TWO popular Dorset attractions have teamed up to create a series of interpretation boards for its visitors. 

More than 100,000 day visitors, overnight residents and wedding guests flock to the Blue Pool Nature Reserve and Tearooms near Furzebrook in Purbeck every year.  

But few realise this popular site of special scientific interest owes its very existence to an industry that has shaped huge swathes of the heathland landscape of the Isle of Purbeck.  

Now, in partnership with the Purbeck Mining Museum, the management team at The Blue Pool has produced a series of boards explaining the history of the site over the past two and a half centuries. 

Matthew Jones, owner of The Blue Pool and The Furzebrook Estate, said: “The gorgeous lake we see today is in fact an abandoned and flooded former clay pit. 

“The distinctive and ever-changing turquoise hues of the lake are the result of light diffraction caused by miniscule clay particles suspended in the water.  

“We are creating more and more ways for our visitors to be inspired and to engage with the beautiful walkways and landscape surrounding the lake all year round, but it is also important to provide insight into the history of the area.  

“With the help and knowledge of the team at The Purbeck Mining Museum at Norden, our new interpretation boards for visitors do just that.” 

Peter Sills, chairman of the Purbeck Mining Museum, added: “The Blue Pool is a prominent and exceptional legacy from the earlier extraction of ball clay in the area. 

“Many of the former clay pits and spoil heaps have rewilded over the past few centuries and the lunar-like landscape of the industrial past has now disappeared and matured into rolling heathland that is a haven for wildlife.  

“The Blue Pool Nature Reserve is most certainly the jewel in the crown. That’s why we were so pleased to contribute to the attraction’s new timeline interpretation boards.  

“Given our shared interest in the local mining industry, I feel sure this will be the start of a very close working relationship between the two venues.” 

The Blue Pool opened as a tourist attraction nearly 90 years ago and was purchased and reopened to the public in 2021, following the death of its previous owner Jennifer Barnard.  

Recent initiatives have seen the installation of the country’s longest suspended rope bridge, and new commissions from sculptor Ted Edley, special Winter Illuminations and new fairy and gnome trails. 

The Purbeck Mining Museum at Norden is now celebrating its tenth year and continues to see a significant increase in visitor numbers year on year.  

Like The Blue Pool, the museum also provides its visitors with the opportunity to enjoy walking trails and viewpoints in the 25 acres of woodland surrounding the volunteer-run attraction.