This article is about the Stour Valley Way, in Dorset. For the Walk, in Kent, see Stour Valley Walk

Stour Valley Walk

The Stour Valley Walk is a recreational walking route that follows the River Stour, through the Low Weald and Kent Downs, from its source at Lenham to its estuary at Pegwell Bay....

. For the Path, in East Anglia, see Stour Valley Path

The Stour Valley Way is a 64 mile long-distance footpath

Trail

A trail is a path with a rough beaten or dirt/stone surface used for travel. Trails may be for use only by walkers and in some places are the main access route to remote settlements...

 in Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 from Stourton

Stourton, Wiltshire

Stourton is a village in Wiltshire, England, at . The village is close to the county boundary with Somerset and about south of the Somerset market town of Frome.Stourton is part of the Stourhead estate, now in the ownership of the National Trust....

 to Hengistbury Head

Hengistbury Head

Hengistbury Head is a headland jutting into the English Channel between Bournemouth and Milford on Sea in the English county of Dorset.At the end is a spit which creates the narrow entrance to Christchurch Harbour.-Location:...

.

The path uses public rights of way and permitted paths to follow the catchment area of the River Stour

River Stour, Dorset

The River Stour is a 60.5 mile long river which flows through Wiltshire and Dorset in southern England, and drains into the English Channel. It is sometimes called the Dorset Stour to distinguish it from rivers of the same name...

. It passes through the town

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

 of Wimborne and the village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

s of Stourton, Gillingham

Gillingham, Dorset

Gillingham is a town in the Blackmore Vale area of Dorset, England. The town is the most northerly in the county. It is 3 miles south of the A303 lying on the B3092 and B3081. It is near to the town of Shaftesbury which lies 7 miles to the south east. Neighbouring hamlets included Peacemarsh, Bay...

, West Stour, Bourton

Bourton, Dorset

Bourton is a village in north Dorset, England, situated north of the A303 road on the border with Somerset and Wiltshire between Mere and Wincanton. The village has a population of 772 and marks the northernmost point in Dorset...

, Silton

Silton

Silton is a village in north Dorset, England, situated in the Blackmore Vale four miles north west of Gillingham. The village has a population of 134 ....

, Milton, Ecclife, Marnhull

Marnhull

Marnhull is a village in the Blackmore Vale area of north Dorset, England. It is north of Sturminster Newton, between Shaftesbury and Sherborne and about north of Bournemouth and Weymouth...

, Sturminster Newton

Sturminster Newton

Sturminster Newton, known to locals as Stur, is a town in the Blackmore Vale area of Dorset, England. It is situated on a low limestone ridge in a meander of the River Stour. The town is at the centre of a large dairy agriculture region, around which the town's economy is built...

, Child Okeford

Child Okeford

Child Okeford is a quiet village in north Dorset, England, situated four miles east of Sturminster Newton and downstream from it along the River Stour which passes half a mile west of the village...

, Stourpaine

Stourpaine

Stourpaine is a village in north Dorset, England, situated on the River Stour and A350 road in the south east corner of the Blackmore Vale, under Cranborne Chase, three miles north west of Blandford Forum. The village has a population of 608 ....

, Bryanston, Blandford St. Mary, Charlton Marshall

Charlton Marshall

Charlton Marshall is a village in north Dorset, England, situated beside the River Stour on the A350 road two miles south of the market town Blandford Forum. The village has a population of 1,150 ....

, Shapwick

Shapwick, Dorset

Shapwick is a village and civil parish in east Dorset, England, situated on the River Stour five miles south east of Blandford Forum and eight miles north of Poole...

, Oakley, Canford Magna, Knighton, Dudsbury and Holdenhurst

Holdenhurst

Holdenhurst is a small isolated village situated in green belt land in the north-east suburbs of Bournemouth, England. The village comprises fewer than 30 dwellings, two farms and the parish church...

.

There are ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

 crossings between Hengistbury Head

Hengistbury Head

Hengistbury Head is a headland jutting into the English Channel between Bournemouth and Milford on Sea in the English county of Dorset.At the end is a spit which creates the narrow entrance to Christchurch Harbour.-Location:...

 and Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

 town quay or Mudeford

Mudeford

Mudeford was originally a small fishing village in the borough of Christchurch, Dorset southern England, lying at the entrance to Christchurch Harbour. The River Mude and Bure Brook flow into the harbour there...

 Quay.

The path has two alternative sections which can be used to form circular walks: one to the south west of Wimborne, and the other to the south west of Hurn Airport.

The footpath is waymarked

Waymarking

Waymarking is an activity where people locate and log interesting locations around the world, usually with a GPS receiver and a digital camera. Waymarking differs from geocaching in that there is no physical container to locate at the given coordinates. Waymarking identifies points of interest for...

. As of June 2005 many of the waymark arrows on the section between Bear Cross and Longham are pointing in the wrong directions.

This route is shown as a series of coloured diamonds on Ordnance Survey

Ordnance Survey

Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...

1:25,000 and 1:50,000 maps.