Lawrence of Arabia's retreat at Clouds Hill

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Walk directions

At the corner of the car park, a memorial stone marks where Lawrence was fatally injured. Behind it, take a path signed for Clouds Hill, running to the right of the road. Soon you pass a second, older memorial stone. The path becomes sandy and heads uphill by the fence. Bushes screen Clouds Hill, to the left. Keep right, round the fence, and bear left to the road.

Turn sharp left along the verge, then at the junction cross the road on your right, to a waymarked path across Turners Puddle Heath Nature Reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Go through a gate at the other side and walk up the road opposite, to pass Cull Pepper Cottage to a junction.

Turn left (‘Affpuddle’) for 50yds (45m). Opposite a second branch of the road from the north, turn left again on a firm path across Bryants Puddle Heath. Keep straight on where a track crosses onto the track ahead. This leads (southwest, bending south) through a gate into Okers Wood SSSI. Pass Okers Wood House and join its drive, which bends right then left to meet a road.

Cross the road and go straight on through more woods, with a field opening on your right. At the end of the field bear left for 150yds (140m) on a woodland path. As the woodland opens out to tall pines, bear right, at a Jubilee Trail waymarker. Follow the trail as it winds under the pines then through rhododendrons, bearing right over a tiny stream, to duckboards and finally a footbridge and stile at the end of the woods.

Bear half right across the field. Cross another footbridge and keep the same direction to a Jubilee Trail sign at the corner of a fenced copse. Head straight on along the left edge of this large field to a stile and fingerpost.

Cross the stile and turn right into the track. Go over a bridge, then bear right to cross a long bridge over a ford. Pass the former post office and a side road on the right to reach a three-way road junction. Walk straight ahead to visit St Nicholas churchyard (through a porticoed gateway on the right) with Lawrence’s grave at the far end. Return past the junction and turn right for the church. Retrace your route to waypoint 6 and keep straight on. In 150yds (140m) take a track on the right (‘Bovington’) and, in another 300yds (275m), bear left (Lawrence of Arabia waymark). The broad track leads through a gate in woodland and across the heath to another junction.

Turn left, signed ‘Clouds Hill’ up the sandy track. Where it divides turn right (Lawrence of Arabia waymark), up hill. Where the track ends at the top of the hill, the range path ahead is fenced in, with yellow markers. It runs to the left of a tank track, to reach the road just left of the car park.

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Location

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Additional information

Terrain - Heathland tracks, forest, field and woodland paths

Landscape - Open heath, woodland beside army training area, village

Dog friendliness - May need lifting over some stiles due to rabbit fencing

Parking - Car park on road between Bovington Camp and Clouds Hill

Toilets en route - None on route

Walks in Dorset Dog-friendly walks in Dorset

About the walk

Captain T E Lawrence continues to fascinate, thanks in part to David Lean’s iconic 1962 film, Lawrence of Arabia. Thomas Edward Lawrence was born in 1888 in North Wales. As an Oxford undergraduate he undertook a 1,100 mile (1,769km) walking tour of Palestine and Syria, collecting material for a...

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Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

Find out more

Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

Learn more

Get an AA guide

Explore our range of ‘50 Walks in’ guides - they’re the ideal companion for a ramble.

Learn more

About the area

Dorset is made up of rugged coastlines, high chalk downlands and a chain of picturesque villages and seaside towns that make up Britain’s Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, noted for its layers of shale and numerous fossils embedded in the rock. Hidden gems of Dorset can be found down winding, country lanes that lead to snug villages hidden from view.