Our verdict
Quiet, level heath walking that most people drive past without noticing, and good for reptiles on a warm still morning. The sand scrapes are fragile — keep to the tracks, and dogs on a short lead from March to September.
A 168-hectare remnant of the great east Dorset heath on the edge of Ferndown, and the place where the smooth snake was first found in Britain in 1852. A Site of Special Scientific Interest, with bare sand patches maintained for egg-laying sand lizards.
Open access land — you can roam freely on foot.