Church Ope Cove, Portland
Beach
Church Ope Cove used be a pirate beach, with pirates’ graveyard nearby. It might be not so secret beach now, but the place is one of Dorset’s hidden gems, also suitable for fossil hunting. It has history linked to smuggling, Viking attacks (dating back to 789 AD)
Beach behind Portland Castle
Beach
The beach directly next to Portland Castle in Portland Harbour is a small, sheltered spot popular with locals for wild swimming and snorkeling.
The Hidden Steps, Portland
Coastal Walk
A secret and steep set of steps carved directly into a rugged cliff by the coastal. It is beautiful surrounding, but The Hidden Steps are only worth a walk if you are an experienced and confident adventurer comfortable with steep, unmaintained, and potentially dangerous drops.
Verne High Angle Battery, Portland
Walk
Former gun battery built in 1892 with underground tunnels. This unusual battery was designed to fire shells at a steep, high angle to pierce the vulnerable decks of enemy ships below. You can freely explore the atmospheric underground brick magazines, central bombproof shelters, and dark storage rooms. Bring a torch with you if possible.
Dorchester Curiousity centre, Dorchester
Antique shop
This is place for you if you love treasure hunts. Its a huge 12,000-square-foot space located in an old bus depot, with nearly 100 individual stalls. Our favourite to be when the weather is bad.
The George Inn, Portland
Local Pub with Food
Dating back to the 17th or 18th century, it is one of Portland’s oldest pubs. It features a Grade II-listed building with a cozy interior, rustic charm, and a wood-burning fire, serves real ales and traditional home-cooked pub food. It is well worth a visit if you want a genuine, historic local pub experience.
Make sure you visit their new fb page and not the old one.
Upwey Wishing Well, Upwey
Tea rooms with huge water gardens and a wishing well
This little gem is really worth the trip. Its actually a cafe located inside a very beautiful water garden. They serve good food too. Upwey is a little village just on the outskirts of Weymouth, beautiful area to visit. The ancient wishing well boasts centuries of local folklore and royal patronage, including a visit by King Edward VIII in 1923. Make sure you pay visit on a dry day so you can sit outside in the water gardens.
Lodged Cannonball in Weymouth
A building with the cannonball
It’s a 17th-century English Civil War cannonball is lodged in the brick wall of a public toilet building on Maiden Street in Weymouth, Dorset. Theres two plaques cemented in to the pavement opposite the building, which will tell you the story of it.
Fun fact of Weymouth
The global Black Death pandemic did not start in Weymouth; it originated in Asia. However, the plague did first enter England through the Weymouth Harbour area (specifically the port of Melcombe Regis, now part of Weymouth) in June 1348 via a ship from Gascony.
In June 1348, a merchant ship or a sailor arriving in Melcombe Regis brought the flea-infested rats carrying Yersinia pestis into England.
From this Dorset port, the disease spread rapidly across the West Country and eventually killed a massive portion of Britain’s population.
Fun fact of Portland
Jurassica dinosaur theme park were proposed to built in a 40m (132ft) deep quarry on Portland Dorset, and has got scrapped.
The site is within the 95-mile long Jurassic coast, world heritage site because of its importance in understanding geological periods from 250m to 65m years ago. It was an ambitious project to showcase the prehistory of the south coast of England, famous for its marine fossils from ammonites to giant sea reptiles.
Jurassica was the idea of science writer Michael Hanlon who died at aged 51, the project has attracted support from David Attenborough and Eden Project founder Tim Smit.
Sir Tim Smit, co-founder of the Eden Project, said: “Both projects were having a pickle – both trying to raise quite a lot of money – and then tragically my friend Mike died and the whole thing was thrown up in the air.”
David Attenborough: ‘The area is one about which Britain can be very proud because it is the birthplace of paleontology.’ Article 1: BBC, Article 2: The Guardian