Bridport, Events & Entertainment | Posted on June 3rd, 2025 | return to news
Popular Bridport attraction bans visitors
The new owners of Bridehead Estate have withdrawn public access to its lake and waterfall.
For decades, visitors and tourists have enjoyed permissive access to the lake and waterfall at Bridehead Estate near Bridport. The site is popular spot for dog walking, picnics and more.
But as of Monday 2 June, public access has been halted to the picturesque landscape that has previously served as the filming location for scenes from the popular TV crime show ‘Broadchurch’.
The new owners of the 2,000-acre estate, which includes 32 properties including cottages, a farmhouse, and a church, put up a public notice by the grounds in May giving a month’s notice that permissive access would be withdrawn from the beginning of June.
The estate had belonged to the Williams family for several generations. For the past 65 years, the family granted public access to the amenity grounds. But last year the estate was put on the market for £30m and bought by new owners. Belport, an Oxfordshire-based company specialising in the acquisition, development and strategic management of farms and estates, managed the purchase of the property.
While the estate is private land with no public right of way, meaning the owners are entitled to deny access, the decision has upset many locals and residents.
On 1 June, several families gathered to hold a peaceful protest at the site and enjoy the amenity grounds for one last time.
Campaign group Right 2 Roam described the decision as “outrageous”. In a social media post, the group said: “Some people may continue, discreetly, to access these grounds. But, for many, the fear of potential reprisals may well sever their relationship with this land altogether.
“The Dorset National Landscape has only 4.8 per cent access land, and under the current land access system, where a landowner can withdraw access at a moment’s notice, this number is liable to shrink ever smaller. This is not good enough.
“Absurd cases like these are exactly why we are calling for a default of responsible access to be enshrined in law, so that no one man’s greed can dispossess us of the ground beneath our feet.”
Right 2 Roam are organising a community meeting at 6.30pm on 12 June 12 at The Tiger Inn in Bridport to discuss the closure.
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