The village may be reached by road from Corfe or by crossing the mouth of Poole Harbour by means of the car ferry and thence by means of the toll road across the Studland peninsula. It is, however, best approached on foot along the beach, part of which is known as Shell Bay. The village, set behind and amongst trees, could easily be missed.

St Nicholas Church is an example of unspoilt early Norman architecture with a history stretching back some 1,300 years. Within is a beautifullly vaulted roof, a font of either Saxon or Norman origin and a Priests' chamber with an entrance from outside the church. On the exterior of the north wall may still be discerned a consecration cross.

During the short-lived industrialisation of Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour by Colonel William Petrie Waugh after he bought it in 1852, many of the 200-plus employees of the The Branksea Clay & Pottery Company commuted to the island from Studland by rowboat every day although the Colonel built a model village on the island for some of the workers which he named 'Maryland '.