Dorset in a day....The Jurassic coast & Durdle Door

A few weeks back, I managed to organise a day to stop off and explore some of Dorset. The place that was top of my list was Durdle Door.

Durdle Door. It had been on my to-do list for a long time and trust me, it should definitely be on yours. It is a naturally formed limestone arch on a beach along the Dorset coastline, (also known as the Jurassic coast).

View of Durdle Door beach from the cliffside.

I had seen pictures of Durdle Door pop-up here and there while researching places to visit online. The coastline really stood out to me and it looks so insanely beautiful, as I'm sure you will agree. It most certainly did not disappoint. It's now a well known beauty spot and thousands of tourists flood here each year. A little annoying that such a beautiful place is now so busy with tourists, but then again I was of course one of them and I probably wouldn't have found out about this amazing place if I hadn't seen pictures online. Anyway, now it is one of my favourite places in the U.K. Simply stunning.

Relaxing and enjoying the view along the Dorset coastline.

To get to Durdle Door beach you have to walk a short distance down the Cliffside down to the beach. It's pretty accessible for most people but there are steep steps down to the beach near the bottom, like many beaches I guess! The views of Durdle Door can be appreciated from both the beach and the cliff edge, before you walk down to the beach.

View across Durdle Door beach from the Cliff Edge, while walking down.

A great way to view Durdle Door arch from a different angle is to walk further down the beach. By doing so you also get to see the caves and the different features the waves have transformed and carved in the sandstone cliff face. 

Here, I am inside one of the small caves you can climb up to along the cliff face on Durdle Door beach.

There are two different beaches at Durdle Door, the one with the famous arch, and the other to the left. Both are beautiful.

View of the beach to the left of Durdle Door from the cliffside before walking down. 

On the way to Durdle Door, my partner and I stopped off in Swanage to have a look around and to go to the beach there. It's a pretty small town, but still nice to have a look around and experience different places. The beach huts were pretty cute!!

Rainbow coloured beach huts on Swanage beach.

I also had the amazing idea to go fossil hunting....sounds fun right?! I heard that the Dorset coastline was famous for fossil hunting so didn't think it would be a case of smashing a few rocks together and finding the remains of some weird little sea creatures...unfortunately this was not the case. After about an hour of looking I gave up...definitely not as exciting as what I was expecting. So I would suggest that if you are interested in fossil hunting then maybe find a tour somewhere along the Jurassic coast where the expert tour guides can help you. 

Another place that I stopped off at which is close to the Dorset coastline is Corfe castle. My partner and I were lucky enough to be given a ticket each by an eldery couple, doing their good deed for the day....ideal! Again, definitely worth a visit as the castle is very impressive with amazing views. 

View of a train from Corfe Castle, Dorset.

One place I wanted to go to but didn't have enough time, was Lulworth Cove. This is just up the coast from Durdle Door and there is a coast path that you can walk along from Durdle Door to Lulworth Cove or vice versa. So, I will definitely be going back again to further explore the beautiful and scenic Dorset coastline. Durdle Door in particular is one of those places that would be great to visit and photograph in every season, so a good excuse to go away again! 

Hope my guide to my day trip along the Dorset coastline is useful....

Laura x