A report on Dorset and Dorset Downs

Cranborne Chase is a chalk plateau in central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire.

The plateau is part of the English Chalk Formation and is adjacent to Salisbury Plain and the West Wiltshire Downs in the north, and the Dorset Downs to the south west.

Dorchester is the county town of Dorset, England.

A historic market town, Dorchester is on the banks of the River Frome to the south of the Dorset Downs and north of the South Dorset Ridgeway that separates the area from Weymouth, 7 mi to the south.

The River Frome is a river in Dorset in the south of England.

The river rises in the Dorset Downs at Evershot, passes through Maiden Newton, Dorchester, West Stafford and Woodsford.

To the southwest, downlands continue via Cranborne Chase into Dorset as the Dorset Downs and southwards through Hampshire as the Hampshire Downs onto the Isle of Wight.

Wareham is a historic market town and, under the name Wareham Town, a civil parish, in the English county of Dorset.

To the north west of the town a large conifer plantation, Wareham Forest stretches several miles to the A35 road and the southern foothills of the Dorset Downs.

Weymouth is a seaside town in Dorset, on the English Channel coast of England.

The South West Coast Path has two routes around Weymouth and Portland—one around its coast, and one along the South Dorset Downs, which reduces the path's length by 31.0 km. The steep ridge of chalk, locally known as The Ridgeway, separates Dorchester and Weymouth.

Blandford Forum, commonly Blandford, is a market town in Dorset, England, sited by the River Stour about 13 mi northwest of Poole.

Blandford is situated between Cranborne Chase and the Dorset Downs, to the south-east of the Blackmore Vale, 13 mi northwest of Poole and 22 mi southwest of Salisbury.

The River Stour is a 61 mi river which flows through Wiltshire and Dorset in southern England, and drains into the English Channel.

At Blandford Forum the river breaks through the chalk ridge of the Dorset Downs, and from there flows south east into the heathlands of south east Dorset.

Hambledon Hill is a prehistoric hill fort in Dorset, England, situated in the Blackmore Vale five miles northwest of Blandford Forum.

The hill itself is a chalk outcrop, on the southwestern corner of Cranborne Chase, separated from the Dorset Downs by the River Stour.