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British weekend breaks: Six things you must do in... Dorset | Mail Online:
1. Slice of heaven
You've seen Gold Hill in Shaftesbury on chocolate-box tops and calendars and in one of our favourite TV ads, Hovis's 1973 'Boy on Bike' commercial. The cobbled street curves gloriously and steeply down (bread delivery boys need very good brakes on their bikes) against a backdrop of the shimmering hills and woods of the Blackmore Vale.
We called in one summer evening after the crowds had gone. Our reward was a car and people-free photograph (a tourist halfway down obligingly moved out of shot). The town, at 715ft above sea level, is one of the loftiest in England. The Shaftesbury Heritage Trail links the town's many historic highlights, including the excavated foundations of the Abbey, dissolved by Henry VIII, within a peaceful walled garden. Download a copy of the trail at www.shaftesburyheritage.org.uk.
2. Peer at the pier
Bournemouth is in the top crop of our seaside resorts. The promenade along the long sandy beach is one of Britain's best and the recently restored Boscombe Pier at the eastern end of town is a marvel. The new designer beach huts are a mere £75,000, or £250 a week to rent. We took a ride in a helium balloon for an overview of this boom town from 500ft. Provisioned with Purbeck ice cream - 'farm made and natural' - we strolled on to the sedate west end, where chines (steep-sided green ravines) descend to the beach. 'Walk the asphalt paths of Branksome Chine,' urged poet John Betjeman, 'in resinscented air like strong Greek wine'.
3. County contrasts
Dorset is a county of contrasts. We took an easy afternoon's drive north from Bournemouth, starting at the Sandbanks peninsula, Dorset's most affluent corner. Just offshore, in Poole Harbour, is Brownsea Island, with its population of red squirrels. A few miles north is pretty Wimborne Minster.
The twin-towered minster dominates this compact ancient town, with its narrow streets, courtyards and one-off shops. Two miles west, Dorset turns remote, mysterious and floral at the Iron Age hill fort Badbury Rings. Fourteen species of orchid grow around the concentric rings of bank and ditch at this open grassy site. Its summit offers views deep into Thomas Hardy's Wessex.
4. Story book setting
The Isle of Purbeck, which is actually a peninsula rather than an island, offers another of this county's abrupt and intriguing gear changes. It remains much as it was when Enid Blyton set her Famous Five stories here. Use the Blyton site www.gingerpop.co.uk as a guide and take lashings of ginger beer and hunt down the locations of the books. Enthusiasts have restored the steam railway that Blyton would have ridden to Swanage (www.swanagerailway.co.uk).
My Purbeck picks include Corfe Castle - tremendous on its high hill above a pretty stone village - and the Studland Nature Reserve. This heathland hosts all six British reptiles - adder, grass and smooth snake, sand and common lizard and slow worm. And do walk the soft clifftop turf of this crinkled coast.
5. Home for hero
T.E. Lawrence, propelled to fame by his role in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire of 1916-18 and immortalised in David Lean's 1962 film Lawrence Of Arabia, retreated to his beloved Clouds Hill, a secluded cottage deep in the woods near Wareham, after retiring from the RAF.
He was killed in 1935 in a motorbike accident close to the house. Today Clouds Hill is one of the National Trust's most unusual properties. The sparse rooms are much as he left them and there's an exhibition on his life. Look out for the sleeping bag George Bernard Shaw and Robert Graves slept in on visits. Stolen in the Sixties, it was returned anonymously in 2001.
6. Top stay
The Urban Beach in Boscombe has a jolly informality about it. The fear that we had stumbled into a grungy hangout for surfers was dispelled by the unpretentious quality of our room. I liked the big hand-painted Japanese headboard-the Fogarty duck-down bedding and the Arran aromatics toiletries. The bar is full of invention, with a long list of cocktails and smoothies, and 'triple certified coffee'. Easily the liveliest boutique hotel I have stayed in.
The ethos of 'sustainability, smiling and having fun' extends to its newly opened sister restaurant The Urban Reef, 500 yards away on the seafront: www.urbanreef.com, www.urban beachhotel.co.uk.
British weekend breaks: Six things you must do in... Dorset | Mail Online:
1. Slice of heaven
You've seen Gold Hill in Shaftesbury on chocolate-box tops and calendars and in one of our favourite TV ads, Hovis's 1973 'Boy on Bike' commercial. The cobbled street curves gloriously and steeply down (bread delivery boys need very good brakes on their bikes) against a backdrop of the shimmering hills and woods of the Blackmore Vale.
We called in one summer evening after the crowds had gone. Our reward was a car and people-free photograph (a tourist halfway down obligingly moved out of shot). The town, at 715ft above sea level, is one of the loftiest in England. The Shaftesbury Heritage Trail links the town's many historic highlights, including the excavated foundations of the Abbey, dissolved by Henry VIII, within a peaceful walled garden. Download a copy of the trail at www.shaftesburyheritage.org.uk.
2. Peer at the pier
Bournemouth is in the top crop of our seaside resorts. The promenade along the long sandy beach is one of Britain's best and the recently restored Boscombe Pier at the eastern end of town is a marvel. The new designer beach huts are a mere £75,000, or £250 a week to rent. We took a ride in a helium balloon for an overview of this boom town from 500ft. Provisioned with Purbeck ice cream - 'farm made and natural' - we strolled on to the sedate west end, where chines (steep-sided green ravines) descend to the beach. 'Walk the asphalt paths of Branksome Chine,' urged poet John Betjeman, 'in resinscented air like strong Greek wine'.
3. County contrasts
Dorset is a county of contrasts. We took an easy afternoon's drive north from Bournemouth, starting at the Sandbanks peninsula, Dorset's most affluent corner. Just offshore, in Poole Harbour, is Brownsea Island, with its population of red squirrels. A few miles north is pretty Wimborne Minster.
The twin-towered minster dominates this compact ancient town, with its narrow streets, courtyards and one-off shops. Two miles west, Dorset turns remote, mysterious and floral at the Iron Age hill fort Badbury Rings. Fourteen species of orchid grow around the concentric rings of bank and ditch at this open grassy site. Its summit offers views deep into Thomas Hardy's Wessex.
4. Story book setting
The Isle of Purbeck, which is actually a peninsula rather than an island, offers another of this county's abrupt and intriguing gear changes. It remains much as it was when Enid Blyton set her Famous Five stories here. Use the Blyton site www.gingerpop.co.uk as a guide and take lashings of ginger beer and hunt down the locations of the books. Enthusiasts have restored the steam railway that Blyton would have ridden to Swanage (www.swanagerailway.co.uk).
My Purbeck picks include Corfe Castle - tremendous on its high hill above a pretty stone village - and the Studland Nature Reserve. This heathland hosts all six British reptiles - adder, grass and smooth snake, sand and common lizard and slow worm. And do walk the soft clifftop turf of this crinkled coast.
5. Home for hero
T.E. Lawrence, propelled to fame by his role in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire of 1916-18 and immortalised in David Lean's 1962 film Lawrence Of Arabia, retreated to his beloved Clouds Hill, a secluded cottage deep in the woods near Wareham, after retiring from the RAF.
He was killed in 1935 in a motorbike accident close to the house. Today Clouds Hill is one of the National Trust's most unusual properties. The sparse rooms are much as he left them and there's an exhibition on his life. Look out for the sleeping bag George Bernard Shaw and Robert Graves slept in on visits. Stolen in the Sixties, it was returned anonymously in 2001.
6. Top stay
The Urban Beach in Boscombe has a jolly informality about it. The fear that we had stumbled into a grungy hangout for surfers was dispelled by the unpretentious quality of our room. I liked the big hand-painted Japanese headboard-the Fogarty duck-down bedding and the Arran aromatics toiletries. The bar is full of invention, with a long list of cocktails and smoothies, and 'triple certified coffee'. Easily the liveliest boutique hotel I have stayed in.
The ethos of 'sustainability, smiling and having fun' extends to its newly opened sister restaurant The Urban Reef, 500 yards away on the seafront: www.urbanreef.com, www.urban beachhotel.co.uk.
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