Upwey

Upwey lies about 4 miles north of Weymouth town centre, at the foot of the chalk ridge of the South Dorset Downs. The River Wey rises here, and its source is the Upwey Wishing Well, which has drawn visitors since the 19th century. The well was rebuilt in 1991. Above the village on the Ridgeway sits a disc barrow, an ancient burial mound, and Thomas Hardy set a poem, At the Railway Station, Upway, here.

Upwey has its own railway station, on the line that runs from Weymouth towards Dorchester and beyond. It serves Upwey, neighbouring Broadwey and Littlemoor, and is the next station out of Weymouth. It has two platforms and a station car park.

The village is a good start for a day on the downs. A walk of about 5 and a quarter miles from the bottom of Church Lane passes the Wishing Well, crosses the South Dorset Ridgeway, an ancient trackway, on a bridge over the busy A354, and reaches the farming village of Bincombe. The railway runs in Bincombe Tunnel beneath the route. There are no pubs on the walk itself; the nearest are in Broadwey.

For the sea, Weymouth Beach is the closest, in the town of Weymouth about 4 miles south.