WHEN the sun is shining what better way is there than to spend a few hours in beautiful countryside with breathtaking views and interesting sights?

Dorset is blessed with one of the area’s most stunning natural features – the South Dorset Ridgeway. A spine of land stretching from east to west, it divides the county’s stunning shores and coast from its fertile interior and has been used for millennia as a place to watch the sea and bury the dead.

The walks are part of Ridgeway Voices, a month-long exhibition at Dorset County Museum in Dorchester that celebrates the South Dorset Ridgeway and the work of the South Dorset Ridgeway Heritage Project and explores the area, while examining its history and its effects on the local population, both in the past and the present day.

There are five walks in this mini-festival led by people who love the South Dorset Ridgeway and all are invited to join them for great views, great history and great company.

The festival begins on Friday, May 20 at Hardy Monument and Black Down.

Landowner Andrew Duke will lead a walk around land his family have owned since 1942. He was given the land in 1999 and has been there almost daily since. Share his knowledge of the history of the monument, the flora and fauna in the woods and heathland as you journey through woodland with a visit to the military bunker.

There is a more strenuous walk on the May 28 when South Dorset Ridgway Heritage Project officer Sarah Harbige leads a walk across The Lofty Ridgeway from the A35 at Long Bredy Bank Barrow to the village of Abbotsbury, following the route of the Macmillan Way.

Share some of Sarah’s favourite historic monuments and views, such as those from Tenants Hill and the Grey Mare and her Colts.

On June 5, Broadmayne resident takes the route of Hardy’s High Road – following partly in the footsteps of Ann Garland from Thomas Hardy’s novel The Trumpet Major and on the June 7 Gordon Le Pard from the county council’s Historic Environment takes a stroll around the Broken Barrows of Bronkham Hill.

Finally the last walk of the festival, from Came Down to Sutton Poyntz through 10,000 years is led by Wendy and Malcolm Beeson. Wendy and Malcolm have been discovering the beauty of the Ridgeway since they retired to Weymouth eight years ago. Join them on this varied walk through downland, woods and unspoiled villages, with extensive views over the beautiful Jurassic Coast.

On the way they will pass many historic sites and the more recent past will be represented by industrial archaeology, the Osmington White Horse and the new Weymouth Relief Road. If history doesn’t turn you on, then there will also be a little geology, botany and some literary references too.

Ridgeway Voices is the culmination of a project organised by Dorset’s AONB – Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – team, which is led by Sarah Harbige.

Sarah said: “I love the South Dorset Ridgeway. I love the fact that it has so much history and when I am out on it I love thinking about all the people, thousands of years ago, that have walked where I am walking.

“It is an amazing place, with so much history and atmosphere.”

The exhibition explores the special landscape through the voices and memories of people who have lived and grown up in the area, as well as through photography, song and storytelling.

Dorset singer and storyteller Tim Laycock will be appearing at the museum in High West Street, Dorchester on June 10 for an evening of traditional county tales and music.

For further details of the exhibition and its associated events, call 01305 228239 or visit southdorsetridgeway.org.uk. The walks are all free so early booking is advisable to avoid disappointment.