The county is well watered by the Frome, Liddon, Stour, Yeo, and other lesser rivers. The Dorset coast is famed for its scenery and is indented by several bays including Lulworth, Poole, Studland and Swanage in the east and the cliffs on the west. The coast includes several unique features such as Poole Harbour, possibly the largest natural harbour in the world, and the world-reknowned Chesil Beach.

The county possesses a number of notable coastal resorts (Lyme Regis, Poole, Swanage and Weymouth) dominated by Bournemouth which developed fom a tiny fishing hamlet in the 20th century.

The soils of the county are fertile, particularly in the Vale of Blackmore, and large numbers of sheep and cattle as well as many crops are raised. The arrival of the railways in the mid-19th century led to a vast expansion of dairy farming.

Freestone and Purbeck marble have been quarried in the county for many centuries.

The principle towns are Bournemouth, Dorchester (the county town), Bridport, Christchurch, Poole, Portland, Sherborne and Weymouth.

Dorset is the Wessex of Thomas Hardy's novels.

Dorset was part of the Saxon kingdom of Wessex and successfully resisted the Danes. It suffered considerably after the Norman conquest but, thereafter, made little impact on the national history.