Cool Places
Pilsdon Pen
Pilsdon Lane, Pilsdon DT6
A great way to take in the joys of rural Dorset is from the top of Pilsdon Pen, the county’s highest hill at 277m, and the site of an ancient hill fort. During excavations in the 1960s, 14 Iron Age roundhouses were found here, and you can make out the defensive ridges of the fort as you go higher. The summit is easily reached from a little car park (signposted) on Pilsdon Lane; from here it’s a steep but straightforward ten-minute climb. From the top, the views stretch over the Marshwood Vale as far as Lyme Regis and the coast in the south – the finest view in all England, according to Wordsworth, who rented a house near here at the end of the 18th century (praise indeed from the arch advocate of the Lake District).
