St Mary's Church, Brownsea Island

Brownsea Castle, also known historically as Branksea Castle, was originally a Device Fort constructed by Henry VIII between 1545 and 1547 to protect Poole Harbour in Dorset, England, from the threat of French attack. Located on Brownsea Island, it comprised a stone blockhouse with a hexagonal gun platform. It was garrisoned by the local town with six soldiers and armed with eight artillery pieces. The castle remained in use after the original invasion scare had passed and was occupied by Parliament during the English Civil War of the 1640s. By the end of the century, however, it had fallen into disuse. In 1726 the castle was converted into a private residence by William Benson, despite complaints from the town of Poole. Benson and the subsequent owners extended the original blockhouse to form a country house, landscaping the surrounding island to create ornamental gardens and lakes. The 19th century saw continued building work by the castle's occupants, including the entrepreneur Colonel William Waugh, who erected various Jacobethan-styled extensions. A serious fire in 1896 gutted the castle, which was restored by Major Kenneth Robert Balfour. The wealthy stockbroker Charles Van Raalte led a lavish lifestyle at Brownsea at the start of the 20th century, using it to house his collection of antique musical instruments. Brownsea Castle was purchased by Mary Bonham-Christie in 1927. She allowed the property to fall into disrepair and by the time of her death in 1961 it was in a very poor condition. It was then purchased by the National Trust and leased to the John Lewis Partnership, who restored it over many years. In the 21st century it is still used by the Partnership as a corporate hotel for their employees and retired staff.

Brownsea Island is the largest of the islands in Poole Harbour in the county of Dorset, England. The island is owned by the National Trust with the northern half managed by the Dorset Wildlife Trust. Much of the island is open to the public and includes areas of woodland and heath with a wide variety of wildlife, together with cliff top views across Poole Harbour and the Isle of Purbeck. The island was the location of an experimental camp in 1907 that led to the formation of the Scout movement the following year. Access is by public ferry or private boat; in 2017 the island received 133,340 visitors. The island's name probably comes from Anglo-Saxon Brūnoces īeg = "Brūnoc's island".

The Bournemouth Coast Path is a 20-mile-long footpath through Dorset and Hampshire, England from Sandbanks to Milford-on-Sea. The path follows the coastline and goes through Bournemouth, Boscombe, Southbourne, Hengistbury Head, Mudeford and Highcliffe.Between Hengistbury Head and Mudeford the path uses a ferry to cross Christchurch Harbour. In winter, when the ferry does not usually run, there is a 3-mile detour through Christchurch. The Bournemouth Coast Path performs an important role by connecting the South West Coast Path (by the Sandbanks Ferry) in the west and the Solent Way in the east.

Sandbanks Ferry is a vehicular chain ferry which crosses the entrance of Poole Harbour in the English county of Dorset. The route runs from Sandbanks to Studland and in doing so connects the coastal parts of the towns of Bournemouth and Poole with Swanage and the Isle of Purbeck. This avoids a 25-mile journey by road on a return trip.The ferry, along with the road that connects with it on the Studland side, is owned by the Bournemouth–Swanage Motor Road and Ferry Company, which initiated the ferry crossing in 1923, and a toll is charged for use of both road and ferry. The current toll for a car is £5.20 each way. The current ferry boat, named Bramble Bush Bay, was put into service in 1994 and can carry up to 48 cars. It is the fourth vessel to operate on the route.The entrance to Poole Harbour is a particularly busy waterway, used by many private and leisure craft along with commercial vessels including large ferries serving routes to France. This often affects the ability of the ferry to maintain its nominal 20 minute frequency. More Bus cross the ferry frequently throughout the day, on route 50 from Bournemouth to Swanage.

The Haven Hotel is a historic AA four star hotel in Sandbanks, near Poole, Dorset on the south coast of England. The hotel dates from the Victorian era and was used by wireless telegraphy pioneer Guglielmo Marconi.

Royal Air Force Hamworthy or more simply RAF Hamworthy is a former Royal Air Force Coastal Command seaplane base at Poole Harbour in Dorset, England which was operational between 1939 and 1948. During the Second World War, it was used by the Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy and BOAC.

Sandbanks is an affluent neighbourhood of Poole, Dorset, on the south coast of England, situated on a narrow spit of around 1 km2 or 0.39 sq mi extending into the mouth of Poole Harbour. It is known for its high property prices and for its award-winning beach. In 2005, Sandbanks was reported to have the fourth highest land value by area in the world. The Sandbanks and Canford Cliffs Coastline area has been dubbed "Britain's Palm Beach".

The Brownsea Island Scout camp was the site of a boys' camping event on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, southern England, organised by Lieutenant-General Baden-Powell to test his ideas for the book Scouting for Boys. Boys from different social backgrounds participated from 1 to 8 August 1907 in activities around camping, observation, woodcraft, chivalry, lifesaving and patriotism. The event is regarded as the origin of the worldwide Scout movement. Up to the early 1930s, Boy Scouts continued to camp on Brownsea Island. In 1963, a formal 50-acre (20 ha) Scout campsite was opened by Olave Baden-Powell when the island became a nature conservation area owned by the National Trust. In 1973, a Scout Jamboree with six hundred Scouts was held on the island. The worldwide centenary of Scouting took place at the Brownsea Island Scout camp, celebrated on 1 August 2007, the 100th anniversary of the start of the first encampment. Activities by The Scout Association at the campsite included four Scout camps and a Sunrise Ceremony.

Shell Bay is a small bay in Dorset, England on the Studland peninsula. It is on the south side of the mouth of Poole Harbour and connected with Sandbanks by the Sandbanks Ferry which runs regularly across the entrance to the harbour and carries vehicles, foot passengers and cyclists. Bus number 50 (Bournemouth to Swanage) also stops at Shell Bay. The beach is an unspoilt sandy beach, backed by dunes and heathland. A couple of streams flow over the beach from the heathland inland of the beach. The beach offers wonderful views over the bay to nearby Bournemouth and is also a good view point for watching the ships passing in and out of Poole Harbour, including the Condor Ferries to the Channel Islands.

Furzey Island is an island in Poole Harbour in the English county of Dorset. The island lies to the south of the larger Brownsea Island. Seen from the water, or adjoining land, the island looks like another wild pineclad island. However, hidden in the trees are twenty-two oil wells split into 2 well-sites for the Wytch Farm Oil Field, which is linked by pipeline to Hamble on Southampton Water. The rarely seen tall oil rig can sometimes be a big landmark of Southern Poole Harbour and the main landmark between Brownsea and Furzey. The well-sites are staffed 24 hours a day. Furzey Island lies within the civil parish of Corfe Castle. The parish forms part of the Dorset (formerly Purbeck local government district).

Parkstone is an area of Poole, Dorset. It is divided into 'Lower' and 'Upper' Parkstone. Upper Parkstone - "Up-on-'ill" as it used to be known in local parlance - is so-called because it is largely on higher ground slightly to the north of the lower-lying area of Lower Parkstone - "The Village" - which includes areas adjacent to Poole Harbour. Because of the proximity to the shoreline, and the more residential nature of Lower Parkstone, it is the more sought-after district, and originally included Lilliput and the Sandbanks Peninsula (now part of Canford Cliffs) within its official bounds. Lower Parkstone is centred on Ashley Cross, the original location of Parkstone Grammar School, near to the Parish Church of St. Peter. Despite the residential reputation, Parkstone was the site of several industrial undertakings, the largest being George Jennings South Western Pottery, a manufacturer of salt-glaze drainage and sanitary pipes, which had its own steam locomotive, that ran on a private branch line from Parkstone Station. Much of this area was agricultural until the 1920s and 1930s. Upper Parkstone includes large areas of smaller artisan housing, the shopping district along Ashley Road and the parish church of St. John's, Heatherlands. There are larger properties, however, and the views from this higher part of the suburb across Poole Harbour to the Purbeck Hills are quite remarkable. Many photographs taken over the years from the Seaview viewpoint (overlooking much of Poole centre and Harbour) exist as postcards, and can be used to chart the changes to the area.Parkstone is just south of Alder Hills. Parkstone Bay is in the far west.

Lilliput is a district of Poole, Dorset. It borders on Sandbanks, Canford Cliffs, Lower Parkstone, and Whitecliff and has a shoreline within Poole Harbour with views of Brownsea Island and the Purbeck Hills. Brownsea Island stands opposite Lilliput's harbour foreshore and is famous as the birthplace of Baden Powell's International Scouting Movement. Lilliput itself was host to a number of early scouting camps. During the Second World War at one stage it provided Britain's only civilian air route: Poole Harbour was temporary home to the Imperial Airways/BOAC flying boat fleet, which had its passenger HQ at Salterns Marina.Well known residents have included modernist writer Mary Butts, a very young John le Carré and disc-jockey Tony Blackburn. Impresario Fred Karno who popularised the custard-pie-in-the-face comedy routine spent his last years in the village as a part-owner of an off-licence, bought with financial help from Charlie Chaplin, and died here in 1941 aged 75. Evening Hill is at the edge of Parkstone Bay.