Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, UK: A Walk to Chapman's Pool

We drove around to the Isle of Purbeck which is a peninsula in Dorset, UK. It was a lovely sunny day so we decided to take the pooch for a good run. On arrival we found out the parking was free. There was an interesting sculpture in the next field. It was very similar to Stonehenge only this was called Woodhenge! One of the locals told us a couple of years ago the landlord of the nearby Square and Compass Inn at Worth Matravers erected the sculpture using old tree trunks. Originally he was told to take it down because he hadn't got planning permission. Someone started an online petition and the planners backed down. Power to the people!

We walked through the gate and followed the footpath across the fields. Even though it was sunny it was quite breezy as well.

The dark clouds look a lot worse in the photo than they actually were.

There were some lovely views of the cliffs at the top and Chapman's Pool, a small cove down below. I didn't go too far to the edge though.

The sheep were quite unconcerned about our presence. In fact, most of them carried on sleeping.

There is a memorial to The Royal Marines up here on Emmetts Hill, with tables and benches made out of slabs of stone. On a less windy day it would be the perfect setting for a picnic.

Right at the bottom near the sea shore there appeared to be some sort of shacks. I'm not sure what they are actually used for.

Along the footpath on top of the cliffs on the Purbeck coast, we came across 3 stones in the lovely stonewall with some wording etched into them.

"Exposed to weather."
"Dark brought to light."
"Between turf and sky."

Apparently, there are 6 in total and are called poetry stones. The stones were put in place by volunteers from Dorset’s branch of the Dry Stone Walling Association. They have been carved by stone mason Anna Bowen with the wording by local poet Paul Hyland.

After our short walk, travelling back to Bournemouth, we decided to take the short cut and use the ferry.