The best-equipped and easiest option in this whole area — wide, well-maintained tracks, several car parks and genuine variety — but it's also the busiest, and dogs need to stick to the main tracks for the sake of the forest's woodlarks and nightjars. Like much of the Purbeck heaths, tracks can close in dry spells if wildfire risk spikes — Wareham Forest itself lost over 220 hectares to fire in 2020, so it pays to check before a summer visit.
The main body of Wareham Forest, a Forestry England site of open heathland and conifer plantation immediately north of Wareham town, with car parks at Sika Trail, Woolsbarrow, Stroud Bridge and Sugar Hill and a network of surfaced and unsurfaced tracks, including the 7-mile Sika cycle trail and shorter Woodlark walking route.