National Trust - Corfe Castle - 4 Things to Know Before Visiting

Blue Pool is a flooded, disused clay pit where Purbeck ball clay was once extracted. It is now a lake within the Furzebrook Estate. The Pool is surrounded by 25 acres of heath, woodland and gorse interlaced with sandy paths that seem to take you to another world. The Green Route includes steps up to views of the Purbeck Hills or down to the edge of the Pool.

The Isle of Purbeck is a peninsula located in south Dorset. The area is home to some of the country’s most well-loved towns and landmarks including Swanage, Lulworth Cove, Corfe Castle, and Durdle Door. One of the unique attractions in this area and it is a nice place to Relax on the beach, explore the South West Coast Path, hunt for dinosaur fossils, or just sit back and enjoy the views of the world-famous Jurassic Coast.

The Purbeck Hills are one of the finest landscape features in Dorset. They extend from the much eroded Handfast Point (or The Foreland) in the east for some fifteen miles to the cliffs of Cow Corner and the lonely cove of Arish Mell in the west. These chalk hills are not a continuous ridge, but are broken by the gap at Ulwell and the twin gaps at Corfe Castle.

Arne RSPB reserve is a 5.634-square-kilometer nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest maintained by the RSPB and located in Dorset. Arne is celebrated for its lowland heathland (which is rare in Europe) and its wildlife including Dartford warblers, nightjars, all six species of British reptile, plus many species of butterflies, dragonflies, and moths. It is also home to nearly 500 types of a flowering plants.

Kimmeridge Bay lies within a marine Special Area of Conservation and boasts the best rock pooling and safest snorkeling site in Dorset. The area is popular with surfers and windsurfers for the sea breezes and surf created by the rock ledges underneath the waves. The natural rock ledges extending out into the bay make it easy to view life on the shore and in the shallow waters, making it a wonderful location for rock pooling.

The Swanage Railway offers a more intensive heritage steam and diesel timetable train service than virtually any other preserved railway. It is is one of Britain’s most popular heritage railways, with steam trains running every day between April and October.