West Dorset Farmhouse Bed and Breakfast Accommodation

near Dorchester, Bridport and Beaminster

Cycling

Even in the height of summer the lanes around us are quiet enough to make cycling enjoyable, and there are also plenty of bridle paths and tracks through Hooke Woods. Much of the disused railway line from Maiden Newton to West Bay is still accessible. Bikes may be hired at "bspoke" in Bridport, where you can also get knowledgable advice on the best places to cycle.
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Fishing

The nearby River Frome is stocked with trout and some salmon. For details of fly fishing see www.goflyfishing.co.uk Course fishing and trout fishing are available on various lakes in the area, including Mangerton Mill, 01308 485224. West Bay and Lyme Regis offer mackerel fishing trips round the bay, or deep sea fishing for conger, cod, skate and pollack. Fishermen are usually to be found fishing from the pier/cobb or on the beach at Burton Bradstock.
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Fossil Hunting

For 360 degree panoramas of coast, click on image
Lyme Regis and Charmouth are famous for the crumbling Jurassic rock cliffs, which have revealed 200 million-year-old fossils. For more information, contact the Charmouth Heritage Coast Information Centre, 01297 560772.
In July 2000 a 40 foot ichthyosaur was discovered at Charmouth. For a fascinating account of this, see www.charmouthfossils.co.uk Most of our own very modest collection has been found under the cliffs at Burton Bradstock.
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Gardens to Visit

Mapperton Manor, a very lovely 2 hour walk from us, has an Italianate water garden set in idyllic surroundings. The well- known garden -writer Anna Pavord describes it as her favourite garden anywhere. Open April- October, not Saturdays. Tel.01308 862645.

On the coast is the spectacular subtropical garden at Abbotsbury, open and well worth seeing all year, while inland are the landscaped gardens of Minterne, with a hillside of Himalayan rhododendrons and azaleas overlooking a chain of lakes, waterfalls and streams. Open daily 10A.M. - 7p.m., April- October.

To the North West, Forde Abbey was winner of Christies Garden of the Year Award. Open Daily, 10a.m.- 4.30 p.m. Tel. 01460 221290

For details of these and others in West Dorset and Somerset, www.visitourgardens.co.uk/

Rosie can advise you on many more worth visiting, as well as the local village Open Garden days,and our library of garden books and magazines would keep an enthusiast happy for hours.
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Golf

There are eleven golf courses in West Dorset, many of them in stunning settings on the coast. Guests tell us that those at both Lyme Regis and West Bay are interesting courses. We can provide a leaflet giving full details, or the local T.I. office will send you one on request.
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History

From the World Heritage Jurassic, fossil-rich cliffs of Lyme, to Dorchester, capital of Hardy's Wessex, the past is probably as apparent in West Dorset as in any part of England.
Iron-age hill forts and burial mounds, Roman roads and settlements, the Cerne giant, motte and bailey castles, Norman churches, farmland completely untouched by modern methods, the Jacobean facades of medieval manor houses, the 200 listed honey-coloured buildings of lovely Beaminster, the wide streets of rope-making Bridport: the list is almost endless of the way the past still makes its presence felt within moments of leaving the A35 .
Roger researched and wrote the local Millennium Community Play, celebrating four thousand years of life in Powerstock, and charting the fascinating impact through the ages of national events on this tiny, seemingly timeless, community. Powerstock parish church has a delectably asymterical & intricately carved Norman arch and interesting Arts and Crafts wall-paintings.

Alastair Chisholm, a delightfully entertaining and knowledgeable extrovert, does a range of guided walks round Dorchester, and Maiden Castle by moonlight. Tel. 01305 261135

See also Museums
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Houses to Visit

Nearby Mapperton Manor was voted the "The nation's Finest Manor House" by 'Country Life' It is open in peak holiday season and bank holidays.Tel.01308 862645.
Athelhampton, built in 1485, has a magnificent early Tudor Great hall, and houses an outstanding collection of English furniture, from Jacobean to late Victorian.
Athelhampton Tel.01305 848363.

Slightly further afield, Forde Abbey, a magnificent family home since the 17th.Century, was a Cistertian Monastery, founded in 1140 (see above, but the house is only open in summer and on certain days).

Montecute houses much of the Tudor and Stuart collection of the National Portrait Gallery.

On a far humbler scale, Hardy's birthplace, Higher Bockhampton, is an idyllic little cottage just outside Dorchester . Both these last two are National Trust.
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Museums

All the local towns boast museums, and those at Dorchester and Lyme Regis are award-winning. (01305 262735 www.dorset.museum.clara.net and 01297 443370 . The former houses a reconstruction of Hardy's study.

Apart from general local social and natural history, there are specialist museums to be found on such widely ranging themes as Tanks (Bovington 01929405096 www.tankmuseum.co.uk ), Yeovilton Fleet Air Arm Museum, Dorchester Keep, ENIGMA (Blandford, Royal Signals Museum, 01258 482248, The Tolpuddle Martyrs, (Tolpuddle, outside Dorchester, 01305 848237), Ropemaking (Bridport, 01308 4216659), Underwater Exploration and the 'Titanic' and The Museum of Coastal Defense (Weymouth), and much more.

Honiton Lace All hallows Museum www.mda.org.uk/vlmp

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Music and the Arts

Our nearest Summer Festival is at Beaminster in late June. For a whole glorious week there are concerts in the church each evening, events in the square at lunch time, several exhibitions, a garden walk-about, and much else.
tel. 01308 863000.  

Sherborne Abbey and Sherborne School have a full programme of events:

www.concertsinsherborne.org.uk/

Abbotsbury, Burton Bradstock and Cerne Abbas also have interesting festivals. Lyme Regis has a Jazz Festival www.lymeregis.com/jazz-festival Kingston Maurward, Sherborne Castle, and Abbotsbury all host open air concerts and operas .  www.westdorset.com/whatsnew.htm  

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Painting and Photography

The wildlife artist, Gordon Beningfield, passionately loved this area and made regular pilgrimages to Powerstock to paint the wild flowers and animals, while the wildlife photographer, Colin Varndell, considers the wildlife around Powerstock second to none.
If broad landscape or seascapes are more your interest, the wide horizons from Eggardon, Golden Cap, Abbotsbury Castle or Hardy's Monument could hardly be bettered, while those who love to paint mellow old buildings will be spoilt for choice. Recently I have been painting Corfe Castle, Abbotsbury and Eggardon

Dorset Art Weeks is a biennial event. From 24May -8th. June 2008, over 300 studios, including mine, will be opening to the public in what will be the biggest show of its kind in the country. Bridport Open Studios is every August Bank Holiday and there are other opportunities to see the work and studios of many local artists and craftspeople.

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Riding

There are plenty of bridle ways, both following the coastline and inland, and good tracks of open countryside suitable for galloping.

Horse Riding is available at
Cattistock    01308 863006
Portisham   01305 871011
Monkton Wilde    01297 678747

Llama Trekking in the Brit Valley
Beaminster    01308 8868674
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Swimming

For 360 degree panoramas of coast, click on image

There are a number of good family beaches with golden sand, notably Burton Bradstock, West Bay, Charmouth and Lyme Regis, but bathers must exercise caution and read notices carefully. In season dogs are banned.
Bridport has a Leisure Centre with an indoor pool. 01308 427464
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Walking

Grays Farmhouse lies at the heart of a seemingly endless maze of paths and tracks and is near the The Jubilee Trail. After years of regular walking, we are still discovering new routes from our doorstep, including variations on our favourite walks to nearby Powerstock, Powerstock Common, Eggardon, and Mapperton Manor. The Wessex Ridgeway and the South-West Coastal Path are within easy reach.  Local T.I. Centres and the Websites given below provide details of nearly 300 guided walks, including many from the Kingcombe-Centre
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Tourist Information

The West Dorset District Council website is a mine of helpful information, www.westdorset.com , and in addition West Dorset produces an interesting tourist guide, along with much other information, available for order by email or at the following T.I. offices:-

Bridport    01308 424901
Dorchester    01305 267992
Lyme Regis   01297422138
Sherborne   01935 88815341
West Bay   01308422807
Weymouth   01305 785747/ 772444

In addition, the following websites are very informative:
  Bridport and Westbay Charmouth   Dorchester 

Bridport Radio

Lyme Regis Weymouth

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c) Copyright 2007 Rosie Britton. All Rights Reserved.

Site Updated March 1, 2008