Dorset has so much to offer everyone who visits this beautiful county and if you enjoy learning about an area’s culture and history when you’re on holiday, we’ve included a few locations and facts to give you just a taste of Dorset’s rich heritage.
Corfe Castle – majestic ruins with a colourful history, on the peninsula named the Isle of Purbeck.
Highcliffe Castle, Christchurch, is described as “arguably the most important surviving house of the Romantic and Picturesque style of architecture, which flourished at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century.”
Sandsfoot Castle, near Weymouth - a Tudor stronghold built in 1539 by Henry Vlll.
Sherborne Castle was built by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1594 and has been the stately home of the Digby family since 1617. It has “a glorious variety of decorative styles from over 400 years of English history” and the 50-acre lake was created by Capability Brown.
Athelhampton House, near Dorchester, was built in 1485 and has been in private ownership for over 500 years. The gardens boast a variety of woodland scenes, formal architecture, river walks along the River Piddle, wonderful pyramid shaped Yew trees and an ancient dovecote; and are all open to the public.
The 17th century Kingston Lacy house and gardens is owned by the National Trust and boasts lavish interiors and an outstanding art collection that includes paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck, Titian and Tintoretto, plus the largest private collection of Egyptian artefacts in the UK.
Wolfeton House, Charminster, is a medieval and Elizabethan manor house with magnificent plasterwork and panelling, a medieval gatehouse and a chapel and Cyder House.
Cerne Abbas Giant - a 180 foot man carved into the chalk rock and he’s believed to be an ancient fertility symbol with the power to help childless couples to conceive.
Gold Hill in Shaftesbury was made famous by the 1970s Hovis advertisement directed by Ridley Scott, and its steep cobbled road is a popular destination for visitors. At the top of Gold Hill is Gold Hill Museum, a traditional sandstone cottage that once provided accommodation for the drovers, jugglers and traders who came to Shaftesbury’s markets and fairs.
Dorset is Thomas Hardy country, of course, and is the birthplace of this famous author. Hardy Cottage, at Higher Brockhampton, is owned by the National Trust and is open to the public.
The Hardy Trail takes you around the locations where Hardy wrote and lived.
The Dorset countryside has inspired many authors, and novels set in Dorset include:
- On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
- The Black Tower by P. D. James (and others by the same author)
- The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
- Thank you, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
- The Devil’s Feather by Minette Walters
Museums
Dorset County Museum – fascinating collections and exhibitions relating to the archaeology, natural sciences, natural history, literature, music, fine and decorative arts, antiquities and local history of the county of Dorset.
Poole Museum’s exhibits include a 2,300-year-old log boat - one of the largest surviving prehistoric artefacts of its kind in Britain - and a ceramics gallery featuring a significant collection of world-famous Poole Pottery.
If you’re planning to visit Dorset over the summer, don’t forget to book your bed and breakfast accommodation in Dorset or self catering accommodation in Dorset as soon as possible.
