By Alison Smith of Rural Ranges in Bridport In a world of constant choice, a bombardment of noise, social media and advertising, how do you cut through the facade and ensure you choose the real deal? What to look for from your Aga company or independent engineer: Breadth and depth of expertise – an expert […]
KAREN BROAD shares her savoury scones recipe The field above us has been cut, and the scent of drying grass hangs heavy in the air –warm, sweet and intense, with a trace of honey. It is a deeply nostalgic scent, one that seems to carry the weight of time. After May’s unseasonably chilly spell only a […]
The ghosts of Portland Fair are to be evoked as the island’s b-side festival returns this September. The annual celebration of creativity is this year looking to embrace the island’s oddness, and otherness under the title of That Other Place. Eleven artists have been commissioned to conjure up a parallel Portland, familiar but off kilter, […]
For hundreds of years, he’s been standing proud, waving his enormous club whilst keeping watch over the sleepy village at his feet. Now, re-chalking of the Cerne Abbas Giant is underway, with National Trust rangers, volunteers and members of the public working together on the steep chalk hillside to restore his distinctive white outline. The […]
By MARY CLEGG, Churchwarden: Tucked away in the timeless landscape of the Halstock Vale stands St Juthware Church, a small rural church with a story that stretches back to the fifth century – and a very present-day crisis in its roof. Today, rainwater is finding its way through a huge hole in the roof, threatening […]
Bridport lawyer tackling ‘wrongful conviction’ in infamous farmhouse mass murder Emily Bolton. Photo by Pete Millson The Bridport lawyer who freed wrongly-convicted Andy Malkinson has taken on an even higher profile case – that of Jeremy Bamber, who was jailed 41 years ago for killing five members of his family. Emily Bolton spent much of […]
In Sherborne, two buildings stand as testament to what happens when history is lovingly conserved – and when it isn’t. The fortunes of The Sherborne – formerly Sherborne House – and Newell House could not be more different, yet their histories are so entwined. Both former schools, with fond memories for former pupils, one now […]
Readers of The West Dorset Magazine are being invited to join a big community effort to raise the final £50,000 to restore the five bells of St Thomas à Becket Church – famously eulogised in the 1879 poem Lydlinch Bells by William Barnes. And as part of the restoration, a sixth bell will be added […]
A Dorchester farm is in the running for the ‘Rural Oscars’ for its innovative vending machines selling Dorset ice cream, milkshakes and fresh produce. Eweleaze Dairy, at Martinstown, has been crowned winner in the south west category for best rural enterprise in the Countryside Alliance Awards 2026, which celebrate businesses that go the extra mile. Chloe […]
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.
