Great Ovens’ Nature Reserve

Late December 2025

I didn’t feel like travelling far, but I did feel like I wanted a night out under the stars, so headed to a local forest a short distance away.

A big reason to head to Great Ovens, was to go trig bagging, and more specifically – to bag the very green trig point – TP3411- Gore Heath, then find a spot for the night and make camp.

The night time temperature was going to be below zero, so I was double-bagging tonight. I’ve been to this area a few times before, so I passed one of my old spots. The forest is mainly plantation trees, so very similar to other plantation forests, in that there’s not a lot of wildlife, where the main tracks are solid, and well-maintained, with a lot of small tracks leading off them and all through all the trees and all areas of the forest. There are also many many dog walkers and many free parking spots which obviously encourage and make visiting easy.

The last time I was here, was at the very end of winter. I was in my Dutch army bivvi, and I found it a little difficult to find a good spot. I ended up camping on a sandy and stony patch in the heathland.

This time I found many spots around the forest, but they were always close to a path of a track. I did find what I thought were great spots, only to look up and spot a dog walker passing by.

I managed to find a spot that was off the track, next to an incline that had no path access. I was lucky enough to be around a few non-plantation pines, so the ground was smoother, more open and less littered with debris.

I settled in between the surrounding bushes and against a tree and set up the tent, and made sure there were no widow makers above me. I had a clearing so I was able to see the night sky and the red dawn sky in the morning. Just making a coffee on the camp stove in the morning, the tent was still up, and I spotted dog walkers passing close by.

No issues all night and I slept really well and bagged a trig point

Coordinates:

GPS: SY 92848 90998

Google maps: 50°43’06.8″N 2°06’09.7″W

What3words: mats.norms.drums

Getting there:

On other visits to the area, I have travelled by train to Wareham and walked from there. It’s a nice walk from the station, down a road, past a few houses, through a park and then through a golf course, and the walk is roughly 1.4 miles / 2.2 km. This time I parked up on Filuel Road, which is a dead-end and has an access point to Great Ovens. Plenty of on-street parking along the whole street, and surrounding area.

I messed up the distance measurements on my phone app, but I estimate the distance from where I camped to where I parked was only around 2 miles (3 km).

There is plenty of on-street parking on the nice estate where I parked. There are also many other parking spots in the area- from housing areas to free forest car parks which are dotted along roads such as Morden Road B3075.

Heads up:

It’s a nature reserve, so some small areas have been fenced-off for protection, and there are signs regarding the nesting of birds between April and August. From what I remember, this mainly applies to the heathland areas, and not the plantation tree sections.

There are plenty of dog walkers in the area, and I usually find these places are quite quiet in the early afternoon. However, they soon pick up in the late afternoon and early evening as people return from work and take their dogs out, making a bit of a peak rush hour.

I was secluded and protected on a few sides by a steep bank and some bushes, but in the morning, and while I was making coffee, a dog walker in a bright jacket was visible on a path not too far from my camp spot.

#greatovens greatovensnaturereserve #dorset #tentcamp #wildcamp #phoxx1v2 #forestcamp #trigpoint #trigbagging

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