Hilltop Farm Camping

If you’re happy to mooch around locally, start with a visit to Alners Gorse Butterfly Reserve (five minutes’ walk), where you can see umpteen pretty butterflies, lizards and even the occasional grass snake. You’ve got a good chance of spotting badgers on their night-time wanderings at Badger Watch Dorset (10 minutes), where foxes and owls often put in an appearance too. Check out local history with a visit to the National Trust - Cerne Giant (15 minutes’ drive); he may (or may not) be an Anglo-Saxon fertility symbol. You can climb a steep hill to see his chalk figure carved into the slope from above, but the best vantage point is from the car park. Along with fine Blackmore Vale views, Bulbarrow Hill (10 minutes) offers more ancient heritage with its cluster of Bronze Age burial mounds. Coming a bit more up to date, you can head to Sherborne (20 minutes) to tour the priceless collection of antiquities in 16th-century Sherborne Castle and Gardens, where there are scenic lakeside walks. Close by, you can also inspect the photogenic ruins of Sherborne Old Castle.