Dorset’s unusual place names

Like many parts of the UK, Dorset has its fair share of strange, and sometimes amusing, place names.

Here are a few of the most memorable:

Happy Bottom near Corfe Mullen, Wimborne

Scratchy Bottom, a cliff-top valley near Durdles Door. Scratchy Bottom is one of the locations in the 1967 film Far from the Madding Crowd.

Shitterton near Bere Regis. In 2010, residents of Shitterton got so frustrated with their village sign being repeatedly stolen that they replaced it with an enormous stone sign weighing over a tonne.

Piddletown (changed to Puddletown), a parish and town on the river Piddle. There’s even a Piddle Ale brewed by the Dorset Piddle Brewery in Piddlehinton. Could you muster the courage to ask for a pint of Piddle in the Piddle Inn? In Old English, ‘Piddle’ was the word for a marsh or fen.

Droop – a hamlet in mid Dorset.

Lilliput, a district of Poole

Ryme Intrinseca, a village in the north west of Dorset, near the border with Somerset. The village has a 13th century church.

Wool, a village in the Purbeck area of Dorset. The 17th century Woolbridge Manor House is where Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Ubervilles stayed on her honeymoon.

If you’re planning to visit some of Dorset’s wonderfully-named locations and villages this summer, don’t forget to book your bed and breakfast accommodation in Dorset or self catering accommodation in Dorset as soon as possible. We look forward to welcoming you here.

Tips for an eco-friendly Easter

Millions of Easter eggs will be sold and consumed this Easter, producing tonnes of cardboard, plastic and foil. The most obvious way towards making Easter a little more environmentally friendly is to recycle the waste from your Easter eggs and Easter gifts: but it’s easy to do more, and so here are a few tips to help make your Easter as eco-friendly as possible..

Buy unboxed Easter eggs (and buy eggs in recycled packaging).

Make your own Easter eggs with a mould and some chocolate.

Buy chocolate eggs from ethical chocolate companies and those that stock Fairtrade chocolate. Dorset-based company Chococo sells handmade dinosaur chocolate Easter eggs with chocolate dinosaurs & ammonites nestled inside. They also have the Giant Jurassic Half Kilo Bar of chocolate studded with white & dark chocolate Jurassic coast "fossils".

If you’re cooking a family Easter meal use organic locally-sourced ingredients where possible.

Give non-chocolate gifts – for example, you could make up a child’s gardening kit with a small watering can and easy to grow seeds such as sunflowers, sweet peas and nasturtiums. Many wild flower seeds are best sown in the autumn, but some can be sown in spring and will attract bees and butterflies later in the year. Dorset Wildlife Trust has useful information on how to create a wildflower meadow.

Get crafty and make your own Easter decorations:

make an Easter basket from fabric scraps;

re-use egg cartons to make Easter egg carton chicks;

create an Easter garland made from paint samples;

make your own decorated Easter eggs using natural dyes or masking tape, and put them in papier-mâché nests.

Make your Easter break an eco-friendly one and stay in a location that supports sustainable tourism. Here at Chesil Beach Lodge we offer a choice of delightful and sustainable bed and breakfast and self-catering accommodation in a stunning location on the Jurassic Coast. Please contact us for more details, or to book accommodation.

What’s on in Dorset: April

So, April is here and we’re keeping our fingers tightly crossed for more of the lovely weather we had in March. Enough rain to keep the countryside looking green and lovely would be perfect, but not a month of April Showers thank you very much. At Chesil Beach Lodge we’re also looking forward to welcoming our visitors for the Easter holidays.

As always for the beginning of a new month we have a few suggestions for things to do in Dorset in April. Coming up later in the month we have tips for how to have an eco-friendly Easter and some examples of Dorset’s unusual place names.

4th April Easter Family Fun Day at Lyme Regis Museum. Get creative with Alison Bowskill. From Easter chicks to first swallows, birds will be everywhere! Drop into the museum to make and decorate your own Easter bird to take and hang up at home. Free admission for adults and children, and free art materials. Suitable for children ages 5 to 10 years. 11am to 3pm

6th to 9th April: a family day out on the Easter Trail at Highcliffe Castle. “Find the Easter chicks hidden in the Castle grounds, answer the questions and win an Easter egg prize: fun way to spend your Easter weekend and enjoy the Castle’s beautiful grounds whilst you search for the Easter chicks. 11am to 4pm daily. £1 per trail.6th to 9th April Kingston Maurward Easter Egg-stravaganza at Kingston Maurward Gardens and Animal Park. This annual Easter Egg Hunt is set to be full of egg-citement again this year with fun for all the family. Search for clues around the Animal Park to claim your chocolate egg prize. Visit the Easter chicks and bunnies in the animal park, have fun feeding the sheep and goats, get up close to alpacas, and meet all the farmyard friends.The Animal Park has recently become a member of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Bring a picnic, take a walk through the beautiful gardens, and relax by the lake. Gates are open from 10am-4pm.

7th April – celebrate 40 years of “making waves” at the Greenpeace 40th Birthday Gig, at the Corn Exchange, Dorchester, with Thomas and the Mock Ups, plus DJ Mixed Bag and DJ Uncle Allen. There will also be foyer films on 40 years of Inspiring Action. 8pm to midnight .Tickets are £4: available from Dorchester TIC. All proceeds go to Greenpeace. Telephone 01305 267992 or 01305 262908 for more details.

8th April Pirate Day at the Nothe Fort, Weymouth. Treasure Trails, Pirate Ghost Walk, Face Painting, Cannon Firing, Crafts and Fancy Dress Competition. There will also be a mock battle between the Nothe Fort Artillery and the pirates with lots of smoke, gun fire and shouting. £5 for everyone, including activities (Under 3's Free) 10 am to 4.30pm.

11th to 15th April at the Electric Palace, Bridport, From Page to Screen Festival 2012. From Page to Screen is the UK's only film festival celebrating the art of adapting books into film. The festival gives new and classic adaptations a fascinating context with discussions and workshops with authors, screenwriters, directors and film academics. Films include The Forbidden Planet, My Fair Lady, Women in Love, Wuthering Heights, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, and 10 Things I Hate About You.15th April The Great Dorset Beach Clean. Volunteers are invited to get active and clean up our wonderful Dorset beaches, and help the survival of onshore wildlife as well as marine creature that are affected by our rubbish floating out to sea. All equipment is provided.

21st April to 10th June The Romantic Landscape Exhibition, Sladers Yard, West Bay, Bridport: new work by artists who find a kind of truth in the beauty and poetry of the contemporary landscape.

28th April Magic Drum Workshop at Dorchester Arts Centre. “A drum circle is an improvised musical journey skillfully facilitated by Ralph Cree and Glyn Bush of Magic Drum. This musical event is suitable for all ages and abilities, and is aimed at bringing the community together. It’s not just for drummers - it’s open to anyone who would like to have a day creating music. Drums and percussion are provided, but if you have a drum or some percussion instrument please bring it with you.

These activities and events are just a small sample from the many that Dorset has to offer in April. If you plan to visit Dorset, don’t forget to book accommodation in Dorset as soon as possible. At Chesil Beach Lodge you can be sure of superb accommodation with amazing views, and a friendly welcome. We look forward to hearing from you.