Bournemouth makes an excellent base for exploring Dorset and the Jurassic Coast. Swanage, with its sandy bay, Victorian pier, and walks out to Old Harry Rocks, is a 40-minute drive or a 90-minute trip via the chain ferry from Sandbanks. The clifftop walk from Studland to Old Harry is one of the great short coastal walks in England.
Inland, Salisbury with its great medieval cathedral is about an hour by road or train, and combines well with Stonehenge a few miles further on. The New Forest -- ancient royal hunting ground, half an hour to the east -- is full of free-roaming ponies and good walking; Lyndhurst is the main village.