Dorset – Page 2 – TRAVEL WORDS

#303 Connections

It’s been a while since I joined in with the Lens-Artists photo challenge, but the number 303 leapt out at me this week as I have just come back from a holiday based close to the A303 in Wiltshire so I thought it would be interesting to find connections between the sites we visited in and around that area.

Family Connections

The A303 is one of the main routes from London to the Southwest and a route I have travelled many, many times to visit my youngest son who is based in Wiltshire (military) and my daughter who lives in Surrey. It’s also famous for passing by the World Heritage site of Stonehenge, the world’s most famous prehistoric monument.

History

Stonehenge (2500 BC) is not the largest henge though, that title goes to Avebury and together they form the heart of a World Heritage Site which also includes Silbury Hill. We didn’t visit Stonehenge as we have done so not long ago, but we drove past it a few times this week so had a few sneaky glances! Instead we opted for a visit to Avebury.

Avebury (2850 – 2200 BC): the henge survives as a huge circular bank and ditch, encircling an area that includes part of Avebury village. Within the henge is the largest stone circle in Britain – originally of about 100 stones – which in turn encloses two smaller stone circles.

A double avenue of stones leads away from the southern entrance towards the Sanctuary stone circles on Overton Hill, about a mile to the south-east. Unlike Stonehenge, this site is free to visit though you will have to pay for parking unless you are a National Trust or English Heritage member.

More recent history can be found at Old Sarum, an iron age hill fort dating back to 400 BC. Later occupied by the Romans during their conquest of Britain in AD 43, where perhaps a military fort was set up. It was during William the Conqueror’s reign that the strategic advantage of this place was recognised and a motte and bailey castle built.

Later, stone buildings were erected and in 1078-99 a cathedral was built after the 1075 Council of London decreed that the see should be moved from Sherborne to Old Sarum. Dissatisfaction with the site and poor relations with the garrison in the castle caused the cathedral to be moved to its present site in Salisbury (New Sarum) in 1220 and much of the stone from the old cathedral was used to build the new one.

Site and excavation of the old cathedral

Continue reading #303 Connections

Flashback Friday #42

Back in the old days the OH and I used to try and take a short UK break around our birthdays, which worked very well as we then had a holiday in late spring (May) and one in early autumn (October). This one was my choice for celebrating my birthday in 2014.

Just Back From… Dorset

A last minute booking to Bridport in Dorset for a birthday and wedding anniversary celebration was made in lieu of the proposed trip to Seattle. After a gorgeous sunny September, autumn also decided to come along too, so it was a mixed week of sunshine and showers and even a few dramatic thunderstorms with lightning and thundering waves.

Bridport

Bridport is a quaint market town in West Dorset and only a mile from the famous Jurassic coast at West Bay with its lovely harbour and shingle beach. It has an open and airy feel to it because of the wide streets that contain several hundred listed buildings many of them built to accommodate the twisting and dyeing of ropes and nets during the late 12th century. It also has a lively arts and literary scene.

East Street

Town Hall

The Ropemakers

The Olive Tree Café

Georgian Architecture

The Bull

Greengrocers

Although in a self-catering house I don’t consider it a holiday if I do all the cooking so we ate take away fish and chips from Longs in West Street which were excellent – thin batter on the succulent cod and crisp chips. And the best deal was a thin crust pizza, salad and 1/2 pint of local cider from The Stable, behind the Bull hotel on East Street – £10 on a Tuesday. If you like it hot go for the Blaster! Or what about the Bucky Doo?

Burton Bradstock

Good fish and seafood can be found in local pubs and restaurants, but head to the Hive Beach Café, a tarpaulin-sided hut which is a popular place for lunch as it is right on the beach at Burton Bradstock, 4 miles from Bridport along the shingle Chesil Beach. It is very busy at the weekend, even at this time of year, but worth the wait (no bookings) for the fresh lobster, sea bass or grilled sardines. An obvious choice for Saturday’s birthday lunch.

On the Chesil Beach

Golden Cliffs

East to Portland Bill

Dorset Sheep

Continue reading Flashback Friday #42

Life in Colour

To find out more about this year’s photo challenge here on Travel Words, please read this post.

This month we will be looking for Gold. Gold is the colour of wealth, of power, of gods. Gold-leaf applied to paintings, gold crowns and coins. But look also for golds in the natural world, a fish, a sunset or sunrise, flowers and autumn leaves or sunlight on water. Or capture the light in the ‘golden hour’.

Golden Sandstone – Hive Beach, Dorset

What Natural golds can you discover?

Pilsdon Pen

Like a lot of things in life finding Pilsdon Pen was a fluke. We were driving back to Bridport in Dorset after visiting Lyme Regis and me being, well, me, decided to return via the country roads instead of the direct route. Admiring the views surreptitiously as I was driving along the narrow winding road, it was a relief to find a layby to pull into. Obviously a spot with a view as there were already a couple of cars parked there.

The panorama was spectacular, rolling hills, cliffs and in the distance, the sea. After taking a few photos, I headed across the road to a stile that I had spied which led to a path up a hill. Thinking that I might get even better views from the hill, I hopped over the stile.

And found that I was on Pilsdon Pen, the highest point in Dorset.

So of course I had to climb to the top, and after a bit of huffing and puffing and a stop or two at a conveniently placed bench, I got to see the 360 degree views.

Steeper than they look

Nearly there

Views to the east

On the top

The Beacon

View to the south

And I was particularly fascinated by the late afternoon shadows of the trees bordering that field.

Serendipity 🙂

If you enjoy a walk, short or long, then you may enjoy visiting Jo’s Monday Walk where you are in for a treat.

Just Back From… Dorset

Bridport

East Street

Town Hall

The Ropemakers

The Olive Tree Café

Georgian Architecture

The Bull

Greengrocers

Burton Bradstock

On the Chesil Beach

Golden Cliffs

East to Portland Bill

Dorset Sheep

West Bay

Only a mile from Bridport is West Bay with its newly designed harbour, vertical sandstone cliff glowing like molten gold in the late afternoon sun and sweeping shingle beach. West bay grew up as the harbour for nearby Bridport and was Thomas Hardy’s “Port Bredy”. More recently it was the location of the TV drama ‘Broadchurch’. Brightly coloured fishing boats bob in the harbour, fishermen line the harbour walls or the edge of the surf, and cute wooden shacks and kiosks line the harbour walk where you can buy fish and chips, fish stews, ice-creams. We stopped for dessert – a cone of delicious Purbeck fig and honey ice-cream.

Fishing Boat

West Bay – west

West Bay – east

Cottages

Kiosks

Lyme Regis

The main attraction in Lyme is the historic medieval harbour known as The Cobb featured in the ‘French Lieutenant’s Woman’. Known as the gateway to the Dorset Jurassic Coast, Lyme Regis provides a good base for visiting walkers. The town has long inspired artistic and literary visitors including, Tolkien, Tennyson and Jane Austen who set the novel ‘Persuasion here. There are excellent facilities with plenty of restaurants, pubs and cafés as well as an interesting selection of galleries and shops to explore in the old town which dates from the 14th century.

Ammonites

Beach Huts

Anchor

The Cobb

As always on my holidays there were trips to the coast and visits to gardens. Not a lot of chances to visit historical places at this time of year and with the nights closing in, the days are shorter, but we had a wonderful time and hope it won’t be decades before we return.