Race to the bottom - Swanage Railway, Ball clay Mine, & Corfe Castle

7 July 2026

Millbank B&B We are on the second floor.  It is very warm, the overnight low above 20C.  The windows are open.  Around dawn civil war breaks out in the gull community.  There is a lot of shouting, followed by a lot more shouting.  Eventually the church clock over the road strikes 5, and I go back to sleep for a little while. At Millbrook, breakfast is ordered by underlining items on a laminated menu and putting it in a box the night before.  I singularly failed at this, missing a tomato today, and toast on the last day.   Today we are travelling on the Swanage Railway, the plan is to travel to Nordon, the furthest stop on the line. From there visit the clay mining museum, then travel one stop back to Corfe Castle, look around the castle, and finally return on the train to Swanage. The plan was executed flawlessly.

The Engine 34072 looks capable of so much more than chugging up and down a short heritage railway. I wanted to see it on a main line, where it can really 'let rip' and properly show its power. We barely saw any smoke at all.

Here's a little of what the website says about it.  Here is the Wiki Entry for the class

Ball Clay has been taken from mines in the area for thousands of years.  It is a very useful clay for certain types of ceramics - particularly porcelain and insulators.  The picture shows the railway down which the clay was taken to be shipped to its destination.  The tunnel was moved and re-built here specifically for the museum.  Going down the walkway required care.  Ball Clay mining continues in the area, but now open cast mining is used to get the clay from the ground.  The guy protecting the entrance was past mid-talk when we arrived, so we caught a little of what he was saying, but missed much more.  His colleague who we met at the end was on his first day, and making too much of an effort to engage people.  He seemed a little awkward, but I'm sure he'll get it soon enough.

We caught the next train to Corfe Castle. (Also the name of the town.) The Greyhound Pub had been recommended by the guy asking for donations at the entrance to the museum, it proved a good place to eat.  The service was fast, and the food was good.  The castle is an imposing ruin.  Captured by treachery during the civil war, it was destroyed by the parliamentary sappers, who knew just where to put the charges to do the most damage.   The castle had been precariously mounted on top of the hill in the time of King John and the weight of it had caused the hill to deform, requiring a re-work of the building plans to prevent the walls from breaking.  I had a brief chat with the workers who were removing plant life from the crevices and re-filling with mortar.  The intention being to protect the monument from the ravages of the coming winter.  Then there was the long, slow, walk down the hill.

A view of Corfe Castle, from Corfe Castle.

The model village, built in the 1960s, it has the castle modelled in all its original glory.  The modelling is impressive and well imagined, compare what you see there, with views from the castle. We also visited the church, which is quite large for the size of the town.

Sorry about the shaky start, here is the 34072 entering Corfe Castle Station in reverse.

A very good day out in the heat.  We returned to the B&B via the co-op, where we bought salad and fruit.  So, dinner was in our room, quite late in the evening as we tried to cool down before bed.

Swanage Day 3 - Fish Day

At breakfast, I decided to try the kipper.  Fish oils are good for the joints - slightly stiff after yesterday, and the brain - beyond repair?, and most importantly, I love them.  It was a good kipper and very well boned.  None of the backbone was delivered. 

The plan for today was to walk to Corfe along the top of the downs and get the train back to Swanage.

We started at 9:50 and because we left the maps at home headed in the wrong direction to get up on to Ballard Down.  That meant another trek up the 99 steps.  I started counting, it's what I do, at 23 there was a stone with directions to Ulwell.  This meant walking along less than halfway up, but it was preferable to continue the walk away from our destination. It was another hot day, and we were soon struggling with the heat, but still enjoying the walk.  The distance to Old Harry on the stones steadily increasing.  1.5 miles, 2 miles, 2.5 miles.  The path went into a wood - some relief from the sun, which seems stronger today than yesterday, and the sign post pointing back the way we had come 'Old Harry's rocks 2 miles'.  Erm? The path turned and we were at a road.  No more PW signs .  The Purbeck Way has vanished!  Nothing to do but follow the road to Corfe - but in reality it is a terrible option that just gets worse a quarter of a mile later when we arrive at a T-junction with a B road.  Thankfully a short way along the B road is a NT path to Ailing Down.  With some relief we follow the path up and through a wood until suddenly the PW signs resume, and we are back on track.

An hour later a permissive path takes us off the down and into Corfe, there is a little confusion, but we exit the countryside next to The Castle Inn.  There is no contest - we stop for lunch.  Sitting in the garden waiting for the fish pie to arrive I am trying to get the hens that are pecking around to get close enough together for a picture with just three of them in for Leo.  The hens will not cooperate.  Perhaps I should have ordered CHICKEN!  The food arrives, and we eat quickly, both of us hungry after the long walk.  At this stage I estimate that we have covered six miles.
After lunch, we visit the museum, in the smallest town hall in the world, and the model village, a scale model of Corfe, including a restored castle, and of  course a model village. I could tell whether that too had a model village.  We bought some fudge (lemon cheesecake flavour) in the sweet shop.  We have eaten it all already, it is very morish.  Then bought our tickets on the Swanage Railway and managed to get a seat in the observation carriage (greenhouse).  It was hot, but the views were worth the extra £2.
Back at the hotel, Jo went for a paddle while I slept, then shortly after six we walked part way into town for fish and chips.  It was very good, then back via the Beach Garden.  We are now sat in the hotel, blogging, and cross stitching.
Total walking distance today is around 7 miles, not nearly enough to compensate for the fudge.