Each month we turn our focus upon a different county, highlighting some key ancient tree sites and identifying some other places of general interest for tree-lovers. Other than Woodland Trust properties, admission or parking charges apply for many sites, and as access may be prohibited or limited to certain dates or times, it’s always advisable to check with the site owner or with the local Tourist Information Office before making a visit.

This month we turn our attention to the splendidly wild county of Dorset, “far from the madding crowd” on the south coast of England. Its rolling hills, sweeping countryside, breathtaking coastline, sandy beaches and pretty “chocolate box” villages provide a winning combination. Indeed, its mix of archaeological-rich countryside and coastline often bestows upon it the description “best of both worlds”.

The north is dominated by a plain called Blackmore Vale; to the south/south-east lie the Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase, both designated as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and offering great views of the Isle of Wight, the Purbeck Hills and the Mendips; in the east the landscape is low-lying with extensive heathlands; the west tends to be more hilly, with a richer mix of woods and farmland; and to the centre there’s chalk downs, criss-crossed by rivers.

The 140-kilometre stretch of Dorset coastline from the harbour port of Lyme Regis in the west to Christchurch in the east also takes in the popular seaside resorts of Bournemouth, Poole and Victorian Swanage, together with Weymouth, once the haunt of smugglers and pirates. The Jurassic coast – so-called because of its amazing fossil finds - holds World Heritage status, the first such award for any natural site in England. This area begins at Poole Harbour, possibly the world’s largest natural harbour, and then runs along the Purbeck coastline with its countryside-maritime parks and nature reserves. From there, it skirts the barren pebbled beach at Chesil Bank between Weymouth and Bridport.

Evidence of an age gone-by is never far away. Earth barrows, stone circles and ancient hill-forts are quite liberally sprinkled across Dorset. The county town of Dorchester, sometime referred to as “Casterbridge”, is known in particular for its excavated Roman house and for Maiden Hill, which is widely considered to be Europe’s finest and largest Iron Age hillfort. You’ll also find the famous naked, club-wielding Giant hewn into the chalk at Cerne Abbas and the remains of a Saxon Abbey at Shaftesbury, which was founded by Alfred the Great. The historic market town of Sherborne boasts a quite stunning Gothic abbey, not to mention a medieval high street and two castles, one of which Sir Walter Raleigh called home!

Famous characters from English history once frequented this county in a way not seen outside London and the Home Counties. Most notably, one of Britain’s finest writers made his home her. In fact, Thomas Hardy based most of his books in Wessex – Dorset to you and me. You can visit both his birthplace (High Bockhampton) and last residence (Max Gate), thanks to the National Trust. Cloud’s Hill near Bovington, which was once occupied by T E Lawrence, is also preserved by the Trust. Lawrence of Arabia, as he’s more commonly known, was laid to rest in the churchyard at Moreton. Other past Dorset residents include Jane Austen and William Barnes.

If history is not your thing, then there’s plenty of opportunity to get some fresh air, some exercise and some great views. There’s everything here, from long-distance walks and cycle-ways to the more daring outdoor pursuits of windsurfing and rock-climbing. If you prefer to let something else take the strain, then there are numerous horse-riding and boating facilities – not forgetting the slightly more exotic llama-trekking!

So, where might “The Woodlanders” amongst us go to find Dorset’s ancient trees, ancient woodlands and other great treescapes?

Well, the Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase in the south and the east of the county are top areas to explore. There are fine ancient oak and beech woods, especially south of Bulbarrow and on the Chase, which was once a royal hunting forest renowned for deer poaching and for smuggling. Deer are still often visible here today, grazing amongst the stands of hazel coppice.

The Saxon word for wood was holt, so Holt Forest (SU0305) to the north-east of Wimborne is clearly a good place to head! The forest boundaries were once well established, having being recorded during the reign of Edward I as stretching between Mannington, Horton, Uddens and Holt. Owned and managed today by the National Trust and English Nature, this medieval forest lies in an area which contains the Holt Heath National Nature Reserve, one of the county’s largest remaining areas of lowland heath. The woodland of Holt Forest and Holt Wood is predominantly semi-natural ancient oak woodland, though some areas are today dominated by beech. Dense holly thickets are now established at lower levels too, following the demise of grazing. A number of ancient oaks have survived, however; make sure that you look out for the magnificent old pollards which still remain.

Once part of the Royal Duchy of Lancaster, the grand Restoration-style mansion at Kingston Lacy (ST9801) near Wimborne is now managed by the National Trust. Built in the 17th century by Sir Roger Pratt and redesigned in the 19th century by Sir Charles Barry, it was home to the Bankes family for some three centuries. Sir Ralph, like his father Sir John, was a lawyer and a member of parliament, but it was William John, the eccentric “gypsy” of the family and a friend of Lord Byron, who is largely responsible for what remains today. Sadly, William – who even gave the estate its current name - had to flee the country, following an alleged indiscretion with a guardsman, before he managed to finish his lavish plans for the house, contents and estate.

Set in splendid formal gardens and 250 acres of parkland, it’s best known for its collections of art, its Spanish Room and its ancient Egyptian artefacts. The working estate is criss-crossed by many footpaths and is dominated by the nearby Iron Age hill-fort of Badbury Rings. There are way-marked walks across the wooded parkland too. This was once pasture woodland and quite possibly contained a deer-park in the Middle Ages. Today, it is still home to more than 80 ancient oak pollards, as well as a herd of red North Devon cattle. Take note also of the impressive 17th century cedar walk, which includes trees planted by famous visitors including the Duke of Wellington, and which leads to a 17th century lime avenue and Nursery Wood arboretum.

The park at Sherborne Castle (ST6416) was once part of the Blackmore Forest. Sir Walter Raleigh had the castle built in 1594, and it has been the Digby family residence since the early 17th century. In fact, it was King James I that allowed Sir John Digby to purchase the castle in 1617. During Word War I the castle became a Red Cross hospital for wounded soldiers, and in the second World War it was used as the HQ for commandos involved in the D-Day landings.

The interior’s best known for its collections of art, furniture and porcelain, whilst the 90-acre landscaped lakeside gardens and parkland have the unmistakeable stamp of Capability Brown. The lake alone covers some 50-acres, and the ruins of Sherborne Old Castle lie nearby in the midst of the peaceful parkland. Watch out for the surviving ancient oaks and a number of other veteran trees at this location, some of which are visible from the public footpaths which cross the estate. The gardens also include a mighty 18th century Holm oak, a splendid male Gingko biloba, some huge 18th century Lebanon cedars and a quite remarkable Metasequoia (a redwood).

Lulworth Castle Park (SY8582) was first acquired in the 16th century by Thomas Howard, the second son of the second Duke of Norfolk, when he married into the de Newburgh family. It was one of his successors, the 3rd Viscount Blindon, also called Thomas, who restored the deer-park here some years later. He also built the castle in the early 17th century to encourage James I to visit and to hold his royal hunting parties in the Isle of Purbeck. The estate was sold in 1643 to a wealthy Londoner, Humphrey Weld, and this country house set in beautiful parkland remains in the Weld family today. Perhaps disappointingly, the interior was remodelled in several occasions in the 18th and 19th centuries, which removed all traces of the original style. A terrible fire in 1929 virtually gutted the castle, leaving it as a shell for several decades. Restoration work by the Government and English Heritage was only completed in 1998.

The parkland has views to the Channel and includes the Catholic church of St Mary’s dating back to 1786. Tradition holds that permission to build it required that it would not resemble a church. Accordingly, it looks more like a large garden temple! As you wander across the parkland, keep your eyes open for the ancient oak pollards which have survived the ravages of time. Take time too to visit the nearby Heritage Centre and Fossil Forest, where you can see petrified tree stumps from long ago.

Another 16th century parkland property is Melbury House (ST5706) near Evershot. Henry Strangways acquired both the land and the house at that time, and the estate remains in the ownership of the Fox Strangways family (the Earls of Ilchester) today. The house was significantly enlarged and altered in the late 19th century, but the ancient deer-park is maintained today just as it was in 1546, when it was first enclosed. Look here for a number of ancient trees, notably oak and beech pollards. The collection of mature trees in the garden includes an English oak known as Billy Wilkins and several record-breaking specimens. Evershot, by the way, comes from the old English words for boar (eofor) and wood (holt), dating back to a time when the area was even more densely wooded than today and when wild boars were a common inhabitant there. The village also contains a property called Ladymead Farm, which is also known as Tess Cottage – its location exactly matching that of the property where “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” stayed.

The Woodland Trust owns and manages a number of interesting woodland sites in Dorset. Firstly, there’s Duncliffe Wood (ST8222), registered as semi-natural ancient woodland, which is one of the largest areas of woodland in the north of the county and saddles two hilltops. This wood was recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086, became crown property in the 15th century and was subsequently gifted to Eton College and then to King’s College at Cambridge by King Henry IV and Edward VI respectively. Oak and ash still dominate, though some areas were re-planted with conifers. Keep a sharp eye out for the small-leaved lime coppice stools, believed by many to be the oldest living things in Dorset. Visit here too for bluebells in the spring, and look in summer for white admiral, purple hairstreak and silver-washed fritillary butterflies.

Nearby, straddling the Wiltshire border, is Kingsettle Wood (ST8625). It stands in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, some 700 feet above the Blackmore Vale. This is another ancient woodland site but it was replanted in the 1960s, mainly with conifers. There are interesting areas of beech high forest, however, on the ridge top, plus areas of sycamore coppice and plateau alder. Look here too for opposite-leaved golden saxifrage and wood anemones. For great views, visit Allington Hill (SY4593), situated some 250 feet above Bridport in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Within the small area of established woodland at the eastern end, there’s a large mature lime tree, as well as hazel coppice. Fifehead Wood (ST7721) near Shaftesbury is a large area of wet woodland, with several noteworthy old pollarded willows beside the stream and some interesting old hazel coppice. Note the banks and ditches here too, plus the remnants of an osier (willow) bed, which was once cut for baskets and other such products. You may also find hart’s tongue ferns, unusual mosses and sedges, a profusion of bluebells and primroses, and rampaging clematis in this semi-natural ancient woodland site.

Don’t forget to check out the woodland locations managed by the Dorset Wildlife Trust. Here’s a selection of the best. Ashley Wood (ST9204) is a fine example of ancient hazel and ash coppice woodland. Look for oak and ash standards at this location, which also delivers super displays of bluebells and wood anemones. Two other noteworthy ancient woodland sites are Kilwood Coppice & Meadows (SY5197), where you’ll find lowland mixed deciduous woodland, purple moor-grass, rush pastures and ponds, and Powerstock Common (SY5497) with its coppiced areas, grassland, hedge-banks, ponds and even an old brick kiln! Marsh fritillary and wood white butterflies are found here, and you may see wild daffodils, bluebells, herb paris, bee orchids, sneezewort and devil’s bit scabious. If you’re really lucky, you might spot the roe and fallow deer! Bracketts Coppice (ST5107) combines wood pasture, hay-meadow and deciduous woodland, whilst the steeply sloped, mixed deciduous woodland of Holway Woods (ST6320) offers some super views. There are two typical areas of Dorset oak woodland and hazel coppice worthy of mention too: firstly Girdlers Coppice (ST7913) and secondly the delightfully named Piddles Wood (ST7912), both of which are known for their rich ground flora and butterflies.

At Greenhill Down (ST7903) you’ll find some fine mature tree specimens, as well as the restored dew pond and some impressive chalk down-land, and there are more mature trees in the area of Kingcombe Meadows (SY5599), which includes a number of ancient green lanes and ancient hedgerows. Keep an eye out on the marked nature trail for interesting grasses, lichen, herbs and fungi! Lastly, for something entirely different, pay a visit to the boardwalks and bird-hides at Brownsea Island (SZ0287), where you’ll find alder and sallow carr woodland as well as a huge saltwater lagoon, freshwater reedbeds, heathland and pine woodland. This wildlife haven, inhabited by red squirrels and golden pheasants, is owned by the National Trust and part managed by the DWT. It’s best known for Britain’s largest wintering flock of avocets.

To close, here are a few noteworthy Dorset gardens. Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens (SY5685) includes numerous mature trees and a 19th century woodland garden; Bingham’s Melcombe (ST7702) boasts a huge yew hedge, planted during the reign of Henry VIII; the quaintly named Chiffchaffs (ST7630) has some fine old oak trees and a splendid cherry avenue; Cranborne Manor (SU0513) is home to some notable old beech trees; Purbeck House (SZ0378) includes some fine old Irish yews and an old “weeping” ash, which is supported by rustic stone columns; Shute House (ST9124) incorporates the woodland, water and turf composition created by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe; Waterston Manor (SY7395) has a walk of pollarded limes; and finally, Minterne Gardens (ST6604), an 18th century landscaped rhododendron garden with lakes, cascades and streams, contains some fine specimen trees. Incidentally, the last two also provided the settings for Weatherbury Farm in “Far From The Madding Crowd” and Great Hintock House in “The Woodlanders”!

If you know of other ancient trees in Dorset or if you wish to suggest a site for inclusion in next month’s article, Focus on Cheshire, we’d love to hear from you!

Please e-mail us, providing as much information as possible and preferably including an Ordnance Survey map reference. We’re also very keen to build up a library of photographs of ancient trees and ancient tree sites. Can you help? If you’re willing to share your treescapes and tree portraits, please e-mail them to us, remembering to provide location details for each photo, with an Ordnance Survey map reference if possible. We’d love to include them in a future article!