Beautiful Studland Beach provides 3 miles of soft sand from South Haven Point to Old Harry rocks. The National Nature Reserve behind the beach shelters abundant wildlife, including rare birds and reptiles. Naturists, naturalists, sailors, ramblers and dog walkers will enjoy this natural haven, and families have space to relax and play too.

Round the headland is Swanage Bay. Beyond it, Durlston Country Park contains the Great Globe, video links to seabird colonies and the now unmanned Anvil Point lighthouse. Tilly Whim caves, and further on, Dancing Ledge, both hint at Purbeck’s important quarrying past, and as you travel past St Aldhelm’s Head, with its tiny chapel, you cannot fail to be impressed!

Further on, having passed Chapman’s Pool, the drama continues at Houns-tout cliff as a stunning valley runs inland with Swyre Head in the distance.

Towards the west, clay and shale cliffs rise above Kimmeridge Bay, watched over by the 19th century folly, Clavell Tower. The Marine Nature Reserve is full of interest and a visitor centre helps to explain its importance.

In the heart of Purbeck is Wareham, a charming walled market town, on the Rivers Piddle and Frome. It boasts a variety of interesting buildings, from St Martin’s, Dorset’s oldest church to the only gas-lit cinema in Britain, the restored Rex. An important Saxon port, Wareham was often the subject of Viking raids. The river now sustains more peaceful activities including pleasant river bank walks, and scenic boat trips to Poole Harbour.

Nearby is the RSPB reserve at Arne. Even for non-ornithologists, this is a magical area of heath and wetland. It supports many rare birds including the Dartford Warbler, a wide variety of dragonflies and all our native reptile species. Large numbers of deer also collect at the water’s edge.

Purbeck is also tightly bound to the lives of two notable men – Thomas Hardy and T E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia).

Hardy, the poet and novelist, renamed many familiar Purbeck places when they appeared in his novels: Wareham, Swanage and Lulworth Cove became Anglebury, Knollsea and Lulwind Cove, and Egdon Heath represented a wide area of heath land across the heart of Dorset. His novels give powerful descriptions of places which can still be seen, and many dramatic incidents are allied to these. In Tess of the d’Urbervilles, after their disastrous honeymoon night, a sleepwalking Angel Clare carries Tess to an empty stone coffin outside their accommodation at Wellbridge. This was based on Woolbridge Manor, outside Wool, which still stands.

Later in his life, Hardy concentrated on his poetry which often drew inspiration from the beauty and history of the whole of Dorset, and filmmakers continue to use this area to represent Hardy’s Dorset in film.

T E Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, had an extraordinary role in the Arab Revolt in 1916, but opted for relative anonymity later, joining the RAF and the Tank Corps under assumed names. Preferring to be remembered as a writer, he published The Seven Pillars of Wisdom and The Mint. Since his death in a motorcycle accident in 1935, he has become an intriguing myth and still inspires huge interest. His last home, Cloud’s Hill, near Bovington, is open to the public. Several local museums including the Bovington Tank Museum hold Lawrence memorabilia. Other places of interest include Moreton church - notable also for superb and unusual etched glass windows - and Lawrence’s grave in Moreton cemetery.

© Some Images and all Text Copyright Kate Bonfield & David D Williams -PurbeckWordPicture

© Other Images Copyright Ken Ayres Photography - www.viewscenes.co.uk