Studland Village
















The South Beach at Studland is one of those places that become magical on a summers evening as the sun sinks behind Ballard Down and Old Harry Rocks change from white chalk pillars to black fingers silhouetted against the blue sky. I can leave my office on a Friday at 5, drive home have a bath and get to Sandbanks in time for the six o'clock ferry. At that time in the summer the tourists are back at their B & B's or self catering apartments and for an hour or two you have the secluded beach that is the southern part of Shell Bay almost to yourself.

The majority of visitors to this part of the coast get as far as Shell Bay and stay there, and why not? Studland has clean, pebble free beaches and is actually protected from the stronger south westerly waves. It is also known worldwide for its naturist beach, naturists have been coming here since before 1900, these days it can get a bit unsavoury for families after dark. For locals though a two mile drive to the National Trust car park next to the Bankes Arms, followed by a two hundred yard walk down to the beach is definetly worth it.

There is an area marked off by yellow buoys for people to play and swim in without worrying about jet skis etc, a barbecue area and plenty of space to play games, fish or just sit and enjoy the surroundings.















Nathalie in front of the safe area set aside for swimmers.

If you don't fancy the walk from the Bankes Arms you can sit in their pub garden with a pint of real ale and look out across Poole Bay at the Isle of Wight or along the coast towards Bournemouth and beyond.

Old Harry itself is the small rock at the end of the outcrop and the name is thought to have originated as a nickname for the Devil who local legend has it once laid down on the cliffs at that point. Ballard Down itself was once joined to the Needles on the Isle of Wight, so the confusion caused for both myself and Curmy at seeing the photograph on Lucy's page is not so far fetched after all.

The area around Studland was used during the Second World War for training and there is still some evidence of it with tank traps, barbed wire etc. The most obvious reference is the pill box (below) that was on the cliff top but at one point over the last sixty five years has made its way down onto the beach - let's just hope nobody was underneath as it fell!
















I can actually claim a one of those six degrees of seperation connections to the Bankes family who owned all the land at Studland and between the ferry and Swanage, as well as Corfe Castle and Kingston Lacey. In the sixties my Grandmother was nurse to Lady Bankes and when I was seven and my brother five we were taken out by Lady Bankes in her chauffeur driven Rolls Royce for a day out at Kingston Lacey. One of my boasts was that I had been a visitor to Kingston Lacey before it was open to the public.