• Fast broadband is coming to north Dorset – and it will be installed for FREE. Is your village on the list? (P.4)
• Cozmo Jenks, milliner to the royal family and countless celebrities, is our Random 19 guest this month. She may raise a few eyebrows. (p.12)
• Dorset Council are searching for host families for Afghan child refugees. Do you have a spare room? (p.9)
• Village Halls – what is the point of them? Rachael Rowe investigates ( p.10 )
• Have you heard of Violet Cross? Lifelong resident of Hazelbury Bryan, she was one of few women to be awarded the Croix de Guerre. Roger Guttridge has shared her powerful story (P.14)
• Dorset Mind have shared the shocking history of sexual bigotry ahead of LGBTQI+ History month (p.24)
• In A Country Living, Rachael Rowe has been talking to dairy owner Rachael Perret about cows and their favourite robots, queuing at the ladies, and the ones who ‘milk’ the system (sorry). (p.30)
• In Equestrian this month, we’re talking to Claire Fowler about Endurance rides, and Lucy at The Glanvilles Stud is discussing the less glamorous side of winter with 30 horses (p.40)
• This month’s hike is a stunner of a 7 mile circular on the coastal path – you must try it now, while the routes are still relatively empty. (p.54)
• In Food & Drink, Heather’s sharing a recipe for a breakfast pasty that we all need to start making. Rachael spoke to the new landlords at Ye Olde Two Brewers, and discusses the seven things in a butcher’s shop you can’t get in a supermarket. Plus there are some wonderful stories behind the winners of this years Love Local Trust Local Awards (starts on p.64)
• And not forgetting the stunning reader’s photography, as always (p.74)
• Seven pages of job (P.101), including details of full funded training bootcamps in Dorset for certain in-demand skills such as welding, which come with a guaranteed job interview at the end.