Anger as Dorset estate withdraws public entry to ‘stunning’ local landmark

A child plays in the Bridehead Estate waterfall as thousands made their last pilgrimage to the grounds. Photograph: Jim Wileman/The Guardian

For decades the lake and waterfall on the Bridehead Estate in Dorset have brought joy to visitors who used the permissive path to access a scene of pastoral loveliness that could have come straight from the pages of a Thomas Hardy novel.

But there was melancholy – and anger – among the hundreds, possibly thousands, who made final pilgrimages to the village of Littlebredy this week after it was announced that public access was being halted from 2 June.