In the 2025 Easter break, we finally (after decades of living in the UK) went holidaying to Dorset, a place we had heard of many times but never visited as it was just next door to London. And to be honest, I wasn't expecting much. So I was happy to be surprised.
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| Lulworth Cove |
Dorset is gorgeous. It's got beautiful seaside beaches and coves, charming villages and stunning countryside hikes. And the greenery in spring was delightful. All in all, a great place close to London to explore whenever the weather and time allows.
Reaching Corfe Castle
The first day was supposed to be quite rainy in Dorset, so we took it easy, left a bit late and spent most of our time on the drive from London, with some stops on the way. London felt so empty (and therefore gorgeous) when we were leaving, maybe because everyone had left early already. Overall the drive was very relaxed, mostly through small towns and villages, driving past local pubs with quaint names on the way. Ah, so English!
We first stopped at Winchester, a cute little English town. We walked around the high street which had many local shops, selling some very good stuff. Looking at these shops, the town felt quite posh. We even found a Korean shop to buy some stuff from. The street was quite active and full of people. We had lunch at the Ivy Brasserie in the high street and it was fun to observe all the passersby. The food was tasty too.
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| Winchester Cathedral |
Then we visited the famous Winchester Cathedral, it was magnificent from the outside (even in the rain). Inside, the roof was stunningly painted and felt higher than other churches. We also attended the Good Friday service at the cathedral, and it felt quite spiritual to be there on such a holy day. The whole town felt so leisurely, we would have loved to explore it more except it started pouring and we left soon after.
The drive after was mostly through small country roads, lined with wild yellow flowers all along. We reached our village, Corfe Castle late evening and were impressed by our first view of Corfe Castle, an old castle now in ruins but still standing tall, perched on top of the hill overlooking the village. The first view was so impressive, as we turned a corner, and saw the ruins on top, with all the bright green and stone houses below.
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| View from airbnb |
We were living in an airbnb in the village with a direct view of the castle. It was such bad weather that day that after reaching, we didn't get out at all, just lazed inside. Admiring the views of the castle from the cosy indoors, while it was pouring outside.
In the evening we did somehow venture out for dinner. There were five pubs in this small village and we assumed they would have space. We walked to three of them but they were all fully booked or not serving dinner!! Finally we ate at the Fox Inn, a small historic pub, 500 years old. It was made of stone even on the inside, and had a nice cosy charm to it. The food was English, so we didn't have much to say about it 😂. The village also looked so cute, with all its old stone buildings lining the roads, it was quite picturesque.
Along the Jurassic Coast
The next morning started out rainy but then the sun came out and everything became gorgeous though still windy and cool. We woke up to a stunning view of the castle with the sunlight lighting it up in the morning.
The next day we spent exploring (a small part of the) Jurassic Coast. The Jurassic Coast is the name given to about 150 km of the Dorset seacoast with its many picturesque coves and villages. We first drove to Durdle Door which is generally used as a symbol for the Jurassic Coast. The drive till there was lovely. With rolling green hills and yellow gorse flowers covering all those hills. (These yellow flowers were present everywhere, and in full bloom. Shrubs after shrubs covering all the landscape, in its bright yellow, it's difficult to miss it). We also drove past some military firing ranges. It was lovely to be in the sun driving through such a stunning landscape.
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| Beach from top |
The Durdle Door parking was full of people! We also saw many groups of Indian tourists there, it seems to be a very popular place back home (I checked later, many Bollywood songs have been shot at this location already). We walked down the hill towards the Door and came across two beaches on both sides of the hilltop. The view from the top was magnificent.
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| Durdle Door |
We then chose one and walked down to the pebble beach to get a view of the Durdle Door up close. And it was impressive. The beach was a pebble beach, but the water was amazing, it had a stunning turquoise green colour. It was cold but not that much, it would have been possible to swim if we had come prepared.
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| Hike to Lulworth Cove |
After Durdle Door, we hiked back up and then walked along the coast towards Lulworth Cove - the next place to visit along the Jurassic Coast. It was a short hike but offered such magnificent views of the green valleys along the sea coast. With small houses on the hills, bright green grass, wildflowers and wild birds. And some white chalk cliffs along the sea. It was a bit windy, but completely sunny, which made the walk enjoyable.
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| At the restaurant |
Lulworth Cove was crowded and full of cars filling the whole parking area, all along the valley and even up one hillside. There were many restaurants and shops there. And a lot more activity too. We also saw a Telugu tv star there with his girlfriend! We decided to have our lunch there, at this pretty little restaurant called Lulworth Lodge. They serve seafood and had an out door space in the sun, overlooking the cove. It was so fun to sit there enjoying the warm sun and views of the cove.
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| Lulworth Cove |
After lunch, we walked towards the cove. It was a stunning place, blue waters surrounded by golden sand, and full of people kayaking, fishing and doing other watersports. There were also some oyster farms there, because of which it didn't smell good. We walked up the hill there, to a viewpoint from where one could get a 360 degree view of the cove and beyond. The colours from the top were magical, blue-green water, fresh green grass, yellow sand and flowers, white houses, and the blue sky. It was quite a picturesque scene.
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| Weymouth waterfront |
We then hiked back to the Durdle Door parking and drove onwards towards the seaside town of Weymouth, skipping all the other spots on the way as it was already late. In Weymouth, we walked on the beach, the waterfront, and then in the city centre. The waterfront and beach was quite empty, though there were some fairs happening on the beach.
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| Weymouth waterfront |
The market was also quite cute, and full of restaurants. After trying a few place which were all booked, we finally found space at Aron Thai and had a very spicy meal after the rather bland food of the previous few days. Walking around the town centre was fun too, it was so simple and active. The drive back to our village was quite boring though, as it was dark outside and we could not see much.
Hike to Swanage
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| Purbeck hike |
The next day we hiked all the way from Corfe Castle to the coastal town of Swanage. It was the day with the most spectacular views though I have the fewest words to describe the day. It just had to be experienced to be understood.
We started our day exploring our village - it was brimming with people that morning. We walked into the local church and chatted with some locals. We saw the castle from different angles. Then we started our hike going up the Purbeck Ridge and walking all the way along the hills till we reached the coast. It was a 12 km hike and we took around 4 hours to walk across.
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| Corfe Castle |
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| Corfe Castle |
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| Purbeck hike |
The views of the valleys were magnificent, of farms and villages and wildflowers everywhere. And we could also see the towns of Poole and Swanage from the top. It was such a refreshing walk, just walking in the sun among all the greenery. We did get a bit lost and for the last part of the hike, we ended up walking on the main roads rather than the trail.
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| Swanage |
When we reached Swanage, the first view in town was of the beach. Which was quite empty. It had got windy by then, so we didn't stop there for long. Swanage felt like a typical coastal British village, with a beach and waterfront, and lots of restaurants on the beach. We walked through the high street but somehow, it felt quite a dull place that day. So dull and gray. As it had got windy and cold by then, we decided not to spend too much time there. So we had a quick lunch at the Corner Mediterranean restaurant and left soon.
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| In the bus back |
We came back to Corfe via buses which run all across the coast during tourist season (we took the No.40 bus). The drive back was quite mesmerising, through some picturesque stone-built villages on the hills around. Back in Corfe, that evening we finally were able to find a dinner reservation at a local pub called The Castle Inn. So we had a cosy dinner there chatting with some other tourists who were in town for a week, wishing we had also come for longer.
London via New Forest
And very soon it was time to leave. We took a longer route to come back, stopping at a few places on the way. We first took a ferry to cross over to Sandbanks and drove that way. We stopped at Poole town and walked along the waterfront. It was quite pleasant to be there.
We also realised later that this is the town which has Millionaires Row, a street with some of the most expensive houses in the UK! Somehow many rich people have all congregated in this small town on the south coast of England. And for sure, the whole area had somehow felt so posh. We could see some of these lavish houses even while driving around in town. I was quite surprised by how we had never heard of this place before.
After that, we drove through New Forest, a large woodland area not far from London. It had started raining by then though, so we couldn't explore it much. We had lunch at New Forest Inn, a local restaurant with an outdoor space within the forest. We sat outside for lunch and loved being surrounded by nature.
While driving back from there, we stopped for a short walk at one spot. There were so many wild horses in that area. We walked into the woods, just for a while. The whole area was full of the gorse flowers, and high trees. The yellow flowers were everywhere on this trip - apparently they are an invasive species which have spread in vast areas.
After this short stop, we continued on our drive, reaching London by 7 pm, with a plan to visit Dorset again, given it's so close to London!
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