Our verdict
A proper destination for a leg-stretch with a view — the marked circular route allows off-lead exercise, which is a rare treat on downland this good. Stick to the waymarked loop and keep dogs on a lead elsewhere, since ground-nesting skylarks and meadow pipits nest here through spring and summer.
A 64-hectare sweep of chalk downland, scrub and woodland above Compton Abbas, bought by public subscription in memory of Thomas Hardy to protect the Blackmore Vale landscape his novels described. It's one of the richest wildflower sites in Dorset, with nine orchid species and 35 recorded butterflies, and forms part of the largest contiguous block of National Trust-owned chalk downland in the county.