Another set of glorious gardens will open for charity this month, as part of the National Garden Scheme, including the grounds of designer Jasper Conran’s Bettiscombe Manor. Read on for a selection of wonderful West Dorset gardens you can visit across Bridport, Beaminster and Dorchester. Do plan your trips, as booking in advance is advisable […]
Individuals and groups who go the extra mile for others were recognised in the 2026 Mayor’s Community Awards. Outgoing Mayor Caroline Nickinson presented the following Weymouth volunteers with their certificates: Sue Prescott has worked tirelessly over many years on community projects all around Weymouth. Whilst a school governor, over 20 years ago, Sue was involved […]
Sherborne Abbey has launched a £1m fundraising appeal to support a vital upgrade. Work on the new facilities started last month. The vestry will be adapted to provide toilets and a new vestry will be created beneath the organ loft. The Lady Chapel and Ambulatory will be made more accessible, including a wheelchair lift and […]
Jim Johnson is a man on a mission – to photograph the interior of every single church in Dorset. It will probably take several years, and cost him thousands of pounds, but the Sherborne-based snapper is not one to take the easy road – and admits quite freely it’s a ‘mad’ project. One has to […]
Six rowers are in a traditional Cornish pilot gig, pulling hard in practiced unison, and Dagger skims across Lyme Bay like she’s grown wings. From the pilot seat, there’s a breath-taking view of sunlight dancing on waves as they roll in towards the cliffs rising at West Bay and Burton Bradstock. Dolphins, seals, barrel jellyfish […]
A little Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) punching well above its weight was recognised for its outstanding service. The Bridport & Lyme Regis branch has just 37 members, many of whom are serving RAF personnel and stationed away from the area, with others over 80 years of age or housebound, so the group effectively operates […]
By the time the school gates open each morning, Jason Malone has usually already walked the site. As Principal of Dorset Studio School, the day rarely begins behind a desk. More often it starts by greeting students as they arrive, checking in with staff and making sure everything is ready for the day ahead. Dorset […]
Our competition for a two-night stay at the Springfield Country Hotel Leisure Club & Spa received an unprecedented response as more than 600 people answered correctly the year in which the venue’s leisure club was launched – it was 1992. “It is serendipity,” said our lucky winner Liz Ballance when we phoned to share the […]
Brewery Square in Dorchester will shake under the weight of a massive D-Day tank invasion as the town heralds the arrival of the legendary Armour and Embarkation convoy on Saturday, June 20. The world-class spectacle of roaring vehicles and heavy Armour will transform Brewery Square into a living 1940s scene, drawing spectators from across the […]
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.
