The proposed Sadborow Solar Farm cuts right across the Wessex Ridgeway Trail, a major attraction for locals and visitors to West Dorset. The official guide describes it as
"a magnificent ridge-top route crossing Dorset’s rural heartland. The trail offers vistas across the county and breathtaking views to far beyond. The majority of the route straddles a long Chalk ridge but on occasions is broken up by small rounded hills and secluded valleys. Each section of the trail has its own unique identity and delights to explore."
The guide says this about the section of the trail through Marshwood Vale:
"From Pilsdon Pen the trail passes down through this intimate and varied landscape on its journey to Champernhayes. The rolling patchwork of fields and bowl-shaped clay vales surrounded by irregular shaped hills gives this area a distinctive appearance. The pastoral fields are scattered with ribbons of woodland and small copses and the River Char winds its way southwards to meet the sea at Charmouth.
"During the Iron Age the Marshwood Vale provided fertile land to grow crops, timber for houses and fuel for fires. It also provided animals to hunt and eat. The land was farmed and used to grow wheat, barley, peas, lentils and beans. The Iron Age people also reared sheep, pigs and cattle and kept horses for pulling carts or chariots in battle. Today the Marshwood Vale still provides fertile land for growing crops and rearing animals for food."
The section of the trail that cuts through the proposed solar farm shares its route with the historic Liberty Trail. This follows the route taken by villagers from throughout Somerset and Dorset in 1685 who were making their way to the coast at Lyme Regis to join the Duke of Monmouth. The Duke was expected to land at Lyme to lead a rebellion against King James II with the rallying call of 'Liberty to the People of God'.
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