Dorset Walks - Golden Cap to West Bay

There are times when everyone needs a special kind of treat and marking a big birthday very much falls into such a category. Which is why I wanted to go somewhere special for a weekend with my family a couple of years ago.  

Grown up kids have grown up boyfriends and girlfriends, so everyone’s diary must be calibrated and that elusive “somewhere special” found and booked. And we found somewhere very special indeed. Shedbush Farm is a newly refurbished National Trust holiday property tucked deep in a beautiful valley just under Golden Cap which - as readers will know - is the highest point along the entire English Channel coast.    

The location ticked all my boxes because it is highly scenic and full to the brim with wonderful walks. Which, I am glad to say, my two grown up children and their partners were as keen to do as me. 

My lovely kids and their partners joined us on my big birthday walk a few years ago

I remember going to Shedbush Farm on newspaper business about a dozen years ago when it was a little rustic, to say the least. The wonderful old thatched farmhouse and its ancient stone outbuildings might have looked picture perfect, but I doubt that the place was or is viable as an agricultural holding. It is located in an environmentally sensitive Trust owned area where farming practices are probably tightly controlled. 

So a holiday cottage it now is - and we were hugely impressed by the high quality luxurious way in which the Trust has refurbished the place. 

However, despite all that manorial-style luxury we still had to leave the place at regular intervals during our long weekend in order to enjoy all those fabulous walks. Of course, you don’t need to be temporarily resident at Shedbush Farm to enjoy them. 

To find the altitudinous demesne you must reach a hilltop village called Morcombelake on the A35 between Charmouth and Chideock. Just past the excellent Felicity’s farm shop, over the hilltop heading east, watch out for a tiny lane on the right. Then, once you've negotiated your way onto it (and be careful, if you’re heading east you must cross a nasty bit of road), follow the left turn marked Langdon Hill car park. You'll find the Trust parking place in the woods and from here you have a choice of numerous walking routes.

Views. That's what this place is all about. You are treated to huge views from the moment you begin your walk above the charming village of Chideock. It lies far below to the east (Shedbush is to the west) among those knobbly hills and Hobbit-like vales for which West Dorset is much celebrated.

At just over 600 feet, the car park is at much the same altitude as the top of Golden Cap itself, so when you come to the edge of the forest at the end of the track which heads south, you are delighted to discover that only a small dip separates you from the famous hill. 

From this angle Golden Cap looks like an Alp - perfectly conical so you think the top must be crowned by a small peak. It's not, because the peak stretches in a tiny escarpment toward the sea, but you only find that out once you've climbed the steep footpath to the top.

Looking up at Golden Cap from Charmouth Beach

The best walk we did during the weekend was to turn left, or east, here and head down the coast path to the beach at Seatown where there’s a good pub called The Anchor next to the shore.

Apparently this area was once a sort of Piccadilly Circus for smugglers and excise-men. Here’s a note from the Rev C.V. Goddard, who was vicar of Chideock (situated just inland and pronounced Chiddick), between 1890-95: 

“Samuel Bartlett (a churchwarden) told me the particulars of the last cargo run. His father landed it. On arriving off the coast after a fortnight's fog he had to drop the kegs off the coast on the trawling ground where they remained sunk for six months. He brought his ship round from Portland Harbour and picked them up, recovering 120 and losing one.

“The other half they afterwards tried to land east of Seatown but the Coast Guard or Preventive men saw them, the night too was gone and day broke as old Bartlett was shipping ashore. Some of the tackle got hitched, so there was nothing for it but to put to sea and drop them over the side again.”

The ‘Chideock Gang’ plied their business in the 18th century, along the remote coast between Seatown and Charmouth. They were led by the enigmatic ‘Colonel’, thought to be a local gentleman. With Golden Cap as a look-out, the gang were fairly safe from arrest as they could see the hated excise-men coming for miles.

We were soon admiring the great inland vale around the village of Chideock as we continued east along the coast path up mighty Doghouse Hill. 

Climbing Doghouse Hill

I am told this was traditionally staunch Roman Catholic country and it was from some local big house that the ‘Chideock Martyrs’ were taken. One was a Cornishman from St Austell and after being arrested and taken to London, he and three other unrepentant Catholics were condemned, though they were offered a chance of saving their skins if they converted to Protestantism. They refused and were duly martyred at Dorchester on 4th July, 1594.

Reaching the top of Thorncombe Beacon

Maybe this has something to do with the hill being called Doghouse. Perhaps one of the martyrs came from Doghouse Farm just down the hill…

Across the high coastal eminences we walked towards Thorncombe Beacon where there’s a real beacon post crowned by a steel brazier. But you soon forget that and everything else when you see the view ahead. It must be one of the finest coastal vistas anywhere – you can see all the way along Chesil Beach to Portland Bill.

Far below is Eype Mouth, to which we descended so we could get onto the golden gravel beach and walk along the shore to busy West Bay. This curious resort is so well furnished with eateries of all kinds, it makes a perfect place for lunch. 

All you have to do next is return from whence you came - either by walking or by catching the regular and rather famous X53 bus service back to Morcombelake.