Car parking 12-month permit required: £30, £10 for a second car from the same household. Apply via Dorset Council website (you become a Friend of Avon Heath) alternatively call into the Heathland Discovery Centre 11am-4pm and speak to a ranger. Tel 01425 478082. If you don’t have a permit, there are a couple of small laybys nearby where two or three cars can park for free.

There are three entrances into the park from the Boundary Lane car park. Enter by the gate near the information stand and walk part way up the hill, bear right through the gap in the fence and across a large green field.

Pass through a gate, down a track, through a second gate and across another large field.

Once through the field turn right on to a path and then left at the wooden sheep seat. Follow this uneven path across the heathland, passing two more wooden sheep.

At the fork bear left and travel down to a sandy path, through the gate at the bottom then follow the path through the woodland and gorse bushes. It can be muddy.

Once out of the woodland you can walk up the hill and follow the path uphill through the gorse.

At the top there is a bench. To the left of the bench is a narrow access route between the gorse bushes. Follow this path to the gate on your left, then downhill and back to the car park.

Photographs taken 7.2.2021 © CatchBox