Walk · Dorset

Stanpit Marsh

Christchurch

2.2MILES

1h 5mON FOOT

10mCLIMB

CircularSHAPE

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

Off-road 95% 5% shares tarmac with cars

Field & moor path 60%Lane & track 35%Road with traffic 5%

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

Stanpit Recreation Ground car park, off Stanpit, Christchurch

Parking

Free, roughly 50 spaces, with a second free car park at Argyle Road; both small and busy with dog walkers from first light

Directions to the start →

A level 2.2-mile hour round a saltmarsh local nature reserve at the meeting of the Avon and the Stour, with Hengistbury across the water and a bird list that runs past three hundred species. Gravel paths and mown grass, muddy at the creek crossings, and prone to flooding on a spring tide, so wellingtons in winter. Park at the Stanpit Recreation Ground car park off Stanpit, free, about fifty spaces, with a second free car park at Argyle Road; both are small and shared with dog walkers all day. Cattle and ponies graze the marsh, so leads across the grazing and where the reserve signs ask for it, and the creeks are tidal salt water with soft mud on the edges.

THE SMALL PRINTA local nature reserve with grazing cattle and ponies: dogs on leads of no more than 2 metres where the reserve signs request it and past all stock, under BCP’s nature reserve rules. Parts of the marsh flood on spring tides and the creek mud is soft and deep.

House rules, decoded

Off-lead allowed

Livestock — leads on

REGION · DORSET

GRID · 50.7300, -1.7590

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

Stanpit Marsh

House rules, decoded

Alexander Lodge

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