Jubilee Trail
1995 was the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the Ramblers Association, and to celebrate, each of the Areas forming the national organisation undertook a special project. Dorset chose to create and launch a 90 mile (145km) route across the county – The Jubilee Trail – which was opened on 24 September 1995.
The Dorset Jubilee Trail runs from Forde Abbey, on the Somerset border in the west, across Dorset to Bokerley Dyke in the north-east, on the Hampshire border. The route was compiled and surveyed in the summer of 1994, by members of the RA from each of the four groups in the County whose catchment areas it runs through*. The aim was to avoid existing trails and popular rights of way, and to seek out the little known and little used paths in order to open them up for all to enjoy. The Trail winds through quiet villages, passing rural churches, and offers extensive views over the rolling downs and secret valleys that make Dorset so special.

*The North Dorset section runs from Milton Abbas, north-east to Chettle.
‘The Dorset Jubilee Trail – A Rambler’s Guide’ (ISBN 978-1-906494-10-0) £5.50
can be purchased from:
The Jubilee Trail Contact, 19 Shaston Crescent, Dorchester, DT1 2EB (plus P&P of £1.00)
or from Blandford Forum TIC.

All profits from the sale of the Guide Book go towards the maintenance of the Trail, improvements to the furniture and the revision and reprinting of the Guide Book.

The Trailway

The North Dorset Trailway runs along the route of the old Somerset and Dorset Railway line and takes you through some picturesque villages of the Blackmore vale. The old railway line provides an ideal route for a Trailway as it links many of North Dorset's towns and villages.

The sections you can currently visit take you through some of North Dorset's spectacular countryside, towns and villages with views of Hambledon Hill and the meandering River Stour.

The trail runs along a flat, surfaced 2-metre wide track suitable for push chairs/ wheel chairs, horses, bicycles and walkers.

Map information: OS Explorer series 117,118,129

Wessex Ridgeway

Starting at Ashmore on the Dorset / Wiltshire border, the Dorset section of this route meanders across chalk downland and river valleys, over ancient hill forts down through rolling farmland to the sea at Lyme Regis. The trail forms part of the Great Ridgeway, an ancient highway that was once an important trading route between the Devon and Norfolk coasts. Today this ancient highway provides the backbone to several recreational trails in southern England.

We ‘host’ the section of this route from where it enters the County in Ashmore, and heads in a generally South-Western direction, until it leaves us at Hilton.

The landscape is predominantly Chalk Downland, Greensand Ridge and Clay Vale. The majority of the route follows the top of the ridge, on hard surfaced tracks, but there are some sections which are steep particularly where you drop down into the chalk valleys and back up again. The remainder lies within sunken lanes or on pastoral and arable fields.

The trail is signed using the Wyvern, a two-legged dragon, associated with the ancient kingdom of Wessex.

Stour Valley Way

The Stour Valley Way attempts to follow the route of the River Stour from it’s source just over the border in Wiltshire at Stourhead (where else?) to the sea at Christchurch. Our section enters the County at Bourton, and the route then meanders through mud and meadows, along roads and over hills, to leave us at Tarrant Crawford.