Scenic Saturday - Dorset

To me, Dorset has always seemed an out-of-the-way sort of county. I drove through it on a good many occasions when we were on our way to Devon for family holidays. There was also a period when I travelled by train to Plymouth two or three times a year and would think, as I gazed out of the window at the Blackmoor Hills, what an attractive county it is. But it was not until about six years ago that I really visited Dorset when Mrs BP and I decided to spend a few days there on our way back from a family party in Somerset.

To me, Dorset means Thomas Hardy - Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Far From the Madding Crowd etc. As well as Hardy's cottage, one can see several of the places mentioned in his books. One of the most famous streets in the country - Gold Hill - is to be found in Shaftesbury. Gold Hill became even better known when it was featured in a series of television advertisements for Hovis bread.

But many of the better-known parts of Dorset are on the coast. Close to the large resort of Bournemouth in the far south-east is Poole Harbour where Lord Baden-Powell held the experimental camp which led to him founding the Scout movement on Brownsea Island. Moving west we come to Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door before we reach Weymouth, where the sailing events in the 2012 Olympics are to be held. Running south from Weymouth is the narrow isthmus with the road leading to the Isle of Portland. Portland stone has been used in many important buildings and the Cenotaph in London is made from it, as are all the headstones in British war cemeteries across the world. The we pass Chesil Beach and the Abbotsbury swannery before reaching Lyme Regis, the scene of The French Lieutenant's Woman.

Inland again, we must not forget Corfe Castle and Maiden Castle, the largest Iron Age hill fort in Britain (some say in Europe), covering an area of 45 (some say 47) acres.

I am trying, during this tour, to use pictures of places I have visited so this week's picture is of Thomas Hardy's cottage.