The transformation of St Michael’s Trading Estate in Bridport is finally set to go ahead after more than two decades after a Section 106 agreement was signed. The seven-acre site sits between the River Brit and Bridport’s historic South West Quadrant and has deep roots in the town’s world-renowned rope and net-making industry. Many of […]
When The West Dorset Magazine discovered what a happy, community-oriented and thriving place Sturminster Newton was, we decided to make a rare addition to our already enormous patch and clasp the town to our collectively heaving bosoms. Copies of our mighty organ can now be picked up in The Emporium, 1855 and Harts. Here, editor […]
“The beauty of our company is that we have a strong team of experts so we can do everything, from the foundations to the chimney, all in-house.” Gary Moore and Michael McManus launched Dorset Extensions Group in 2021, based at Basepoint in Weymouth, with a desire to instil trust before, during and after building projects, […]
Chideock mechanic Billy Kitcher is driving 900 miles from John O’Groats to Land’s End in his vintage tractor to raise money for #Willdoes. While most people are planning a more relaxing summer, this 23-year-old will be trundling from top to bottom of the country in his 1954 Fordson Major tractor, which has no cab and […]
Every time I drive past the deer park on Stock Gaylard Estate, I slow down to catch a glimpse of life beyond those black, metal railings which embrace 1,800 rolling acres of fields, park and woodland. So, when I was invited to stay for a glamping trip in Sawpits, a shepherd’s hut on the estate, […]
An outcry from the public has forced Dorset Council to partially row back on plans to introduce a booking system at the tips. The authority unveiled the plans to a cacophony of opposition last month, then bullishly told the public it was “determined to move forward” on the plans. The authority wanted to spend £120,000 […]
“It takes over your life,” says Tracy Dunne wryly, scooping a baby hedgehog from an incubator – one of two survivors from a litter of four dug up by a dog in a garden. And she should know: Ten years ago she started caring for just a couple of hogs in her three-bedroom home. A […]
When Karen Bate, the WDM news editor, asked me to write a story about the Dorset Flop, I was dumbfounded because I thought, naively, I might be turning my attention to something more heavyweight in the political arena. I know The West Dorset Magazine won Hyperlocal Newspaper of the Year and so obviously they know […]
The WDM’s NICK HORTON chats to drummer Mick ‘Woody’ Woodmansey – currently on tour with his ‘supergroup’ Holy Holy and celebrating the music of his former Spiders from Mars bandmate, one David Bowie Imagine having some sort of superpower and be able to turn back time more than half a century, to a glorious epoch […]
Built between 1936 and 1937, the Riviera Hotel at Bowleaze, Weymouth, had a problematic start when its owner went bankrupt just as construction was nearing completion. It finally opened under new ownership in 1939, only to be disrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War. From 1958 to 1999, the Riviera was one of […]