many day-trippers during holidays. Fine views stretch north across the Bristol Channel and South Wales, with Pen y Fan in Brecknockshire visible on a clear day. The high point is crowned by a cairn erected in September 1935 to commemorate the handing over of Dunkery Hill to the National Trust, as well as a number of Bronze Age burial mounds. Exmoor ponies and herds of red deer are regularly seen on the well-walked approaches to the summit. This walk is particularly lovely in August when the hill is clothed with purple heather and bright yellow Western gorse.
National Trust sign close to the start of the walk
Did you Know?
Famous native
Labour politician Ernest Bevin (1881–1951), foreign secretary between 1945 and his death, was born in Winsford to the south of Dunkery Beacon. Orphaned at six years old, he worked as a farm labourer before moving to Bristol when he was 18.
Interesting fact
The longest of the UK’s long-distance footpaths, the 1014km South West Coast Path, starts (or ends) in Minehead and ends (or starts) on the shores of Poole Harbour in Dorset.
Route
Exit the car park to the W and cross the road. Follow the second of two bridleways on the left. Ascend the wide, stony path in a generally NNW direction to reach the large stone cairn and toposcope atop Dunkery Beacon. ‘Dunkery’ comes from the Old English dun (hill) and the Celtic creag (rocky place); when you reach the summit you’ll see what an appropriate name it is!
Descent
Return by the same route.
Other routes
A multitude of paths criss-cross Dunkery Hill, each giving a different ascent to Dunkery Beacon. The Macmillan Way West long-distance footpath visits the summit, while lengthy ascents can also be made from Exford and Luccombe.
Walkers on the summit of Somerset
4 DORSET
Lewesdon Hill 279m ST 4376 0123
| Location | 4km W of Beaminster |
| Start | Lay-by immediately N of Buck’s Head, off B3162 Bridport–Broadwindsor road, ST 4396 0054 |
| OS map | Landranger 193 (Taunton & Lyme Regis), Explorer 116 (Lyme Regis & Bridport) |
| Difficulty | 2 |
| Enjoyment | *** |
| Distance | 0.6km (1 mile) |
| Ascent | 50m |
| Time | 30–40mins |
For whatever reason, Pilsdon Pen (277m) – a well-known summit 3km west of Lewesdon Hill – was long considered Dorset’s highest point. The debate is now closed: Lewesdon Hill is definitely higher, albeit by a mere 2m. The route described here, through a 200-year-old beech and oak woodland, is best walked in the spring, when the hill’s slopes are carpeted in masses of fragrant bluebells. As the flat top of Lewesdon Hill suggests, it was once the location of an Iron Age hillfort. Similarly, Pilsdon Pen, which is also well worth a visit, was the site of a Roman fort, as was Waddon Hill to the east of Lewesdon Hill.
Bluebell-decked woods on Lewesdon Hill
Did you Know?
Famous native
Tennis player Virginia Wade, who won the singles title at Wimbledon in 1977, was born in Bournemouth. She claimed two other Grand Slam titles during her professional career: the US Open in 1968 and the Australian Open in 1972.
Interesting fact
With an area of 14km2, Poole Harbour lays claims to being the largest natural harbour in the world. Four rivers – the Corfe, the Frome, the Piddle and the Sherford – drain into it.
Route
Walk W along a single-track road towards Higher Brimley Coombe Farm. At the brow of the hill, go through a gate on the right to join a footpath leading onto Crabb’s Hill. Two paths breaking off to the left will soon be met. Follow the second route, which climbs through woodland, steeply at first, before the gradient eases and a National Trust signpost is reached. The way climbs steeply again, partly over a path of exposed tree routes, with a final sharp pull bringing the walker onto the summit plateau. The highest point of Lewesdon Hill, an unmarked grassy protrusion, is roughly half a dozen steps forward of the lip of the plateau.
Descent
Return by the same route.
Woodland on Lewesdon Hill
5 SUSSEX
Black Down 280m SU 9195 2963
| Location | North Downs, 4km SSE of Haslemere |
| Start | Black Down National Trust car park, near Aldworth, SU 9209 3058 |
| OS maps | Landrangers 186 (Aldershot & Guildford) and 197 (Chichester & the South Downs), Explorer 133 (Haslemere & Petersfield) |
| Difficulty | 2 |
| Enjoyment | *** |
| Distance | 3km (1.8 miles) |
| Ascent | 30m |
| Time | 30–45mins |
Perched on the west periphery of Sussex, Black Down is an area of heath and woodland, where tantalising views of the South Downs and Low Weald peep through trees. Black Down was the scene of a major air disaster in 1967 when all 37 people on board a flight bound for Gatwick died when the plane crashed on the hill’s southern slopes. There are numerous paths on Black Down, including one which follows the line of the Sussex border, making route-finding surprisingly tricky. The route described here, starting from close to Aldworth – the former home of the Victorian Poet Laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson – should make locating the summit simple.
