Outdoors

On Foot THE PEARL OF DORSET Emma Tabor & Paul Newman

Distance: 3 miles Time: Approx. 2 hours Park: Charmouth Road - fees apply Walk Features: A mix of field, wood and town with beautiful views over Lyme Regis and the Cobb with a delightful return alongside the River Lym, visiting the Town Mill. Refreshments: Black Dog Tea Rooms

Each month we devise a walk for you to try with your family and friends (including four-legged members), pointing out a few interesting things along the way, be it flora, fauna, architecture, history, the unusual, and sometimes the unfamiliar. For September we take a short walk around Lyme Regis and into some of the surrounding countryside to the east and north of the town centre before returning along the wooded banks of the River Lym. There is an option to extend the walk at the end by exploring Broad Street and taking a detour through the award-winning Seafront Gardens above the Cobb, returning along the Promenade. >

Directions

Start - SY343925 Charmouth Road Car Park. There are great views from here east along the coast, towards Golden Cap and Portland. 1 Turn right out of the car park onto Charmouth

Road (A3052), walk uphill along the pavement for a few yards and you will then see a church on your left, with yew trees. To the right of the road is a Coast Path sign for Charmouth. Go through a kissing gate and up some steps, then head diagonally uphill across a boggy field to another kissing gate on the far side - you might be able to see grey wagtails here. Go through this gate then head towards a large wooden gate with another signpost for the

Coast Path. Continue uphill towards some mixed woodland; there are some good views back across the Cobb from here. You will then see a signpost in a gap in the middle of the trees. Go through the kissing gate here and turn left onto a track. 2 Follow this track for a few yards and then turn right before a wooden five-bar gate. Here you will pick up a diversion for the Coast Path. Head through the trees, up some steps, meandering through the woodland with dips and hollows either side.

There is a good variety of trees here and in spring you will be able to see bluebells. Keep following the diversion signs uphill and then to the left at warning signs for a landslip. After a couple of handsome oak trees, the path twists and turns, going back downhill towards some houses. Follow some steps down and then turn right onto a path to emerge at a road. 3 Cross the road and head down a narrow path, walking between large wooden fences bordering properties. After a few yards emerge back onto the

Charmouth Road. Turn right and then cross the road to the entrance of Timber Vale Caravan Park - here you will see a public bridleway sign. Follow this through the entrance of the park, keeping to the drive which then becomes a track. Ignore a footpath sign to the left (by some electricity poles) and continue to where the track meets the corner of a tarmacked track. Here, turn left to follow a sign:

Lyme Regis 1 mile. Go through a small gate and walk downhill across a boggy field towards a five-bar gate, with woodland on your right. Keep heading downhill across another field to reach a second fivebar gate with a small gate to the side of it and a sign for the Wessex Ridgeway. Keep on the track, entering 4

5 into woodland with waterworks on your left. The track soon meets the Liberty Trail, with a pretty thatched cottage ahead. Here, turn left and follow the signs back into Lyme (away from Dragon’s Hill). After a few yards, cross a small brook, keeping along the Wessex Ridgeway, passing by a signpost indicating the site of the Old Mill. Cross the river, go through a gate, turn left and follow the river back towards Lyme (ignore the path ahead uphill). Follow the river on a well-worn footpath, through pasture, to a gate. Go through the gate, with a weir on your left and some small tributaries either side, into a mix of fern and woodland with robins and wrens calling above the gurgling water. Cross back over the river to keep the Lym on your right. Carry along the path which becomes more substantial until it joins the road coming from Middle Mill Farm. Continue down this road towards the town, climbing slightly above the river. Where it meets Roman Road, cross straight over onto Windsor Terrace. Continue, keeping the river on your right, past more buildings on your left. Cross Woodmead Road by another weir, then into Jericho (a ‘no through road’). After a few yards the road ends in the river so cross onto the right bank and continue to follow, now with the Lym on your left, to emerge at Mill Green. Follow Mill Green, passing colourful cottages, to meet Hill Road. At the start of Coombe Street, the river flows under the road, with a leat running to the left of a raised path above the river. Here, turn right and follow the footpath (The Lynch) signed for the Town Mill, walking between the leat to your left and the river to your right. The leat is crossed by a series of small bridges leading to properties which line the path. Eventually this path arrives at the Town Mill, with a range of facilities including galleries, studios and cafes as well as the working watermill. After the mill, make your way through the courtyard, cross the river and up some steps into Broad Street Car Park. Here, you have the option to either turn left onto Broad Street, returning to the start of the walk along Church Street leading to Charmouth Road, or to turn right and head up Broad Street, to explore the high street and take the detour (approx. ¾ mile) mentioned at the start. On your way back up Church Street, look out for the sign denoting the entrance to Long Entry, the old coast route to Charmouth, just after the Museum and Marine Theatre.