Day 3 - South Coast - Corfe - The first of many castles...?

Leaving Bournemouth, you should head to the small village of Corfe on the Isle of Purbeck, across Poole Harbour. There’s a chain-drawn ferry that will take your car across the 150m of water for about £3. (The Isle is not really an island...there are a few rivers that flow between it and the mainland).

Corfe Castle is dramatic, not only because of its location high up above the village, but also because it looks like it’s just been blown up. Well, it was given a good working over about 350 years ago. The republican forces bombarded it, during their siege on Sir John Bankes, whose family owned the castle, and sided with King Charles the 1st.

I can definitely recommend a visit. The whole village is maintained by the National Trust, which makes it look like a film set. There’s a £6 entry fee to the castle.

(PS. Thanks to Paul Bhaya, a painter for National Trust who let me climb up his scaffolding in town to get some decent photos. He works on all the National Trust’s properties, and Salisbury
Cathedral is his favourite.)

Also fun to do is the Swanage-Norden (http://www.swanage-railway.co.uk/) steam train...it lasts about 20 minutes, and stops at Corfe.


Corfe and it's castle from Paul Bhaya's scaffolding


Corfe Castle