Durlston Country Park

My day off today was just too nice to stay at home.  So on the rare occasions when I get my legs out as the weather looked summer-like and after doing the supermarket shopping early this morning I went to Sandbanks to go on the chain ferry.  I drove through the Purbecks and Swanage to go to Durlston Country Park. I hadn't been here since the children were small and I came with a school party as a parent helper - that was a long time ago. It has a "castle" though it is a Victorian building which houses the information centre, coffee shop and rather lovely view points.

The front of the castle

Tower at the end of the castle with steps going down to the garden

Looking to the back of the castle

View from the tower looking across to Swanage bay

There's a walkway that leads to a tower with steps down to the garden and from there more steps to the globe.

This stone globe looks towards the sea with steps from there lead to part of the South West Coast Path.

There are plaques with facts and poems to the side and behind the globe.  The corner of a stone in front is one of two purposely left for people to add their graffiti on rather than to deface the globe. The bench on the grass bank is to mark the compass points and they surround the globe.

Here's one of the plaques.

After that I made my way along the coastal path to Anvil Point lighthouse, which doesn't seem far away but there is a dip down and a climb back up. There were fabulous views out to sea. The above photo shows the entrance to a cave from where Purbeck stone was mined. Later along a route above the lighthouse there was the remains of another mine.

The lamp in the lighthouse is no longer used.  There is a strobe light that flashes from it instead.  Apparently the buildings are now used a holiday cottages.

I headed back by a footpath above the lighthouse towards the castle and found this on a side wall, a sundial, with world time differences and tide times.

 More interesting things to see a map of the Purbecks

 This shows the distances from the south coast (at the bottom) to northern France (at the top)

Trying to show that I don't just take photos of scenes, I took a photo of my windswept self!