By Shirley Booth While driving along the A303 from West Dorset, many people, like myself, will have been intrigued by the huge signs alongside the road: Teals Farm Shop… Only three fields to Teals… Usually I am reluctant to break my journey, but last week I stopped to find out more. I am so glad […]
Some bands win you over slowly. Chou Pahrot gave you about 10 seconds to either love them or run for the door, says their biggest fan. Marco Rossi remembers one performance vividly. Chou Pahrot had stepped in as last-minute support for the Rezillos at the Glasgow Apollo, and as the band tore into the noise […]
With Carlos Guarita An important piece of living history was captured by Bridport-based photographer Carlos in July when he attended the annual Stoke Abbott Sick Club Parade. Stoke Abbott Sick Club Founded in 1860, and long before the dawning of social security, this Sick Club or ‘friendly society’ allowed working-class men and women to pool […]
Have you ever heard of the lost medieval hamlet of Elyston? Anne Brown spent over 30 years horse riding and walking dogs across fields near Sydling St Nicholas. She stumbled upon Elyston through mentions of a ‘Deserted Medieval Settlement’ on maps. “It’s not on a public right of way, so I started trying to find […]
A stone carver from Broadoak has won first prize in Melplash Agricultural Society’s rural craft competition. Ben Russell is an award-winning, classically trained sculptor who creates hand-carved, nature-inspired pieces using British stone as well as marble, alabaster and onyx sourced from further afield. Now in its 13th year, the competition was established by past society […]
Dorset Museum & Art Gallery is lending reproductions of items from its PJ Harvey collection for a display at Dorchester Library. The original items were presented to the museum by the Dorset-born singer-songwriter, musician and poet in 2022. The facsimiles being loaned include a copy of Orlam inscribed by the author, typescript proofs with Harvey’s […]
What can 70 metres of embroidered linen tell us about how a kingdom fell? The Dorchester-Bayeux Society has the answer. Retired Lieutenant Colonel James Porter casts a soldier’s eye over the Bayeux Tapestry and the Battle of Hastings. The eminent military historian is giving a talk describing the social and political background situation in England […]
Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, actress Alison Steadman, Wild Swans author Jung Chang and former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will headline this year’s Dorchester Literary Festival, from October 17-24. The festival will bring together award-winning novelists, historians, broadcasters, politicians, explorers and environmentalists for eight days of conversation, debate and storytelling in The Dorford Centre, Dorchester. The […]
By Kim Berlin I have long been enchanted by that long ribbon of water that lies behind Chesil Beach – The Fleet. The view of it from Abbotsbury Hill is breathtaking and, I would argue, one of the finest landscape views in the world. The combination of Chesil, the Fleet, St Catherine’s Chapel and Portland […]
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.
