River Cerne

[3] Another wrote, "The change from the sheep-grazed open downland landscape of the river's source to the intimate enclosed beauty of Minterne Gardens is quite magical".

This walk follows the course from near its source in the basin formed by the hill of High Stoy and Dogbury to its junction with the Frome in the water meadows at Charminster.

The Cerne is largely groundwater fed with some upstream catchment, running primarily over chalk and upper greensand.

The bed armour is mainly of flint overlain by seasonal sandy silt, with a healthy ecosystem of flora and fauna.

[5] In the past, the river has over spilled into Cerne Abbas, however no river-related flooding has occurred since a relief scheme, involving a system of gullies and culverts, and a reservoir capable of holding 44,000,000 litres of floodwater, was commissioned in 1986.