AN author and historian who has spent his career tracing almost every inch of Dorset’s landscape has now got more time on his hands to discover the parts he has missed.

Rodney Legg is retiring as chairman of the Open Spaces Society after 20 years at the helm.

He was previously treasurer of the national organisation and joined its management committee in 1980, but will now become the correspondent for Dorset.

During his career, Mr Legg identified and claimed 700 acres of open country for public access across the West Country, much of which was discovered on foot.

Mr Legg, 62, said: “Two decades of chairmanship is plenty long enough for any national organisation. It’s time to move on but also time to move back and spend more time with my cats but also getting out and walking – and if I find a route, which I inevitably will, I will hopefully sort it out.”

Mr Legg has written around 100 books about his travels, most of them about Dorset and guides on how walkers can get the best out of the countryside.

He said: “I was born in Bournemouth and went out walking in Dorset and then cycling a bit further, then using the railway and hitching. I visited every ancient monument in Dorset, in particular between Dorchester and Bridport.”

Mr Legg’s first ever book was about the Isle of Purbeck in 1972 and titles have since covered areas including Portland, Bridport, and Lulworth.

But he almost missed his calling as a historian, author and conservationist having started his career as a journalist.

“I started off as a reporter in Essex because I couldn’t get a job with the Echo.

“I would have loved to have been a local reporter.”