Places to explore in DorsetEngland · South West England

A Civil-War-slighted skyline ruin above its Purbeck village.

Three brilliant white chalk stacks and stumps at the seaward tip of the Purbeck, marking the eastern start of the Jurassic Coast.

A steep, pretty seaside town on the Devon border, its curving Cobb harbour and blue-clay cliffs the cradle of British fossil-hunting.

Dorset

A hilltop Saxon town famous for Gold Hill, a steep cobbled lane of thatched cottages falling away over the Blackmore Vale.

Dorset

Britain's largest chalk giant — a 55-metre club-wielding figure on the hill above Cerne Abbas, of much-argued age.

Europe's largest Iron Age hillfort, ramparts intact.

The limestone sea arch that defines the Jurassic Coast.

Near-perfect circular bay scooped from folded limestone.

The only English hill figure carrying a rider — King George III on horseback — cut above Weymouth in 1808.

National Trust island in Poole Harbour where red squirrels survive, with a wader-filled lagoon, woodland paths and the first Scout camp site

2.1 km²

A remote horseshoe cove ringed by high, fossil-rich cliffs on the wild south Purbeck coast, reached only on foot.

A wide, empty crescent of shingle and cliff below the abandoned Tyneham valley, open only when the Lulworth ranges are quiet.