Scenic Point in Dorset

Durdle Door is one of the most photographed natural features on the English coast, a natural limestone arch projecting from the Jurassic Coast of Dorset near Lulworth Cove whose dramatic form and extraordinary coastal setting have made it one of the defining images of the English seaside. The arch was formed when the sea broke through a headland of Portland limestone, leaving a freestanding rock bridge above the water that frames the sea beyond in a composition of instinctive beauty that has attracted artists and visitors since the road to this section of the coast was built in the Victorian period. The geology of Durdle Door is part of the extraordinary story of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, where the tilted and eroded rocks exposed in the cliffs represent 185 million years of geological time. The limestone rocks of the arch were laid down on the floor of a shallow tropical sea approximately 150 million years ago and have been tilted from their original horizontal position by the same geological forces that created the Alps. The result of this tilting is that the Portland limestone, being harder than the clays and sandstones between the ridges, resists erosion and stands proud while the softer rocks are worn away, creating the headlands, coves and arches that characterise this section of coast. The beach below the arch is accessible by a steep path from the Durdle Door car park and provides sheltered swimming in crystal-clear water enclosed between limestone headlands. The water quality and clarity here is exceptional by English standards and the beach is among the most beautiful on the Dorset coast, though the path descent and the popularity of the site mean it can be busy in summer. Lulworth Cove, a perfectly circular natural harbour carved from the softer rocks behind the Portland limestone ridge, is a twenty-minute walk to the east and provides a complementary geological feature on the same circular walk.

Lulworth Cove on the Jurassic Coast of Dorset is one of the most perfectly formed natural harbours on the English coast, a near-circular bay carved from the softer Wealden beds behind a narrow gap in the Portland limestone ridge that protects the cove from the full force of the Channel. The geological formation that produced Lulworth Cove is a classic and much-studied example of coastal erosion working selectively on rocks of different hardness, and the cove's almost circular plan, enclosed by the surrounding hills, gives it a quality of natural completeness unusual in coastal forms. The story of the cove's formation begins with the differential erosion of the different rock types in the sequence. The Portland limestone ridge at the mouth of the cove is hard and resistant, and the gap through which the sea entered to carve the circular basin was probably first opened by a stream cutting through the ridge from behind. Once through the limestone, the sea encountered the softer Wealden clays, sandstones and sands behind and quickly carved the circular basin that the cove now occupies. The chalk hills that close the cove on three sides represent the next harder rock type beyond the Wealden beds, and their resistance has stopped the erosion progressing further inland. The village at the head of the cove provides visitor facilities and the car park above is one of the most popular coastal car parks in Dorset, with Durdle Door a twenty-minute walk to the west along the South West Coast Path. The Fossil Forest, a series of stumps and rounded forms in the limestone at the eastern side of the cove, preserves the remains of a forest that grew here during the Jurassic period approximately 135 million years ago. The combination of geological interest, beautiful enclosed beach and the walking connections to Durdle Door and the Purbeck Heritage Coast makes Lulworth one of the most rewarding short visits on the Jurassic Coast.

Old Harry Rocks are among the most celebrated coastal features in southern England: a group of chalk sea stacks and arches rising from the sea at Handfast Point near Studland in Dorset, marking the eastern end of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site and providing some of the most dramatic cliff scenery on the English Channel coast. Their brilliant white chalk, dramatic profile against the blue-green water and the sweeping views they provide across the bay to the Isle of Wight have made them one of the most photographed landscapes in the south of England. The chalk that forms Old Harry Rocks is part of the same geological formation that creates the White Cliffs of Dover and the Needles on the Isle of Wight. All were once part of a continuous chalk ridge that crossed what is now the English Channel, but millennia of erosion by waves, frost and rain have cut back the cliff line and isolated resistant sections as stacks and arches. Old Harry himself is the largest remaining stack, named according to local tradition after the Devil (one of his many colloquial names in English folklore) who is said to have slept on the rocks between his activities. His wife, a smaller stack that once stood close by, has since collapsed into the sea, a reminder of how temporary these features are in geological terms. The headland of Handfast Point is most easily reached along the cliff path from Studland village, a walk of approximately twenty minutes through the National Trust's Studland Heath Nature Reserve. The heath supports one of the finest populations of all six British reptile species, including the smooth snake and sand lizard, both nationally rare, and the heathland habitats are also exceptional for birds and butterflies throughout the summer season. The views from the clifftop above Old Harry Rocks are exceptional in all directions: across Studland Bay with its long sandy beach and the mouth of Poole Harbour to the west, and across the Channel toward the chalk cliffs of the Needles on the Isle of Wight to the southeast. On the clearest days the coast of France is sometimes visible to the south. Boat trips from Swanage and Poole operate seasonally and allow visitors to see the rocks from the water, providing perspectives on the scale and character of the formations that the clifftop viewpoints cannot match.