Escape to THE ISLE OF PURBECK

First things first: the Isle of Purbeck is not an island at all, but a 60-square-mile peninsula jutting dramatically out of Dorset’s coastline. Its wide sandy beaches, rocky precipices and clifftop plateaus edge a pocket of unchanged loveliness: heathland dotted with bright gorse; green valleys knitted with remote farms and tiny hamlets; and, not least, the spine of chalk – the Purbeck Hills – running right through it, with a swooping gap showcasing the momentous ruins of Corfe Castle.

To say this land is ancient barely touches the bones of it. Purbeck forms part of the World Heritage Jurassic Coastline, with 185-million-year-old fossils to prove it. Stone Age burial chambers dot the hillsides; there is evidence of early settlements; and the famous Purbeck stone was first