Dorset

Dorset is a picture-postcard county in South West England, overlooking the English Channel. Its county town is Dorchester and it neighbours the county of Devon to its west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to its north-east, and Hampshire in the east. The seaside resorts of Bournemouth, Poole, Weymouth, Swanage, and Lyme Regis make it a very popular tourist destination. But the county is most famous for the geologically significant Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, with land formations that include Lulworth Cove, Chesil Beach, the Isle of Portland, and Durdle Door.

Many of the novels of Thomas Hardy, who was born near Dorchester, are based in fictional representations of places within Dorset and the county has the highest proportion of conservation areas in England. Nearly half of it has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The South West Coast Path, a National Trail, is a popular route by which visitors can explore the beautiful scenery and take in the various sites of scientific, geological, historical, and literary interest.