This time we'll take a walk along
the Jurassic coast and visit the iconic Duddle Door and Lulworth Cove.
The scenery is going to be stunning! You join us on a misty morning in a farmer's
field in the glorious countryside of Dorset. This is our fabulous shepherd's hut,
home for the night around nature and cattle on this beef farm in the village of
Piddletrenthide. You have to start the day with a cuppa and a good breakfast before heading
off for some hiking along the Jurassic Coast. We'll give you a better tour of our
shepherd's hut at the end of this video. Durdle door and the famous Jurassic coast is
on England's southern coastline. It runs for 95 miles from Exmouth to Swanage and it's
England's only natural world heritage site and we're going to visit just a small
part of this wonderful landscape today. You can park on top of the cliffs in Durdle
door car park or down in Lulworth Cove. Both have parking charges starting from £5.00 so at
these prices, we suggest you make a day of it. You can get a bus from Swanage
or Weymouth in the summer called the Purbeck Breezer, check this
website for details of times and prices. From London catch a train to wool station and
then the x-55 bus will stop at Lulworth Cove. We parked in the Durdle car park and headed
straight down to the iconic limestone arch. It's a steep 20-minute walk down to the
beach and you will find that this is the busiest stretch of the Jurassic coast with
some 200 000 people visiting each year. It is however a stunning
walk and not to be missed. The forming of the coastline took place 25 million
years ago as the tectonic plates pushed against each other and folded forcing upwards creating
the mountains of the alps. The ripples of that collision headed north and folded the rocks
here creating South Dorset. Erosion from the sea and the weather on different types of
rock here have created this natural wonder. Before arriving at Durdle door beach you passed
the man o war beach. We'd never heard of it. It's a beautiful little bay with rugged rocks
and appears less crowded than the famous beach. Here we are, this is what you may well
have seen in many photos and films. It was really nice for us
to see it for real finally. The arch is made of Portland limestone and
the hole was formed by natural erosion. There are some steep wooden steps that'll get
you down onto the beach if you wish to do so. Bring some water and snacks with you as
there are no facilities along these paths the toilets and refreshments
are backed by the car park. You can walk for miles along the paths
here your only constraint will be the closing time of the car park, dusk in the
summer and 4 p.m in the winter months. After enjoying the sea air, the
warmth from the sun and a fresh breeze you should be relaxed and ready to
take on the hike back up the hill. In fact, I surprised myself
and didn't find it too hard just by remembering the struggles on the Old Man
of Storr on the Isle of Skye a few weeks before. From the top follow the signs to Lulworth
Cove taking the high cliff edge route. The views from here are wonderful. In the distance, you can see the compact
and cute Lulworth Cove, a mix of stone and thatched cottages that hug the pebble beach
and blue waters close to West Lulworth village. It's here you'll find the visitor
centre for the area with loads of information about walks and things to see.
It also has toilet facilities for the cove. Our preference was to visit Durdle Door
first and then come here as you have all the pubs and restaurants to relax in after
you're hiking. As you walk down to the beach you pass plenty of shops to browse. This little
jade cottage called the doll's house was so cute, you can get fudge, teas and ice creams here. The thatched cottages with the trickling
stream nearby was just adorable. Down by the pebble beach are a few
food shacks and the boatshed cafe with great views of the
cove if you can sit outside. Look for the wooden steps and take the
short climb to the right of the cafe up on top of the cove. There is a
commemorative stone highlighting the adding of the coastline to the
world heritage site register in 2002. It's also an excellent vantage point to
see along the coastline and out to sea. From up here, you get a great view of this
natural cove, they say it's one of the best places to study geology due to the different
types of rock and formations in this area. To the right of the cove, a new one is slowly
forming. Here you will find the stair hole and the Lulworth crumple. The hole has been created
by the sea eroding the softer rock at the bottom of this limestone. Eventually, in millions of
years, it will probably merge with Lulworth Cove. The crumple which didn't come out too well on
camera shows the folds in the rock we spoke about earlier. Once horizontal layers they
are now near-vertical it's amazing stuff. Having explored the wonders of Lulworth Cove it
was time to head back across the coastal path to the Durdle Door car park. Back on the farm, our car arrival confused
the cows into thinking it was dinner time. They want to lick you. are you misbehaving? Did you hear that! Did you get licked? YES! make sure you wash your hands then. we can't let you out i'm afraid They did get their dinner in the end!
Now we promised you a quick tour around our shepherd's hut, we'll put a link in
the description if you fancy staying here. Let's show you around our shepherd's hut. So there are four steps up and then
on the left-hand side, we've got a sheepskin rug on the floor and then a double bed with a little window overlooking the
field next door with some cows in it. All conveniences like the overhead reading lamps which are nice and the curtains
and some books on the wall. Next to the bed, we've got a little mini wood
burner. Now the basket here has some logs in it and tonight we're gonna fire that up and that will
keep us nice and toasty. I think there is some other kind of almost like central heating in here,
gas heating as well. Certainly, in the bathroom, there's a heated towel rail but next to the wood
burner we've got ourselves a little kitchen. Under here is the sink. Hot, cold
running water and a two gas hob burner. The kitchen is also
equipped with a fridge here and we've stocked it with some breakfast items
drinks and little bits and pieces there's also. Frying pans, pots and pans, crockery, cutlery Pretty much everything you need. Oh and in this one there's a microwave
oven in case you fancy using that. Our host also supplied us with some tea, coffee,
milk, cookies that kind of thing to get us going. Then opposite the kitchen area is a
little two-person dining area which is very cute, again with a window
that opens up overlooking the fields. And then behind all of this, we have ourselves a
bathroom. There's a loo, sink and a pretty big, considering the size of the shepherd hut itself,
a shower, and we've had absolutely no issues with the hot water. It's there when you need it pretty
much instantly and yeah absolutely brilliant! There is also an outdoor bath if you're that brave
and a barbecue and a lovely fire pit to use it was a wonderfully peaceful place to spend our weekend.
If you haven't joined us before, do subscribe to follow more of our travels. We'll see you again
really soon, so thanks very much for watching!
