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Fontmell down can be easily found on the just a few miles south of Shaftesbury on Spread eagle Hill between Blandford Forum and Shaftesbury. 863 feet above sea level with amazing views across Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. This is definitely a good place for long views and to blow the cobwebs away.

Parking is very easy with a national trust car park just off the road and easy to find. If you prefer the walk then there are good walks to be had from shatesbury or Compton Abbas around Fontmell down and it’s neighbor melbury down.

I visited the Stone on the 19th March 2012 CE.
It’s now very dimly lit. The entire building empty, a To Let sign hangs from the building. Through the window to the stone I could see abandoned display and merchandising displays, perhaps left behind by the sports shop that last occupied this space. The stone deserves more. Opposite the space aged facade of the new loo Cannon St station, mood lit in comparison to the empty and forgotten space that the stone resides in on the other side of the road.
There are barriers and road works currently slightly dividing a symbol of the ancient past and the modern reality of modern commuters passing buy with take away coffee and laptops unaware of the almost hidden stone. If you stop though, even just for a second then you can still spend time at the stone, consider it’s past, hope for a better custodian than an empty shop space to let.

If the remainder of the stone is still beneath ground level and you believe in the ley line theories by Iain Sinclair and others then this is still a magical place, albeit one that requires as healthy dose of imagination and romantic thought.

This is a truly magical place and (disputably) the highest place in Dorset, I believe it is as everything else in sight from here is below.

The approach I took was from Broadwinsor on the B3164 and then onto the B6132 and then take the bridle way at the old farmhouse across the filed and up towards Lewesdon Hill.

Before the steep climb begun I crossed what I’m told is an old drovers road or route, this place feels incredibly atmospheric from here right until you reach the top, with trees ranging from relatively young beech trees to ancient looking Oaks.

Oncve at the top there is a clear and quite flat plateau, surrounded almost completely with trees but still offering amazing views to Pilsdon Pen, Golden Cap and Lambert’s Castle. Maybe with a pair of binoculars and on a clear day you could even see across to Glastonbury Tor, as my guide and fellow walker on this day has.

On visiting yesterday I found the ever growing housing estate of Pounbury growing closer, in fact in places the view is dominated by the faux historic architecture.

Even so Poundbury Hillfort still retains its soul, housing estates, construction works, railway lines all play a part in its modern day perspectives but do not disconnect this place from Maiden Castle or the landscape as a whole. Although very easily accessible from the road this still feels like a hidden place, perhaps because it’s somewhat on the edge of time. Well worth a visit if you find yourself near to Dorchester.