Gore Heath is an area of coniferous woodland and open heathland forming part of

Wareham Forest Wareham Forest is an area of countryside in Dorset, England, consisting of open heathland, including Decoy Heath and Gore Heath, and plantations of conifers such as Morden Heath and Bloxworth Heath. The site is managed by Forestry England for c ...

west of the

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council ...

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the English ...

conurbation in south

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It is part of the

Dorset Heaths The Dorset Heaths form an important area of heathland within the Poole Basin in southern England. Much of the area is protected. Extent According to Natural England, who have designated the Dorset Heaths as National Character Area 135, the ...

and an

SSSI A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle o ...

. Gore Heath lies about 1 kilometre west of the hamlet of Organford and 2 kilometres north of

Sandford Sandford may refer to: People * Baron Sandford * Baron Mount Sandford * Sandford (surname) * Sandford Fleming (1827-1915), Scottish-Canadian engineer and inventor of Standard Time Places Australia * Sandford, Tasmania * Sandford, Victoria Canada ...

. To the west, on the far side of the B3075, are Decoy Heath and

Morden Heath Morden is a district and town in south London, England, within the London Borough of Merton, in the ceremonial county of Greater London. It adjoins Merton Park and Wimbledon to the north, Mitcham to the east, Sutton to the south and Worcester ...

. Its northern boundary is the River Sherford, beyond which is farmland and the hamlet of Slepe on the A 35. Gore Heath is a popular walking, horse riding and cycling destination as well as a habitat for rare

sand lizard The sand lizard (''Lacerta agilis'') is a lacertid lizard distributed across most of Europe from France and across the continent to Lake Baikal in Russia. It does not occur in European Turkey. Its distribution is often patchy. In the sand lizard' ...

s and ground-nesting birds.''Dorset gravel plan for forest gets over 200 objections''
at www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 14 Dec 2014 It has recently been the centre of a controversial plan to turn most of the area over for the extraction of

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classif ...

with fears that it will subsequently become a

landfill site A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...

.''Gravel plan to ‘destroy’ area''
at www.bournemouthecho.co.uk. Retrieved 14 Dec 2014.

References

Geography of Dorset Protected areas of Dorset {{Dorset-geo-stub