A proper destination walk rather than a passing-through spot — the ramparts give genuinely good views and there's enough history to make it interesting beyond the dog-walk itself. Dogs need to stay on the lead throughout, particularly late February to August when ground-nesting birds and grazing livestock are both around.
One of Dorset's best-known Iron Age hillforts, its triple ramparts enclosing 18 hectares on a chalk hilltop between Wimborne and Blandford, with a Bronze Age barrow cemetery inside and a Roman road running straight past. An avenue of beech trees, planted by the Bankes family of nearby Kingston Lacy, lines the old drove road alongside it. The National Trust manages the site for its ground-nesting birds and orchid-rich grassland.