Walk · Dorset

The Milldown and the Stour, Blandford

Blandford Forum

4MILES

2hON FOOT

120mCLIMB

CircularSHAPE

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

Off-road 80% 20% shares tarmac with cars

Field & moor path 48%Lane & track 32%Road with traffic 20%

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

Marsh and Ham car park by the Stour bridge, Blandford Forum

Parking

Pay and display, several hundred spaces and seldom full; free after 6pm and the closest car park to the river path

Directions to the start →

A four-mile two-hour circuit out of the Georgian town over the species-rich chalk grassland of the Milldown, down to the Stour and back along the river past Bryanston woods, with 120 metres of climb on mown grass, stony track and riverside path. Easy underfoot, though the meadow section floods in winter. Start from the Marsh and Ham car park by the bridge in Blandford, pay and display, several hundred spaces and rarely full; the Milldown is a fifteen-minute walk uphill from it. The Milldown is a Dorset Council nature reserve where the grassland is grazed and mown for orchids, so leads across the sward when stock are in, but the river path gives easy shallow access for a swim below the bridge.

THE SMALL PRINTThe Milldown is a local nature reserve of chalk grassland managed by grazing and mowing for its orchids: dogs on leads when stock are on the reserve and to the marked paths in the flowering season.

House rules, decoded

Off-lead allowed

Livestock — leads on

REGION · DORSET

GRID · 50.8582, -2.1615

SOURCE · HTTPS://DORSET-NL.ORG.UK/LOCATION/MILLDOWN/

The Milldown and the Stour, Blandford

House rules, decoded

Beaton‘s TeaRoom

Brasserie

Costa

Cottages you can book near Blandford Forum

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