Worbarrow Bay and beach (near Tyneham) Picture

Worbarrow Bay Beach

The Worbarrow bay walk from Tyneham village is one of many beautiful Tyneham short walks taking you through beautiful untouched Dorset countryside and offering breath-taking views as you approach. The Worbarrow bay walk is one of the most rewarding short walks from Tyneham. Along with Tyneham residents, the residents of Worbarrow were also given orders to leave in 1943, ruins of Worbarrow cottages can be seen as you approach the beach. The closest carpark to Worbarrow Bay is the Tyneham village carpark.

Worbarrow Bay photo

This photo of Worbarrow Bay shows worbarrow beach looking west from the bottom of Worbarrow tout.

How do I get to Worbarrow Bay? The Worbarrow bay walk from Tyneham Village

The Worbarrow bay walk is a short walk from the centre of Tyneham village. Starting at Tyneham church, walk down post office row, past the small pond and on towards Tyneham carpark. Walk through the carpark over the little bridge across Tyneham Gwyle towards Tyneham farm. At Tyneham farm, turn away from the farm and follow the track through the beautiful Tyneham countryside, the track runs alongside woodland and will bring you out towards Worbarrow Bay. On your approach, you will see the ruins of a Worbarrow cottage (Gate cottage) and breath-taking views across the bay with Worbarrow tout directly in front.

An alternate route can be taken - the Tyneham woodland walk, takes you across the field from Tyneham carpark and through some pretty Tyneham woods before coming out onto the aforementioned track that takes you down to Worbarrow Bay. Worbarrow Bay can also be reached from Kimmeridge and Lulworth along the coastal path.

Worbarrow beach - a beautiful untouched beach

For centuries before Tyneham village was taken over by the army, the villagers of Tyneham would have made the short trip described above in our Worbarrow bay walk down to their local beach, the children of Tyneham school would have paid regular visits down to Worbarrow bay as part of their nature studies. Because of Tynehams unique history, the Tyneham countryside as we see it today is little changed from all those years ago - its not hard to walk through the village and around its surrounding beautiful countryside and go back in time, a time before motor cars became popular, the farms farmed by manual labour before the first tractors arrived, walking through Tyneham village takes you back to a forgotten time.

Worbarrow Tout and Millers cottage

Worbarrow tout is a large hill that juts out into the sea, just past the Millers' cottage, now nothing more than a few bricks, the Millers' cottage stood just up from the beach, it would have offered fantastic views across Worbarrow bay - one can only imagine how difficult it must have been for this family of Worbarrow fishermen to have to vacate such a beautiful cottage. Fishing made up much of the employment around Worbarrow and fishing from Worbarrow beach is still popular today. Other residents of Worbarrow would have worked on the farms around Tyneham, the children would have gone to the nearby Tyneham school when not helping with their families in the fields or on the boats. The residents of Worbarrow would have made the regular Sunday walk up to Tyneham for church services.

The walk up to Worbarrow Tout may be a steep one but the views from the top are really worth it, looking over Worbarrow beach and the bay, out towards Kimmeridge and Lulworth and back towards the village itself - some wonderful views of the village can also be seen from the surrounding hills of the Tyneham countryside but you must stick to the public footpaths.

Worbarrow Cottages

As you walk towards the beach, you will see Gate cottage, just on the approach to the bay as you walk from Tyneham village, Gate cottage is one of the few remaining ruins that resembles anything like a house in Worbarrow. Sitting just up from the beach, Gate cottage would have had beautiful views across the countryside and the coast. A little further down, almost on the beach itself is the few stones that remain of the Millers cottage and the odd wall of 2 boathouses can also seen.

Boat trips around Worbarrow bay

Back when the village was inhabited, some Worbarrow fishermen and their families used to supplement their income by selling refreshments to the increasing number of visitors that the modern motor car brought to the village and its beach, they also offered rowing boat trips around the bay to visitors who would come from the surrounding areas to relax in this beautiful part of Dorset.

What can we see in this Worbarrow picture

Looking at the picture above, Worbarrow Tout is behind us, also behind us is the shear drop of Gad cliff. In the distance, you can see Arish Mell, a totally deserted beach that is completely inaccessible due to the presence of live ammunition that may have fallen there from the ranges, in the foreground we can see the pebble beach of Worbarrow bay.

When is Worbarrow open?

Worbarrow and Tyneham are all within the Lulworth ranges and therefore are not open all the time. Generally they are open at the weekends and during holidays, however there are certain weekends the Lulworth ranges remain closed to the public therefore it is always worth checking before setting out.

Worbarrow picnic - a great place for a picnic in Dorset

Worbarrow has been left untouched for almost a century. You will need to bring your own refreshments, you won't find any refreshment huts on this beach! We love taking a picnic down to Tyneham or Worbarrow - there are plenty of open spaces. There are no toilets at the beach, the nearest toilets being located in one of the old buildings of Tyneham farm.