The anger while the succession of the Dorset withdraws public entry to the local “Superb” monument | Dorset

For decades, the lake and the Domaine de la Mariée du Dorset brought joy to visitors who used the permissive path to access a pastoral beauty scene that could have come directly from the pages of a novel by Thomas Hardy.

But there was melancholy – and anger – among the hundreds, perhaps thousands, who made final pilgrimages in the village of Littlebredy this week after having announced that access to the public was interrupted from June 2.

“Coming here is like going back in time in the 1950s or 60s when life was much easier and simpler,” said Caroline Lewis, Weymouth, a retirement official and teacher who has been visiting for half a century.

“It’s beautiful and peaceful. I have a lot of happy and peaceful memories here. It’s serene and soothing, and it seems selfish to close it. ”

Landscape photographer Rachel Baker has been visiting for 10 years. “I first came across it when we did a day trip in the Western Dorset and we stopped in Littlebrey on the way back. It was such a beautiful quiet place with a human barely in sight.

“The waterfall is particularly magnificent in the fall because it is framed by a Japanese maple, and the leaves go from golden yellow to a deep red. It has become a bit of a pilgrimage to visit and photograph the waterfall every fall.

“It looks like a huge shame that the access which has been given to the public for so many years was removed.”

Kevan Manwaring, university professor in creative writing, said it was culturally important. Hardy knew this region well, so one of the main characters in his novel Jude The Obscure was named Sue Bridehead.

The artist David Inshaw painted the field of cricket on the field in the 1970s and, more recently, the waterfall was used as a framework for a crime scene in the TV show Broadchurch.

Manwaring said: “We should encourage people to spend more time in nature, no less.”

The history of the estate dates back centuries. According to an information notice in the village church, St Michael and All Saints, the “Bredy” in “Littlebrey” comes from a Celtic word meaning to throb or boil, considered a reference to the stream.

For more than 400 years, the estate belonged to Cerne Abbey until the dissolution and at the end of the 18th century, it was bought by Robert Williams, whose family became rich from the manufacture of furniture, the bank – and a participation in the East India Company.

The stream was obtained to create Lake Bridehead. Acer, tulips and pines were planted and at the western end of the lake, and water has spread in the foam cascade.

The house and the estate were transmitted by the Williams family and the villagers and the visitors had access to the lake and the waterfall in exchange for a donation to the village church. Over the years, people have dispersed ashes of relatives – and pets – on the site.

Last year, the 16 -room house and the 2,000 acres domain came to the market with a guidance price of 30 million pounds sterling. The life of the country has described it as a “joyful house, full of surprises”.

The house and the succession would have sold quickly. The identity of the new owner did not appear, but an opinion saying that “permissive access will be withdrawn on Monday June 2, 2025” appeared on a fence next to the path.

The right to go campaign said it would dispute and “challenge” the prohibition.

Nadia Shaikh, of the campaign, said: “The beauty and tranquility of Bridehead should continue to be accessible to all, and not locked up behind the doors of the succession. This landscape is more than landscapes – this is part of the cultural and natural heritage of Dorset, intertwined with local identity and community life.

“This closure embodies the precarious nature of public access to campaigns across England. It is part of a growing tendency of micro-enclosure and campaign remuneration. The government is an urgent need to take new legislation to protect access to places like Bridehead and extend access to the countryside elsewhere. ”

Shaikh said that the history of the succession was “deeply linked to colonial exploitation” through the Eastern India Company, adding: “Maintaining public access is a positive step towards responsibility, community healing and the celebration of a more inclusive and shared heritage”.