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Footscape Trail Guides

After you have made a booking and paid your deposit and balance, you will be able to download the footscape Trail Guide that relates to your holiday, so that you can read all about your trail in advance. When you meet the tour manager on the day of your arrival, you will be given a pocket-sized Trail Guide for use on the walk. You will also be provided at that time with the appropriate Ordnance Survey map(s) of the area in the “Explorer” series (1:25,000 scale), with your trail highlighted for easy identification.

Each Trail Guide is a comprehensive booklet that provides all the directions and information that you should need for your trail. A lot of research went into the writing of these guides, so that you get a flavour of the places on your route through their history, legends and oddball or well known personalities. These descriptive passages are mostly extracts from the work of others, with the titles and authors’ names listed in the endnotes. Some of these descriptions were written a century or more ago, and provide an interesting view of the concerns and attitudes of the age.

There are two authors who deserve special mention. The first is the Rev. John Hutchins, who wrote his massive “History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset” in 1774, which is the source of much of the recorded history of the county. The second is Sir Frederick Treves, who was born and brought up in Dorchester, where he later became friends with Thomas Hardy. His claim to fame was as the surgeon (played by Anthony Hopkins in the film) who befriended Joseph (John) Merrick, the “Elephant Man”, making his last years as happy as possible. But Treves gave up the medical profession quite young in order to write (mostly travel books), with a style so representative of the period, so clear and often so funny that his book “Highways and Byways in Dorset” (1906) has been frequently quoted in the Trail Guides.

Other books

Foremost amongst contemporary writers who have contributed a lot to people’s knowledge and enjoyment of Dorset, are Rodney Legg, whose numerous works include Dorset's Hardy Country, 2003 (hardcover) and Jo Draper, whose excellent Dorset: The Complete Guide, 1986(paperback), revised and corrected edition 2003, is a must for interested visitors to the county.

There is also an excellent series of 31 inexpensive, illustrated “Discover Dorset” paperbacks, written by different experts in their fields and all published by the Dovecote Press. The following might be of interest to walkers of all footscape trails: Prehistoric Age by Bill Putnam, 1998; Saxons and Vikings by David Hinton, 1998; The Romans by Bill Putnam, 2000; Castles and Forts by Colin Pomeroy, 1998; Regency, Riot and Reform by Jo Draper, 2000; Legends by Jeremy Harte, 1998; Rivers and Streams by John Wright, 2003; Woodlands by Anne Horsfall, 2003; Heathlands by Lesley Haskins, 2003; Downs, Meadows and Pastures by Jim White, 2003; Farmhouses and Cottages by Michael Billett, 2000; Discover Dorset Farming by J.H. Bettey, 2000; Lost Villages by Linda Viner, 2002.

Perhaps the most relevant of the Discover Dorset series to the Jurassic Coast trails are: Coast and Sea by Sarah Welton, 2003; Discover Dorset Fossils by Richmond Edmonds, 1999; Geology by Paul Ansom, 1998 and Shipwrecks by Maureen Attwooll, 1998. For Jurassic Coast East in particular, there is Isle of Purbeck by Paul Hyland, 1998, and Stone Quarrying by Jo Thomas, 1998.

Cranborne Chase by Desmond Hawkins, 1998, might interest those of you who have opted for the Inland Heritage trail.

The trees, wild flowers, butterflies and birds along the trail will delight enthusiasts. Since the fauna and flora of Dorset are not described in the Trail Guides (there’s a limit to what can be included), here is a list of books that might be of interest:

 

© 2005 Footscape.