I took this image whilst the staff at The Bull Hotel were preparing for a very busy lunch back in July when the Olympic torch came to Bridport. I noticed the Furleigh Estate bottles of bubbly on ice on the bar and thought it would make a great shot of our fantastic West Dorset local produce with The Bull Hotel logo showing in the background.
At time of writing, The Bull Hotel have used it as their header for their facebook page… it worked!
A Sculpture park will inspire different feelings and spark the imagination. This is what I saw when I visited Sculptures by the Lakes near Dorchester where Simon Gudgeon and his wife Monique have created a beautifully inspiring have.
A few more images can be found in my monotone set.
Jonathan Lobert et sa médaille de bronze à Weymouth en Finn aux JO 2012 a montré aux amoureux de voile que le Dorset est une région Anglaise qui vaut le voyage. Tout près de Weymouth se trouve une petite ville qui vaut le détour: Beaminster. Je la connais depuis 25 ans, laissez moi vous en parler…
Beaminster se cache au milieu de collines dans un Parc Naturel Régional (‘Endroit de Beauté Naturelle Exceptionnelle comme disent les Anglais). A quelques minutes de la Côte Jurassique, listée à l’Unesco comme Site Naturel d’Intérêt International, nature et balades au calme abondent aux alentours.
Beaminster est une de ces villes qui ont plutôt l’air d’un village. Autoroutes et aéroports sont dans les régions voisines et c’est très bien comme ça! La pierre blonde locale et l’ église plutôt Normande de St Mary font de Beaminster une ville dont l’histoire médiévale est facile à imaginer. Ses boutiques ne sont pas des magasins de chaine qui vendent tous la même chose… L’ hotel Bridge House a 14 chambres modernes et comfortables dans une maison de prêtres médiévale et un choix de Bed and Breakfast permettent d’y passer quelques jours, si vous préférez les chambres d’hôtes.
Dans la galerie d’art ‘Strummer Pink’ les céramiques de Miranda Berrow sont uniques et superbes, les expositions d’art changent périodiquement. ‘At Home’ ont un grand choix pour toute home sweet home et ‘Cilla and Camilla’ est preuve que les Anglais adorent les cartes postales. Leurs bibelots sont autant d’idées cadeaux.
‘Green Drawers’ vend entre autres des habits de bébé en coton organique et des superbes coussins de l’artiste Liz Summerville. Les gens du coin viennent y faire remplir leurs bouteilles de liquide vaisselle pour éviter le gaspillage de plastique. ‘Djuna’ stocke notamment la marque Anglaise ‘Seasalt’ avec ses vêtements décontractés inspirés par la Côte des Cornouailles.
‘Number 21’, avec leurs vêtements, chaussures et affaires de maison ont des produits haut de gamme de qualité. La maison de thé ‘Ann Day’ (ouverte le matin seulement) vend des bijoux et autres bibelots de style Art Nouveau. ‘Belles Choses’ (non, pas Nice Things!) est la preuve que les Anglais aiment l’inspiration française dans leur décor de maison. En plus de ces boutiques où il fait bon flâner, la pharmacie stocke des parfums bien Anglais comme Bronnley dont la rose Anglaise est toujours un parfum classique et apprécié.
En vacances dans un cottage ou autre location, on trouve à Beaminster tout ce dont on a besoin pour faire de bons petits plats; une boulangerie mais également une pâtisserie, chose bien plus rare, qui fait aussi salon de thé. Le boucher Nick Tett stocke des viandes locales ainsi que des fromages et sauces. Quant aux fruits et légumes, Angie à ‘A Fruit and Two Veg’ est imbattable dans la région pour la fraicheur de ses produits (coupés la veille par le mari dans leur ferme du Somerset) et ses prix.
Et si en vacances on ne veut pas vraiment cuisiner, le choix ne manque pas… Deux pubs, trois restaurants, trois ‘take-away’ (plats à emporter) et un Peugeot français avec ses pizza au feu de bois sur la place du village tous les Jeudis… On se croirait presque en Normandie.
La prochaine fois je vous parlerai des restos…
I took friends and family to Weymouth on Saturday 28 July to see the Battle of the Winds final extravagganza of aerialists, the 2012 torches wade into the sea, the pyrotechnics and generally start enjoying Olympic atmosphere. I mmm’ed and rrrr’ed it would be a bit too crowded, but hey it’s a once in a lifetime, so off we went.
There was plenty there, but not quite what I expected. An empty Monkey Jump Park & Ride welcomed us mid afternoon. A brand new double decker took all seven of us into town on the shiny new bypass that we are being warned not to use. Many more empty buses were waiting to Ride elusive Parked punters back to their cars. We strolled along the spacious promenade to the Bayside Festival where our Somerset friends learned about the Jurassic Coast wonders. My kids loved being taught a few tricks by the ExtremeSports team, great guys under the tatooes and dreadlocks. At 6.30 pm Bayside eating area had all of ten tourists having tea listening to the Acoustic Stage. At 7pm the long expected queue to get into the enclosed “Weymouth and Portland Live Site” was painfully tiny…
Great news as a visitor, plenty of space, unexpected free entry to Bayside; not such great news when talking to the locals who have invested money and worked hard for months. Why the big signs in surroundings counties of how busy it may get? Put them up when it does get busy, not before. These are the days of mobile phones, twitter, facebook, information is fast. Does St Tropez warn tourists in Lyon? NON. They let them all come, get stuck, take their money and let them queue. Tourists do come back, every year and it’s still a nightmare to get to St Trop.
I got cross with dorsetforyou. Stop caring people off I said on twitter.
“@natamagat Just informing people about changes and road closures. We want to encourage people to come down, but plan their journey 1st” they replied.
Well, West Dorset looks awfully quiet. The dreadful recent events due to floods and landslides are still fresh on people’s mind but it does not mean the whole area should be avoided. Local businesses that rely on Summer visitors need help, not scaremongering tactics.
Tell everybody how easy it is to get here (I’m told there’s even a High-Speed train from Weymouth to Bristol but it’s not advertised, go figure), that there’s lots to do in Weymouth, that Bridport has a fantastic Festival of Culture in August, that Beaminster has lots of great shops and brilliant restaurants all year round with perfect presents to take back home despite the Tunnel being closed.
Hello world, this is the year to visit West Dorset, it’s quiet and if you fancy art, culture, food (of course) oh and the small matter of Olympic sailing along our beautiful Jurassic Coast, well there are plenty of events that locals have been organising for weeks. It’s not too late to book a few days in West Dorset…
Photography on this post from Saturday 28 July in Weymouth.
This post was first published on the Bull Hotel Blog in January 2012
‘Bridport TLC, not a load of rubbish‘.
One of the first things that The Bull Marketing Manager Billy asked me to do for the Bull Blog was to talk to Leon. Thing is, it’s easy for a boutique hotel to talk about great food. But what about ‘behind the scenes’? Boring stuff like recycling… Come and meet Leon and his team of Bridport volunteers. They are anything but boring.
Tucked away on the St Michael’s trading estate, between the artists and the antique dealers is Bridport TLC. Oh yes, Tender Loving Care. Very apt for a Community Project that does so much more than collect recycling from the Bull Hotel and many Bridport businesses. The reality of recycling is that we all want to do it but for a business it can be difficult to get all the staff to understand the importance of sorting things. That’s where Leon came in and explained to us all in his enthusiastic manner what Bridport TLC do. It’s so much easier to be responsible when it’s made easy for us.
Bridport TLC started as a Community Biodiesel project set up by Leon Edwards and Tess Dickson. They collected local waste cooking oil and turned it into clean fuel, then went on to set up a Bicycle repair and recycling workshop and now collect waste from local businesses to help them meet the Government’s ‘Business Waste Directive”; among other things.
The recycling hub is a hive of busy bees. I wouldn’t call Leon the Queen bee, he’ll never talk to me again, but he and Tess are very much the drivers that keep the project going; as with all similar ventures in times of financial cuts, it’s not an easy task. I’m told the boss is in fact General, the ginger cat that makes sure rodents keep away from the vast amount of potential food.
The ground floor is filled with cardboard and plastic (among other things) waiting to be taken to a larger local recycling centre in one go. Volunteers collect, sort, bale and have a laugh. More importantly, they do a very worthwhile job. An important part of Bridport TLC is to help people with learning difficulties or who may have chosen the wrong path at some point in their life to integrate into society by volunteering to do a job the Community needs. What would we all do if nobody took that thankless task on board?
Waste not want not comes to mind when you have a look around Bridport TLC’s Scrapstore. What to do with all this stuff they collect? Tess is an Arts Project Worker whose work can be seen during Carnival. Weekly meetings ensure that people with learning difficulties can come and create some wonderful recycled bags, decoupage boxes or covered picture frames.
The Scrapstore is open to the public (you have to become a member) and is an Alladin’s cave for crafts people who want to pick up some weird and wonderful bits of material, plastic tubes or cones, ribbons and of course rope and nets… What you’ll find very much depends on what has been collected. Sure gets the imagination going.
Bridport TLC recently opened the Scrapstore Outlet where items made by the volunteers are sold to help fund the project. Fancy a funky bags made from milk cartons for £5? A craft pack for 99p? A colourful lego bag that doubles up as a play mat for £10? What will be there when you next visit will very much depend on what has turned up on the van or has been donated. No doubt Tess and her team will think of something fun and worthwhile and sell it at a very reasonable price.
I really enjoyed meeting Leon, Tess and their teams. I came out with a feeling of hope. In our days where people who are different struggle to integrate and funds to help such projects are dwindling, I saw smiles and hugs, heard laughter and banter and witnessed something that seems far too scarce. Nurturing and empowering for the benefit of us all. I’m very glad Billy asked me to meet them all.
For more information on the Scrapstore opening times and Bridport TLC
“They’re not allowed to go down this hill, it’s an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty” said the National Trust volunteer to my children. Mountain boarding down the steep hill by Hive Beach in Burton Bradstock did not go down well this weekend.
“Go on mate, you go and tell them to stop having fun” said the husband. “I will” replied the man his hand on the gate, adding “If we let them do it then there will be loads of them. And it’s wet, so they’ll do some damage, they’ll make a path and it’s an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty” – in case I didn’t hear that the first time round.
“I know it’s an AONB. We live in an AONB, most of Dorset is an AONB, does that mean they can’t mountainboard anywhere? And it’s dry actually.” I added, throwing my hands up in the air in despair. “I don’t get it but if that’s the way you feel, by all means go and ask them to stop doing their sport.” and I walked off in a huff towards the Spring Tide Festival.
I know I shouldn’t get cross with the man, he is a volunteer and does what he has been asked to do by the powers that be. Who makes these unwritten rules anyway? What’s the logic behind forbidding children to ride down a hill that only cattle, walkers and dog owners use.
Especially when there were no cows, walkers or dogs at the time. Another woman -who explains she used to look after the car park- chimes in “It’s also part of the Jurassic Coast here”. I know! A World Natural Heritage Site listed by Unesco, looked after by The National Trust here in Burton Bradstock and other parts of West Dorset. I am a National Trust member so agree with the work they do but…
Should we live in West Dorset as if it was an old fashioned museum where people need to whisper and “Do not touch”?
The National Trust have been trying to shake their image of old houses and mothballs. Just look at their marketing: families, walkers and youth on their front covers. That’s the way it should be. The National Trust is for all of us, children included.
Who do we keep our national heritage for?
NT do a great job in West Dorset looking after a large part of our amazing coast. Still our Jurassic Coast crumbles and falls. Nature does that, not children.
On the other hand, it was OK on the same day to have dozens of cars and vans come to a Food and Craft Festival. Now, don’t get me wrong, Spring Tide is a great festival. I have been a regular visitor to the event ever since it started, stocking up on fantastic food.
Today, I thought I’d take my kids. In fact they came -with their boards- a couple of years ago and it wasn’t a problem. Thing is, there’s only so long my children will spend in a tent filled with food whilst I chat to stall holders and spend money. Mace the Bodger is great but my kids have watched him turn his green wood many times, he’s even taught them. Ben and his local National Trust team are brilliant but my boys’ interest in fossils is minimal unless they’re on a beach hoping to find a hidden treasure.
If you stand on top of that forbidden hill, you have a magnificent view towards Golden Cap and Lyme Regis. At the forefront, a car park and a cafe with a plastic canopy. Some might say these are an eye-sore. Now again, I have nothing against The Hive Beach Cafe. They are a renowned West Dorset eaterie that champion local food, equally sought after by seafood seeking weekenders and grey haired locals after a cuppa, an ice-cream or fresh crab. If you’re a non-smoker you’ll love the fact that smoking is even forbidden outside. Being the baddy that I am -irresponsible mother of mountain boarders and a smoker- I was told off last year for lighting up on the open terrace. What a bad family we are.
What I want to understand is this: if it’s ok to have car fumes and plastic canopies on National Trust Land, why are local members of the Trust (via a family membership) not allowed to enjoy a harmless sport on the side of an empty hill. If you don’t know what a mountain board is, imagine a skate board with bigger wheels. Imagine a kid with lots of padding and a helmet in case they fall, as it is a bit of an extreme sport when they get serious. When I say harmless, I mean harmless for the hill. We went on a dry day, there would have been no wedges of soil unearthed. The volunteer was worried they would create a path. There are paths already, created by walkers, many with dogs, some leaving fouling behind. In fact there is one of England’s most popular Coast Paths a few yards away. Thousand of people have treaded its soil, along the crumbling coast. There are ‘off-paths shoots’ everywhere close to eroding cliffs; were they created by weird sports people or kids?.
It is a privilege to live in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It beats cities any day in my books. It is our duty to look after our corner of the world for our descendants.
How do we ensure our future generations want to help preserve it, love it and respect it?
By telling them they can’t use it for their sport whilst their parents and grandparents fill it with car fumes and we all look at huge petrol tankers up and down the Coast? I’m not suggesting motor cross competitions along the South West Coast path or car rallies up and down the West Dorset lanes. My kids love downhill biking and mountain boarding. They may look like scary bikers with their full face helmets and padded bodies but I cannot believe the looks of suspicion from several people this weekend.
How old are these kids? 11, 12 and 14.
Maybe we should leave everything absolutely untouched. But let’s remember, this hill -as the rest of the Chesil Beach Coast- used to be a forest before our ancestors turned them into fields. The damage of evolution is not a recent thing. Let’s bear in mind both Dorset AONB and The National Trust talk about healthy living and sport. Quite right too; our western kids may be the first generation that die younger than their parents due to a lack of sport (and poor diet).
So who makes these rules of what sport can be enjoyed where on National Trust, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or Unesco listed parts of the world?
Heaven forbid we might stray from walking or maybe cycling on cycle lanes. I wonder, would our Mesolithic ancestors -who used to have huge festivals a few miles away at Hambledon Hill- have a problem with a few children enjoying the side of a hill at seemingly high speed?
I have a feeling they’d think it’s a great idea. With a few rules of course: don’t frighten any cattle, stop when you see a walker, respect your elders, behave responsibly and go and have fun. If only.
Huge festivals at Hambledon Hill, Dorset, a very long time ago…
If cows don’t mind kids, why should people?
(taken in 2010)
No post on Pardon my Franglais since January… Here is where I’ve been!
A weekly post for the Bull Hotel in Bridport has kept me busy, enjoying an art lesson, being treated to a wonderful massage (oh yes!), doing a behind the scenes mini-series…
Bridport and West Dorset Open Studios has been a great project to work on. As I can’t help myself, a few posts on artists and makers met along the way have made their way onto the site. Marion Taylor and her colourful West Dorset views, Sally Davies her digital art as well as exhibitions worth visiting. More to follow.
It’s been a real pleasure to meet interesting people who love what they do and want to share their love of art, their area, their work. What makes them tick, how they go about creating visual art and visiting their studios has been a great experience. We have new artists for this year as well as some that have been doing it for thirteen years. BOS 2012 will be a great mix of talent. (If you are an artist and live in or around Bridport, do get in touch, it’s not too late, yet!).
I’m also working on an interesting Community project ‘Beaminster Future’ , ten volunteers writing the Town Plan for the next ten years. We’ve had Open Days for the Beaminster Community to give us feedback on what is important to them so we can write a questionnaire with the issues they have raised. Once we’ve written the questionnaire on these priorities, got it back and analysed it, we’ll write a Plan and present it first to the Community then to the Town Council. It’s quite a challenge. We all want to reach all ages, all areas of town, want to make sure the whole Community knows about the questionnaire and most importantly fill it in. “We’ve heard it all before, there’s no point” is not a welcome reaction! So we’re working on it…
Busy with words and organising an event in August means there’s been less time for images but I can’t live without my camera, so a few clicks here and there have helped me keep sane… Just about!
Busy times, but good times!
Last year I came across a drawing by Kate Lynch that really caught my eye, ‘Musicians at the Wassail’ when writing an article on a Sladers Yard exhibition for the Bull Hotel. It had a feel of black magic, maybe because it’s in charcoal and rather dark but I loved it for its moodiness.
I don’t mind admitting that I had never heard of Wassail so Mr Google was called upon. There was some explanation on this twelfth night of Christmas ritual, all rather fascinating for a French person. Apple wassailing sounded particularly interesting.
It seemed to be all about blessing apple trees with cider and warding off evil spirits with as much racket as possible -including guns- in the apple orchards of the South West. The most interesting site I could find was dark dorset. I particularly like his comment that ‘this custom was especially important during a time when part of a labourer’s wages was paid in apple cider‘. Well we’d all make sure we did anything possible to ensure a good crop then, wouldn’t we?
However bizarre or wonderful pagan rituals appear, there always seems to be an explanation based on Mother Nature, as is the case with Apple Wassailing. I contacted Jill Lloyd of Bridport Community Orchard who finally had the answer to my question. Why oh why so much racket? Surely you want the birds to hang around?
Oh yes, that’s why bread dipped in cider is flung in the apple trees’ branches. Oh the lucky sparrows whose orchards are being blessed. As for the noise, it’s all to do with apple loving little bugs -codling moths- who hide behind the bark in the winter, ready to leap up the trunk and into the apples later in the year.
Shoooo little nasty things, we want our apples for our cider… Bang. Bang. Bang. And (hopefully) away they go.
It is then time for a good old glass of gold nectar around the fire whilst catching up with friends on a cold winter night and watching Morris Dancers, safe in the knowledge that everything humanely possible has been done to ensure a good crop the following autumn.
As orchards have dwindled in West Dorset so has of course apple wassailing. Thankfully not all is lost. The good people at the Bridport Community Orchard have not only turned a field in the town centre into an orchard, they are also reviving this age old West Country tradition. This Sunday 15 January 2012 at 3pm, Bridport Community Orchard. Do you have a tambourine or drums I can borrow?
There’s a lot going on in Bridport and West Dorset in 2012. The Jurassic Coast is celebrating its tenth year as a Unesco listed site, the Sailing Olympics and paralympics are but a few weeks away and ‘Spirit of Bridport’ is celebrating with a Festival of Culture that promises to be a 19 day long celebration of all things that Bridport has to offer (11-27 August 2012).
Many community groups are getting together with ‘Spirit of Bridport’ to make sure the town makes the most of the Olympics on our doorstep. There’s much talk about legacy. ‘Spirit of Bridport’ is about action from the community for the benefit of all its communities and visitors.
Street theatre, pop-up cafes, a mini film festival, exhibitions celebrating our culture, gigs (of the rowing type as well as musical), special menus… Bridport is famous for great food, inspired art, inspiring creatives, quirkiness and doesn’t need much of an excuse to have a party. When it comes to communities getting together and creating great events, Bridport has every chance of delivering.
As the 2012 Director of the Bridport and West Dorset Open Studios, I am one of the many people involved in ‘Spirit of Bridport’. From gallery owners to gig rowers, hoteliers to councillors, artists and creatives to companies who provide financial support, it’s very much a case of ‘let’s all get together and make this the best event Bridport and West Bay has ever had’.
Right, I’m off, there’s a lot of work to be done…
Nat x
After a very stormy night, West Bay beckoned and it was well worth the frozen hands afterwards. Crashing waves, cliffs going from gold to almost black… and hardly another soul around. Mesmerizing.
Pardon my Franglais 