Our verdict
A remarkable, wild-feeling landscape and one of the best places in England to see heathland wildlife, but come prepared: grazing animals (including pigs with piglets) roam freely, and dogs must be kept on a lead between March and July and around livestock year-round.
England's largest lowland heath National Nature Reserve, declared in 2020 as a 'super' NNR spanning land from seven different landowners — the National Trust, RSPB, Natural England, Forestry England, Dorset Wildlife Trust, the Rempstone Estate and Amphibian and Reptile Conservation. It stretches from Grange Heath in the west to Studland in the east, supporting Dartford warblers, sand lizards, smooth snakes and free-roaming grazing herds of cattle, ponies and pigs.