A beloved family farm has reopened, thanks to a dedicated pair of animal lovers. Lee and Charlotte Porter have opened Porter’s Farm on the site of the old Fancys Farm on Portland, which had been there for 18 years. They are currently open Friday-Monday 9.30am-4.30pm and hope to open six days a week soon. Charlotte […]
Day in the Life at Dorset Studio School: From Work Experience to Apprenticeship For Year 11 student Tobyn Copp, leaving school will not mean stepping into the unknown. As he completes his final examinations at Dorset Studio School, Tobyn is preparing to begin an apprenticeship with The Brace of Butchers in Poundbury, Dorchester. A role […]
All eight on call fire stations threatened with closure are to stay open – for now. Andy Cole, chief fire officer for Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue, changed his recommendation to the board after a prolonged campaign by concerned residents and thousands of responses to a public consultation. The eight stations – Maiden Newton, […]
Clay Pigeon Raceway, the West Dorset karting track which helped to launch the careers of world champions Lando Norris and Jensen Button, is to be closed and turned into a holiday park. Dorset councillors approved plans to demolish the circuit near Dorchester, along with a static caravan park and a disused clay pigeon shooting ground, […]
The first planning application of a scheme dubbed ‘Norchester’ that will change the shape of ‘Hardy country’ forever has been submitted. The outline planning application launching the North Dorchester Garden Community has been described as “nothing more than cultural vandalism”. The plan for up to 500 houses, a new London Road junction and green space […]
A writer has traced the stories behind 43 names listed on a Weymouth war memorial. Charlie Owen asked readers of The West Dorset Magazine to help locate family members of the fallen from both world wars and the Falklands. They were commemorated on a monument built over 100 years ago in the graveyard of St […]
A developer hoping to build 82 homes on 21 acres of his 131-acre estate has told a national newspaper he is being treated like “the Antichrist”. James Perkins, who bought fire-ravaged Parnham House near Beaminster with the intention of restoring it, told The Times he intended to spend £25million on the Grade 1-listed Elizabethan manor, […]
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 […]
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.
