Northern Lights Over Melbury Beacon
An Unexpected Gift This Monday Evening
There are some moments you simply can't plan for. Monday evening was one of them.
We were doing what we do every night — tucking the animals up for the evening. Lily, Shorty and Theo were settled in their stable munching their hay, the chickens were roosting. Just another quiet end to the day at The Old Forge.
Then we looked up.
It was properly dark by then, but the sky was glowing. Not the usual peachy sunset glow we're used to here in North Dorset, but something deeper, more electric. Streaks of rose and violet were pulsing above the hills, shifting and shimmering in ways that made us stop in our tracks.
The Northern Lights. Here. Right above Melbury Beacon, in our corner of the Cranborne Chase International Dark Sky Reserve.
A Star-Gazing Haven — And Now This
Here's something special about The Old Forge: we're located within the Cranborne Chase International Dark Sky Reserve — home to some of the darkest, most outstanding night skies in the country. In October 2019, Cranborne Chase became only the 14th International Dark Sky Reserve in the world.
What does that mean? It means we have virtually no light pollution. On a clear night, the Milky Way stretches across the sky like a river of stars. Constellations are so vivid you can spot them without even trying. It's a star-gazer's paradise.
But we never imagined we'd witness the aurora borealis from here. Yet there it was — nature's own light show, painting the sky above Fontmell Down and Melbury Beacon in colours we'd only ever seen in photographs from Iceland or Norway.
The animals seemed completely unfazed, of course. Lily gave us one of her trademark unimpressed looks. The chickens carried on clucking. But we stood there, mesmerised, watching the sky pulse and glow.
I happened to have my tripod in the hut already from taking some photos earlier, so I managed to snap a few shots — though no camera could quite capture the magic of seeing it with your own eyes.
What Our Guests Might Have Seen
It got us thinking about our guests staying in Woody, our shepherd's hut. Imagine stepping out onto that upcycled veranda after a soak in the hot tub, expecting to see the usual blanket of stars over the Dorset countryside, and instead finding the sky alive with colour.
No light pollution. No crowds. Just you, the quiet hills, and one of nature's rarest spectacles unfolding above you.
This is what we mean when we say you never quite know what you'll discover here. Some nights it's just the Milky Way stretched across the darkness. Some nights, if you're very lucky, it's something even more extraordinary.
The Magic of Switching Off
Events like Monday's remind us why people come here to escape. When you're constantly plugged in, rushing from one thing to the next, it's easy to miss the magic happening right above your head.
But when you slow down — really slow down — and spend your evenings outside under an enormous sky in one of the darkest places in England, you start noticing things. The way the light shifts. The constellations moving across the heavens. And occasionally, if the universe is feeling generous, a light show you'll remember for the rest of your life.
We just stood there and watched. No distractions. Just pure, quiet wonder.
Come for the Hot Tub, Stay for the Sky
We can't promise the Northern Lights will make another appearance during your stay — even we were gobsmacked to see them this far south. But we can promise you'll have the kind of dark, unpolluted skies where anything feels possible.
Whether it's the aurora borealis, a meteor shower, or simply more stars than you ever knew existed, the view from Woody's veranda never gets old.
And who knows? Maybe you'll get lucky. Maybe the sky will put on a show just for you.
All you have to do is look up.
Ready for your own escape under the Dorset skies? Check availability for Woody, our vintage shepherd's hut with private hot tub, and see what the universe has in store.
