P> This walk is entirely on the Ministry of Defence’s Lulworth Firing range, and is only accessible at weekends (apart from 6 during the year) and during Christmas, Easter, all of August and all public holidays – for more details see our FAQ. As live ammunition is used, you must not stray off the paths which are clearly marked by yellow posts, and do not pick up any metal objects lying on the ground.

The walk starts at the Tyneham village car park. Take time to explore the old village, which has been deserted since the Army took it over in 1943. Most of the surviving buildings have information boards showing who lived there, and the old school is set up just as it would have been in 1943. Inside the church is a display of old photographs of the village.

To continue onwards take the farm track that leads from behind the church and steadily climbs up onto the chalk ridge of Whiteway Hill. As you reach the summit, turn left and take the track leading along the ridge past the trig point out to Ring Hill, at the end of which is the massive embankments of Flower’s Barrow, and iron age hill fort. The views from this ridge must be one of the best in Dorset. Behind you and to the right, you can see across into Poole Harbour; below you to the north, huge areas of heathland, saved from the agricultural ‘improvements’ of the past 40 years due to their use by the Army; further west East Lulworth village and castle; along the coast looking west, the switchback of hills leading to Lulworth Cove with the Isle of Portland in the distance, and on the coast looking east the distinctive outcrop of Worbarrow Tout and onwards to St Aldhelms Head.

Inside Flower’s Barrow are picnic tables and information panels explaining the history of the hill fort. At the fort you join the Coast Path – follow it to the left to descend one of the steepest hills on the entire path down to Worbarrow Bay. Until 1943 there was a small fishing community here, but now it is just used by walkers and people visiting the beach (safe for bathing). Just up from the beach, next to a flag pole is one of the few surviving ‘Allen-Williams’, steel bunkers left over from the second world war. Buried into the ground, with just it’s rotating turret exposed, it was used as a fortified one man machine gun post.

From the beach, a fairly level surfaced track leads inland up the Tyneham valley and back to the car park.