Gore Heath is an area of coniferous woodland and open heathland forming part of Wareham Forest west of the

Poole Poole () is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east ...

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

conurbation in south

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. 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 ...

. Gore Heath lies about 1 kilometre west of the hamlet of

Organford Organford is a hamlet in the county of Dorset, England. It is located just south of the A35 between Lytchett Minster and Slepe Slepe is a hamlet in the county of Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremon ...

and 2 kilometres north of Sandford. To the west, on the far side of the B3075, are Decoy Heath and Morden Heath. Its northern boundary is the

River Sherford The River Sherford, also frequently called the Sherford River, is one of the four main rivers flowing into Poole Harbour in the county of Dorset, England. It is about 12 kilometres long and drains over the tertiary beds near the harbour.

, 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 #REDIRECT Sand lizard {{redirect category shell, {{R from alternative capitalisation{{R from move ...

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 on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

with fears that it will subsequently become a

landfill site A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...

.''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