When my practical daughter started secondary school, I knew it probably wasn’t the best fit for her. While she has an encyclopaedic memory and an aptitude for the academic, she spends every waking moment outdoors, on horseback or on foot with tools in hand, and I knew her restless spirit wouldn’t be satisfied sitting in […]
Villagers celebrated a decade since Remembering Piddletrenthide – A Picture Book of Village Memories, was published with an exhibition of photos, videos and memorabilia. The 200-page A4 book, compiled by Bridget and the late Dave Bowen with the photographs edited by Ian Condon, traces the social history of Piddletrenthide from the end of the 19th […]
A town centre pub which closed last year, leading to speculation it would be turned into flats, has been saved – to the great relief of the community. The Swan Inn in Sturminster Newton has been serving customers for nearly 300 years. Its central location, near the old cattle market, has seen it bustling with […]
Newly-crowned Formula One champion Lando Norris discovered his passion and talent for driving at Clay Pigeon Raceway near Dorchester. Incredibly, he is not even the first F1 World Champion to have cut his teeth at the Dorset track – Jenson Button, who was crowned in 2009, also started his career there. Lando’s first karting coach […]
In a county famed for its landscape and heritage, Dorset Studio School is a pioneer in land-based education. Here, the country is the classroom – giving pupils a powerful head start in the world of work. I met principal Jason Malone at the Kingston Maurward campus. “A student can study ecology from a textbook – […]
She hates ‘rainforest’ showers, thinks Jeremy Clarkson is ‘appalling’ and loves her clashes with Coleen Nolan on Loose Women. Now audiences in Dorset can quiz Janet Street-Porter as she hits Dorchester and Lyme Regis next month on her The Bitch is Back tour. I think we can safely peg Janet, who turns 80 next year, […]
Walkers entering Piddles Wood, a small area of woodland close to Sturminster Newton, were warned to be on their guard following a sighting of a ‘big wild cat’. The notice pinned to the gate stated: “The cat is larger than a fox, not a recognisable breed. “The cat looks large enough to be a threat […]
It was a chance visit to Bridport Post Office when a reproduced greetings card caught the eye of photojournalist Carlos Guarita. The photograph, which dated back to the early part of the 20th century, depicted an industrial dispute staged by women at Gundry’s net and rope factory in Bridport. The event sparked Carlos’s curiosity, and […]
A grieving farming couple who wanted road safety measures put in place following their son’s death have reignited calls for action after being dealt a double blow. Leonardo’s Helicopters engineer Ben Solly died between the junctions to Maiden Newton and Cattistock on the A37 in January last year. He was 28. Last month the inquest […]
We are Bird Media – two experienced journalists who have decided to break free and launch
their own news publication The West Dorset Magazine.
Editor Miranda Robertson has worked for a number of local papers, including the Dorset Echo, Salisbury Journal and The New Blackmore Vale. She lives in Maiden Newton with her husband Peter, son Robert, jug PugsieMfanwy, pug Hugo and the ginger ninja Kitten Mitten.
Karen Bate has worked for the Salisbury Journal, Wiltshire Living Magazine, Bournemouth Echo and The New Blackmore Vale. She lives with husband Stuart, daughter Florence, dogs Sir Alfred Sticks and Buddy and cat Milton. There’s also a bonkers horse called Mars in her menagerie.
