Hey hey family, 2^nd part of 2018 is officially underway! In my bid to start saving more money this year, I decided to travel more locally i.e around the UK. This is much cheaper than abroad and I am still discovering new places. Last week I went to Dorset in particular to visit Lulworth Cove & Durdle door! This post is all about my time there and why you should visit!

 

Lulworth Cove & Durdle Door is in West Lulworth which is a small village so I decided to stay in Bournemouth which is about 40 mins away. I didn’t mind this as there are lots more to do in Bournemouth than Lulworth. I stayed in the Montague Hotel, which is a small budget friendly hotel. It’s nothing too fancy but ok to get the job done. There is a small free car park for guests but this is strictly first come first serve but we were lucky to get parking. The ensuite room was clean but HOT, there was no air con and we are currently experiencing this heatwave in the UK.

How to get to Lulworth Cove & Durdle Door

Using the postcode on the Lulworth cove website, it took us 40 mins more o. We decided to leave early to avoid peak time but also so that it won’t be too busy when we got there. We arrived at 10.30am and it was already very busy (there was a charity event taking place but I didn’t know anything of this). There is a huge car park and you will be directed to park on the grass by stewards. The costs are expensive £4 for 2hrs however the ticket is accepted at the Durdle Door car park too if you didn’t want to stay at the Lulworth cove car park ( it’s probably a 10 min or less drive from each other). The postcode will bring you to the Lulworth cove car park which is in the middle of Lulworth cove and Durdle door. They also have a check in/check out option. This doesn’t restrict your time limit so you pay when you leave. We stayed till 2.45pm I think and paid £8ish for parking.

Food

There are a few cafes to grab a bite before your walk. We had breakfast at Finley’s in the car park. Well sandwiches as they stopped doing breakfast because it was really busy slightly frustrating as I was hungryyyyyy!  There are places for coffee and of course ice cream!

 

Durdle door

Both walks are clearly signposted and we decided to do Durdle Door first as it’s the more difficult of the two and the longest. It took about 45 mins for us to get down. The walk begins from the car park, up steep (ish) stony stairs for the first 15-20 mins before a plateau, more stony paths then a steep (and slippery ish) descent. It was really hot so the walk was somewhat uncomfortable. Be sure to wear comfy shoes e.g. trainers although I did see a lot of people do it in flip flops but go with whatever you are comfortable with. To get down to Durdle door beach you go down the stairs, you will see this on your right. Be careful as they are narrow and most likely be busy (depending on the time of year). Durdle door itself is a beauty and the beach is clean, water is clear and cool ( it was so nice to dip my feet in cool water in that heat!). We stayed there for a while on the beach. It’s a pebble beach so no actual sand. You can swim out to the Durdle door and climb it for diving. If only I could swim! After about 20 mins there went began our ascent

 

Lulworth cove

Back at the car park we stopped for ice cream and a cold drink before starting the walk to Lulworth cove. It’s a much easier almost level walk straight to it and about 10- 15mins walk. You will walk past the stair hole on the way to the cove. You can either walk down to the Lulworth cove beach or walk ‘up’ so that you get a ‘bird’s eye view’ (it’s not that high) of it. We walked up as I wanted to see the natural semi-circle of the cove. It was beautiful! You can go right to the edge for pictures (through a busted fence lol) but too many people and too long meant I couldn’t be bothered lol.

After that, we went back to the car park for more ice cream & fudge and headed back to Bournemouth for the remainder of our weekend

Lulworth Cove & Durdle Door is certainly worth a visit! I’m so happy I went- it looks unreal in pictures and it’s something you don’t think would be in the UK lol. Another option is to stay in Poole instead of Bournemouth and I think is closer to Lulworth. We were short on time so we didn’t do the Jurassic Coast walk but to do this after you climb up from Durdle Door follow the signpost to carry on walking instead of turning back to the Lulworth car park

Check out the website for more information. I have visited a few UK places this year, check out my previous posts for more inspiration

 

Snowdonia

Bristol

Dover – post on this on my Instagram page

Be sure to follow me on Instagram as I post a lot of things on there but I may not post on my blog! As always for recommendations, etc drop me a line or check my Instagram

Here’s to a successful 2^nd half of 2018!

xoxo