After a lazy start, we (Tina, Gemma, Paddy and Lucy) walked and bused around a number of studios and houses in the Open Studios scheme. We looked at a wide variety of art and craft, and had some interesting conversations. Not much opportunity for photos, though, because it seemed inappropriate to photograph artists or their work.
We bought some, though!
After more thought provoking discussion last evening and this morning, I felt the need to study what Baden Powell called that other great book, nature, so I went to the Cambridge University Botanical Gardens. I walked there past colleges and cows…
The gardens were lovely. Lots of evidence of scientific enquiry!
A substantial glass house.
And a limestone garden, which was very nostalgic.
My feet were tired, so I planned to return by bus, but it was held up somewhere, so I walked back past the colleges and cows.
After a morning of theological discussion, we all went our separate ways, and three of us had a mooch around Cambridge.
More theology this evening!
After the gloomy weather forecasts for the last few days, I’d just got back from walking Rocco and then the heavens opened, thunder and all!
As rain is (again) forecast for this afternoon, we did a morning explore of Poundbury, the town “created” by Charles III (then Prince of Wales). It’s on the outskirts of Dorchester and despite being started in 1993, all looks very new and clean!
There is a large park nearby, so Rocco could have a bit of off-lead time:
This is the entrance to Poundbury cemetery:
Past the cemetery are open fields with many tumuli still standing:
Then back to the park, a short drive home, and a cup of tea!
While Phil and Rocco went for a walk, I looked round the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester. I was expecting a small museum in a converted hall of some sort, but it was purpose built and comprised several galleries over four floors. The original exhibition hall is now used for events, and is a glorious space. The floor includes two Roman mosaics. Stunning!
There were displays about the geology, archaeology and history of Dorset. I was particularly taken with this sculpture depicting the geological strata – with a strata of plastic rubbish at the highest, most recent level.
The weather forecast for today wasn’t brilliant (the BBC said showers all afternoon) so for the first time this week, we actually took waterproofs with us and headed to Ringstead Bay, east of Weymouth. The car park is high up on the hill looking down to the sea with Portland and Weymouth in the mist:
What I assumed was the correct path down turned out to be a bit of a struggle – it was a public footpath, but not very used!
After a bit of a struggle, we got onto the SW Coast Path where walking was a lot easier!
We dropped down to the beach at Ringstead Bay so Rocco could have a swim:
After a coffee break, we continued on the coast path:
to a pub with lots of outdoor seating (useful with a wet dog), beer & food:
You can just see the pub nestling in the hills:
We did try to get down to the beach there, but it was a long way down and didn’t look too inviting, so we retraced our steps along the coast path:
And found a nicer beach for Rocco to have another swim!
On the way back up the hill (using the track), we passed St Catherine’s Church – in the middle of nowhere, but still has monthly services:
Then the long climb back up to the car:
And not a drop of rain – a lovely walk, though VERY warm as there was very little breeze.
In the afternoon we went to Thorncombe Wood, the location for Hardy’s Cottage. This needed prebooking and wasn’t dog friendly, so we just had a stroll in the rather nice woods instead:
This is Hardy’s Cottage:
We passed a very nice pond, but I didn’t want Rocco wet (and dogs were not supposed to go in there) so he had to just look instead of getting wet!
Tina wanted to visit Dorchester County Museum, which (probably) wasn’t dog friendly, so we dropped her off and went for a walk from Poundbury. Luckily, the “Duchy of Cornwall” had provided a permissive path between Poundbury and the bridleways going to Maiden Castle, so we took that:
Maiden Castle itself is an old hill fort, and probably better viewed from the air than the ground:
It was also full of sheep, so Rocco had to be on a lead…
Still, an interesting walk with no roads!
Our final visit on the island was to Tout Quarry Sculpture Park, “created” from an abandoned quarry on the island:
This view of Weymouth & Chesil Beach was nice:
There were over 50 sculptures in total, though we didn’t find them all!