Tipi Camping & Stargazing at Dancing Ledge

I never got round to sharing my birthday weekend from back in August. Now that autumn has well and truly overtaken in England, I’m really missing the long summer days that we had. That’s not to say that autumn here isn’t incredibly beautiful, but everyone likes the sunshine right?

There was no exotic destination for my birthday this year – but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any travel for me at all! Instead of just spending the weekend at home, Luke and I dug out my family’s tipi which hadn’t been used for years and headed just half hour away from the house to the Dorset coastline.

I’d seen on a National Trust map that my mum had brought home, that there was a cliff side spot called Dancing Ledge where you can go stargazing. There’s a walking route which goes straight through a campsite called Tom’s Field – where we pitched up our tipi – and joins the coastal path that eventually leads to Lulworth.

Dancing Ledge is a flat area of rock which sits at the base of a cliff. The ledge is a former stone quarry which was used last during the 1930s. By day, there were lots of families paddling in the shallow pools of water that have formed on the ledge, so Luke and I walked along the coastal path, and came back round to the ledge at nightfall.

It didn’t get dark until quite late, past 9pm. We lay on the cliff side looking up at the stars while a couple of other adventurists walked by carrying their tents for a night of wild camping. The temperature dropped pretty quickly on the hillside and Luke and I were soon forced to hurry back, teeth chattering to the warmth of our tipi.

The next morning we woke up fresh and achy, and headed to Cafe Boscanova – one of my favourite veggie friendly places in Dorset – for a big bowl of warming stewed apple porridge. What better way to start the day?

Where’s the best stargazing spot you’ve ever been to?