Great Coastal Railway Journeys: Season 2, Episode 17

2 - 17: Kimmeridge to Brownsea Island

Michael alights at Wareham to visit Dorset's internationally renowned Jurassic Coast. Exploring the geology, he discovers black gold locked into its rocks and visits one of the county's oldest oil fields.

In Swanage, Michael visits the pretty Victorian harbour before riding the magnificent Swanage heritage railway to Corfe Castle, the location for one of the most dramatic hilltop castle ruins in the country.

In Poole, at one of Dorset's biggest employers, handmade cosmetics maker Lush, Michael is introduced to a phenomenon entirely new to him, the bath bomb. Heading back to the sea, Michael takes a stroll along the beach at Sandbanks, reputedly the home of the nation's most expensive coastal real estate, with local resident Harry Redknapp.

Michael ends his journey on Brownsea Island. He learns of Mary Bonham-Christie, a controversial conservationist who rid the island of almost all its human residents to create a protected habitat for wildlife - which today includes the red squirrel.