As part of our cruise to England, Ireland and Scotland we stopped at the Isle of Portland for the day. We decided to take the leisurely tour of Weymouth and Dorchester with the main attraction being an afternoon at the lovely Corfe Castle.
You can read my full TripAdvisor review on Corfe Castle here.
Here are seven things to know when visiting Corfe Castle…
1. There is a Corfe Castle visitor centre where you can park your vehicle, or in our case this is where the coach dropped us off. Inside the visitor’s centre there were restrooms, a small cafe and a few areas to sit. It does get busy when there is a cruise ship in port, as numerous coaches and tour groups stop here.
2. From the visitor’s centre you have to cross a fairly busy road with no stop lights or official cross-walk. This did take some time and was a little worrisome for a few tourists in our group with young children or who had mobility issues. We did all make it there and back safely – just something to note.
3. Once you cross the road, there is an unpaved and winding path that leads you up-hill to the town and castle. As you get closer to the town the hill gets quite steep. This would not be recommended for people who have issues walking or for non-motorized wheelchairs, as it will likely require assistance to get to the top. In total, the walk took approximately 10 minutes at a leisurely pace. When you arrive at the top, you turn left and the entrance to the castle/ticket office is approximately 40 feet away. Good to know: there are restrooms here as well.
4. Once you are inside the castle grounds, there is quite a steep incline on a cobblestone path to get to the ruins of the castle. Once at the top there are a few areas that you can only get to if you go up some stairs/stone risers. In the castle ruins there are a lot of uneven surfaces and rocky paths to walk across.
5. There are beautiful views of the English countryside from the top of the hill, and it is definitely worth the walk.
6. Total time to visit would be no more than an hour – there really isn’t much to see or do aside from take photos and admire the views.
7. Make sure you visit one of the cafes or pubs after for some scones with delicious clotted cream and jam – we paired ours with some cask ales! You can also wander around the little town to take some photos and shop before heading back down to your vehicle.
Overall, we enjoyed this attraction and especially enjoyed the scones!
