Walks you can reach from Sherborne by train

Highly recommended

Old Sarum Ruins

Stonehenge

Time: 4h30–9h

1 lunch spot: the Bridge Inn (2h30–5h30 in; excellent)

Warnings: Have lunch a café or pub next to the river. Return from Stonehenge to Salisbury by bus (very frequent & reliable but check times).

Adapted from: The Rough Guide to Walks in London & the South East (3rd edition).

Dry chalky U-shaped downland valleys, wooded ridges, grassy valleys, picturesque villages, rolling hills and river valley.

Time: 5h

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

A steady climb to two Iron Age hillforts and a toll house, with wide country views.

Warnings: Includes a sustained climb.

Walk details: Great Scenic Railways of Devon & Cornwall (PDF).

Rolling farmland to a market town, reaching the River Otter, home to wild otters and reintroduced beavers.

Walk details: Great Scenic Railways of Devon & Cornwall (PDF).

Recommended: Stunning views in every direction, views of green rolling Devon countryside. A hilly walk through the Blackdown Hills, starting with easy, flat walking through meadows beside the River Yarty before a steep climb, after which it stays hilly with a lot of quiet lane walking. The lanes are a relief from mud in winter and but field sections are likely to be muddy after rain. Passes through the Blackdown Hills AONB. Excellent public transport between the two towns.

Time: 5h30–10h30

Lunch: No other facilities outside Honiton and Axminster.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Beautiful; picturesque. Riverside path and flat and easy-going.

Hilly: a quarter on high ground, rising above the surrounding land.

Woodland: a third under tree cover.

Time: 6h30–13h

Walk details: Railwalks.

An excellent route; Delightful route; lovely start and end points. A long route with very little road walking (and only minor roads), much of it on forest tracks through managed woodland, taking in several nature reserves and a National Trust estate. Easy walking for the most part, a little gooey in places after heavy rain and with a few gates and some stiles; the main challenge is the length. Passes through Bentley Wood nature reserve and at least two other nature reserves, and takes in the National Trust's Mottisfont estate. Can be shortened by jumping on the train one stop from Dunbridge to Romsey.

Woodland: two fifths under tree cover.

Time: 8h–15h30

Warnings: The approach to Romsey crosses an active gravel pit between Awbridge and Squabb Wood, which can require diversions, and the lower end of Squabb Wood can be very wet and difficult in winter.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Woodland paths and flat and easy-going.

Time: 5h30–10h30

Walk details: Railwalks.

Similar walk: Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Fabulous walking through interesting places and with some lovely views. Wonderful varied walking on back lanes, field paths and well-used dirt tracks and climbing onto the chalk plain for lovely views. A short steep climb out of Fonthill Gifford; a muddy bridleway through Eastleigh Woods toward Warminster (a drier signposted alternative exists).

Time: 6h30–13h

Warnings: A stretch along the fast, relatively busy B3089 east of Hindon has no verge; the crossing of the A303 needs care and patience (sightlines are good).

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Chalk downlands, rolling hills, varied woods, field boundaries, farm tracks and following the Clarendon Way.

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Source: An alternative variant of Dean to Mottisfont – the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Chalk downlands, rolling hills, varied woods, field boundaries, farm tracks, steep-sided chalk downs, river meadows, Test Valley chalk stream and sculpture park.

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Source: An alternative variant of Dean to Mottisfont – the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).