Monday, 18 November 2013

12th post for 2013: Dorset

A couple of days after Celia flew back to New Zealand I joined Mike and Linda in a cottage in Bradpole, just outside Bridport.  We had lovely weather and exhausted ourselves visiting gardens, houses – and Uploders village Fete

018

019

Thomas Hardy’s house, Max Gate

023

020 Thomas Hardy’s lavatory

Mapperton House and gardens – both a delight and well worth a visit:

026

An Elizabethan house which has been in the hands of the Earls of Sandwich since the Restoration when first Earl brought Charles II back from Holland

028

032

038

039 The swimming pool

040

And then we went to Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens

043

where I got hooked on the hydrangeas

044

045

046

052

051

047

060

055 Excellent trunk carving

And we went to Lyme Regis.  I wanted us to go on a fossil walk as I’d enjoyed the one I did a while back so much but when I went to the Fossil Shop to ask about walks they said they had been suspended because it was too difficult while the cliff stabilisation works were underway.  And indeed they are and they are massive, costing £19.5 million.  They can only be carried out at low tide.

065

061

064

062

There was a completely different scene to the west of the town.

066

070 Rock balancing

071 

Properties for sale

072

074 A roadside tea room nearby

And we went to Bovington Camp, after visiting T E Lawrence’s cottage, Clouds Hill.

At Bovington Camp a tank demonstation was underway

076

077

079

085

Inside, this was to enable a tank to be driven through deep water:

086

I was able to sit inside a WWI tank and have it explained to me; me and 10 children.  Fab.

No comments:

Post a Comment