Warren Hill summit
Only 36 metres high, yet it frames the harbour, the open sea and the Isle of Wight in one sweep.
Two thousand years ago this sandy headland on the English Channel was a trading port unloading Mediterranean wine and figs; today more than a million people a year come not for the history but for the air. Hengistbury Head is where Bournemouth's beaches run out, where the long promenade gives way to grass and sand dunes that seal off Christchurch Harbour. Its summit, Warren Hill, is a modest 36 metres, yet the view catches you off guard: the still harbour on one side, open sea on the other, and the Isle of Wight and the white Needles on the horizon. It is a nature reserve and a Scheduled Monument at once, with layers from the Stone Age to the Iron Age under the turf. You will not see any of that in the field, though. The finds live in the free visitor centre by the car park, a small eco-building opened in December 2013 and open daily from 10:00 to 16:00. Half an hour is plenty, and it is a good family refuge when the weather turns. What actually deserves your time is the walking: a loop over the top of the head takes one to two hours, then a descent to the sand spit known as Mudeford Sandbank, where more than 300 tiny wooden beach huts sit in rows, among the most expensive property in Britain for their size, a sight that raises a smile more than a gasp. You reach the spit on foot, about two kilometres on level ground, or on the little land train that runs from the Hiker Cafe from April to October at around £5 a head each way (card only). From the spit a small ferry crosses to Mudeford Quay in minutes for £3.50 per adult. Children adore the whole chain: train, then boat, then beach. Pushchairs manage the lower path easily; the climb to the summit is a steep gravel slope and does not suit them. Respect the cliff edge: the head is eroding fast (about 150 metres lost in two centuries) and the marked paths exist for a reason. From central Bournemouth it is about a twenty-minute drive, and the car park is paid and not cheap in season, £3.20 an hour and £9.60 for four hours; it fills early on summer weekends. Alternatives are a bus to Southbourne and a fifteen-minute walk, or a stroll along the promenade from Boscombe. The seaward beach is shingle and sand, less groomed than the town beach, and the whole place is exposed to the wind in every season, so bring a jacket even in August. In winter the head stays open but the train stops, the ferry shrinks to weekends and halts altogether in December and January, and daylight is gone before four, which turns it into a birdwatchers' outing rather than a family one.
Only 36 metres high, yet it frames the harbour, the open sea and the Isle of Wight in one sweep.
A sand spit lined with more than 300 colourful wooden huts, reached by land train and then a small ferry.
Finds from the Stone Age to the Iron Age port, housed in a small eco-building by the car park.
Broadway, Southbourne, Bournemouth BH6 4EN
Yes, if you have half a day and mild weather: land train, ferry, then beach is a chain children love, and the lower path is flat and pushchair-friendly. But the climb to the top is steep and the beach is shingly and windswept, so if swimming and sandcastles are the goal, the town beach serves you better.
Yes, the head is open and free all year and parking is far cheaper (about £5.30 for the whole day), but the land train stops from November to March, the ferry runs weekends only and not at all in December and January, the walk to the spit becomes two kilometres each way in a cold wind, and it is dark before four. A fine outing for birdwatchers, not a family day.