climb worth counting, and the harbour on one side and Victorian villas on the other. Start at the Keyhole Bridge or Park Gates car parks, both pay and display and both free for the first half hour, with the park a ten-minute walk from Poole station. Much of the park is off-lead ground with designated free-running areas, but leads are needed round the boating lake and the play areas, and the lagoon water is salt and shallow at the edges. The best of it is the connection: from the seaward side you can walk straight on to Baiter and Whitecliff without touching a road.

THE SMALL PRINTOff lead is fine over much of the park but dogs must be on a lead around the boating lake, play areas and formal gardens, and on leads on the promenades and footpaths under the BCP dog control order.

House rules, decoded

Off-lead allowed

REGION · DORSET

GRID · 50.7148, -1.9790

SOURCE · HTTPS://WWW.BCPCOUNCIL.GOV.UK/PARKS-NATURE-AND-GREEN-SPACES/RULES-TO-FOLLOW-IN-OUR-NATURE-RESERVES/DOGS-ON-LEAD-SEASON-IN-NATURE-RESERVES

Poole Park lagoon circuit

House rules, decoded

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