Holiday Cottages in Cerne Abbas

If you live in Cerne Abbas, the Giant isn’t just a landmark on the hillside — he’s part of the landscape, as familiar as the church tower or the old stone bridge. Every time you drive into the village, you catch a glimpse of him standing proudly above the valley, carved in chalk and impossible to ignore.

No one really knows who made the Cerne Abbas Giant or why. Some say he’s an ancient fertility symbol, others believe he was a caricature of a long-forgotten figure from history. Locals will tell you a dozen different stories, and each one seems as convincing as the next. What’s certain is that he’s been watching over the village for centuries, etched into the hillside long before any of us were here.

From the top of the Giant’s Hill, you can see across the Cerne Valley — patchwork fields, hedgerows, and the roofs of the village below. It’s a favourite spot for walkers, especially in the early morning when the mist still hangs in the valley, or in summer when the chalk glows white in the sunlight.

Growing up here, the Giant was always more than just a tourist attraction. School trips, May Day celebrations, and quiet Sunday walks all seemed to lead up the hill. Even now, locals still look up at him with a kind of pride — a reminder that Cerne Abbas has a history and spirit unlike anywhere else in Dorset.