Experienced housekeeper required for home in a village near Blandford Forum Dorset.
A minimum of 12 hiurs per week, good rates of pay, references essential.
Please call – 07785 745442
Top local food gifts for Christmas – that you can send by post!
It’s that time of year when you’re probably wondering what to get friends and family, the difficult to buy for, or the far-away loved ones. We’ve found a range of North Dorset foodie gifts that can all be mailed (most direct from the producer to save you a job) and will undoubtedly be welcome. Take a look at our top picks for the festive season.
What Better Than a Wedge – of Dorset Blue Vinny
Last year I sent a box of Blue Vinny to my sister. It was a hit (and didn’t last long). Dorset Blue have a lovely Blue Vinny Gift Box (£20.50, see opposite page) that they mail out across the country. It’s just the thing to spruce up a cheeseboard and… well – you can never have too much Blue Vinny.
Letterbox Sized Charcuterie Hampers
A selection of Dorset Real Cure Charcuterie will go down a treat at any festive meal. There’s a great selection of gifts to choose from with a decent shelf life. They even have letterbox-sized gift packs (£32, see image below) that are ideal for posting.
Greetings from Gritchie Brew
The Ashmore based Gritchie Brewing Company, owned by Guy Ritchie, produces beer made from their local barley. If you haven’t tasted a pint yet, you are in for a treat. Their online shop has a range of gift packs; (see above) EXCLUSIVE preview of the canned beer and Gritchie t shirts coming this month. What’s not to like?
Send a Selection of Dorset Goodies
Sometimes there are so many Dorset food treats to choose from that you can’t quite make up your mind. That’s where Winterborne Whitechurch-based Cherry Picked Hampers comes in.
Their range of Dorset food is presented in a beautiful hamper (see the ‘Christmas Feast’ hamper, £96, on opposite page) and mailed to the recipient. Treat your loved ones with any of the hampers in the range.
Tea in a Tin
Are you shopping for someone with special dietary requirements? Holwell-based Honeybuns specialises in gorgeous gluten free, dairy free and vegan friendly cakes. Treat someone with a Tea Party in a Tin (£22, below left), or one of the famous Honeybuns cookbooks.
A Foraging Taster Course
Local award-winning chef Mat Follas runs a half day workshop highlighting edible plants in the Dorset countryside – and the difference between what can be nibbled and what will kill you. I have been on one of Mat’s courses, and trust me, you will never look at a hedge the same way again.
Your morning forage is followed by a three course lunch at his restaurant Brambles in Sherborne. Check out the special £70 deal on foraging courses here – a voucher is a great gift.
Mail a bar – or two…
Sherborne-based Solkiki make some of the best quality organic vegan bars of chocolate in Britain. They source from small producers and create delicious award winning bars of chocolate which are perfect for posting to someone (from £8, image top right). Choose from their best selling Gran Nativo or a selection of bars here.
Say it With Olives
A North Dorset favourite, Olives Et Al have a tempting range of olives and other snacks that are perfect at a party. Their Everything But the Turkey Hamper is just the gift to get friends and family celebrating over the festive season. And there’s always room for one more olive.
Support a Local Pub or Restaurant
Several pubs and restaurants in the Blackmore Vale do gift vouchers which can be spent on a meal, a stay, or a drink in the bar. Some of the best include The Fontmell in Fontmell Magna, The Grosvenor Arms in Shaftesbury, and Plumber Manor at Sturminster Newton – or browse Meet Your Local.
Teddy 20 Supporting Children with Cancer
Teddy20 is a charity based in Blandford Forum which provides emotional and financial support to children and young people suffering and undergoing treatment for cancer.
In 2009 cricket lover and local businessman Owen Newton wanted to raise awareness of the childhood cancer his youngest son was suffering from. Not just awareness – he wanted to raise money to give something back to the organisations that had helped his son Ted and the whole family. With a history as a cricket coach he decided to call upon the cricketing community of Blandford to join in a 20-20 cricket match, to raise much- needed money for CLIC Sargent (a charity that supports children living with cancer), Kingfisher Ward (Dorchester), Piam Brown Ward (Southampton) and Bone Cancer Research.
Owen and his family were overwhelmed when the event raised £10,000 – and even more surprised when people began enquiring if Teddy20 was to become an annual event. From then Teddy20 has grown bigger and better, raising more money from organising other events such as balls, challenges and music festivals.
The pandemic for the families with kids on chemotherapy COVID-19 saw us all slowing down and staying home.
Doing our bit to stay safe. Imagine, then, having a child on chemotherapy whose immune system is completely compromised? “When our Son, Ted, was going through treatment it was tough on the rest of the family too.” shared Teddy20 founder Owen “We couldn’t welcome people into our home without prior arrangement after asking the seemingly-normal (to us) ‘do you have a cough, cold, sore throat?’. Throw a pandemic on top and I can only imagine the heightened anxiety for these families.”
More work than ever
Childhood cancer didn’t go away during the pandemic. Behind the scenes Teddy20 were busy supporting families. They sent out more grants than ever to ease financial worry – sadly there were funeral grants too.
Ted’s Shack (the charity’s respite holiday home) opened later than normal in June and although having a much quieter season than usual were still able to provide numerous free holidays to families who badly needed a break from the hospital regime. Several families booked but had to cancel due to illness – the charity will try and rebook them at a later time. It’s so important to everyone at Teddy20 for these children who endure the most invasive and painful treatments to have something nice to look forward to.
“Ted’s Shack is run entirely by volunteers,” explained Owen “we’re very luck to have trusted friends who give up their time to help keep the Shack in pristine condition.“ All efforts are now focussed on much-needed fundraising – taking an opportunity to thank the many people who do the challenges for us:
Craig Rees ran the London Marathon for Teddy20. We helped his nephew Luke when he was going through cancer treatment. Happy to say he is doing very well and enjoying a normal life.
On the 23rd October at the Woodhouse Gardens in Blandford Teddy20 had two fully booked sessions of arts, crafts and games – not to mention Mr. Bear, the tombola, the Mummy and of course the cakes (see picture opposite page). The children were dressed up in some amazing Halloween outfits, from Demons to Ghostbusters, Wonder Woman to Wednesday Addams, they certainly looked the part. It was a great day for all and most importantly lots of money and awareness was raised. Teddy20 would like to give a huge thanks to everyone who turned up to party, including all of the Teddy20 helpers before, during and after.
On the same cold October day a team of 21 hardy souls from local S.O.U.L Kickboxing club took on the RocketRace – a freezing, muddy, wet, gruelling 10km obstacle course at Toomer Farm in Henstridge. They worked as a team across the three hours it took to complete the course, and together raised over £1,000 for Teddy20.
On the 24th October Teddy20 took part in a Tractor Pull at Lukins Gym in Pimperne. Teams of six had to pull an eight ton tractor across 50 metres as fast as they could for their chosen charity. It was a fantastic turn out and we have to give a big shout out to the Blandford Fire Station, Teddy Rocks Crew, Rob n Tug and Camel Tow, all of which entered teams to raise money for Teddy20 and absolutely smashed it. We might not have won but it was a wonderful day that brought lots of people together and just when we thought it couldn’t get any better the winning team decided to split the figure between all three charities.
What’s next?
As always, the Teddy20 Santa sleigh will be visiting locations in and around Blandford. For a small cost children can sit on the sleigh, meet Santa and receive a gift. Keep an eye out for the locations and dates – www. teddy20.org.
Finally, after what will be a three year absence, Teddy20 are excited to announce that Teddy Rocks returns to Charisworth Farm from 29th April until 1st May 2022. Further details and ticket information from www. teddyrocks.co.uk
A last word from Owen Newton: “We are always so touched and grateful for the support we receive from the local area; without you we couldn’t support the families who need us most.”
How to be blooming gorgeous!
Autumn gardening is all about planning and protecting plants in order for them to give joy and excitement next year, says Charlotte Tombs
It may surprise some people to learn that Autumn is a busy time of year for a flower farmer.
One of the most important aspects about growing flowers from seed is that we have to look forward into the following year and this obviously means planning ahead.
Like so many other businesses we keep our eyes focused on the latest wedding, fashion and colour trends. It is our job to to see what highly fashionable ‘society’ florists are using in their wedding florals and what the predicted new trends, colours and ideas will be as these will quickly make their way down to us in Dorset. We need to be ready as no one is going to want last year’s fashions!
Planting now
This week I have been busy planting my biennials which I sowed back in June. Normally around Midsummers’ Day is as good time as any but not if there is a heat wave forecast. You don’t want to fry those seedlings. Right now the soil is still warm enough so it’s an ideal time to plant the well-established biennial seedlings. You won’t see much leaf growth throughout the winter months but the roots will be growing, working deep down into the soil. Come the spring when the weather improves and it’s warmer they will already have a head start and will be much quicker to
reward you with an explosion of gorgeous blooms.
Pretty petals
Early autumn is also an ideal time to get ahead with sowings of hardy annuals such as calendula, cornflowers, sweet peas and antirrhinum (commonly known as snapdragons – those wonderful flowers of one’s youth that
you squeeze the flower and ‘the mouth’ opens and it looks just like a dragon). Larkspur is another one to sow now.
These can all be over-wintered in a cold greenhouse, sweet peas can be kept in a cold frame or just under the eaves of a house or perhaps even under a garden table outside just to keep the
worst of the weather off them. These stalwarts of your cutting garden will put down a great network of roots over the cold winter months. Some of them such as the cornflowers are quite frost-tolerant and you can plant them pretty much at the end of February or the beginning of March. I do this with my sweet peas as well but I do have a bit of horticultural fleece at the ready just in case they need an extra layer if it’s going to be very frosty or windy and, of course, we must protect against biting rain.
“I’ve also been busy pre- soaking and planting up my ranunculus and anemones corms. Ranunculus are beautiful flowers with layer upon layer of petals that rather remind me of a ballerina’s tutu. What is fantastic about them is that they have a great vase life, and continue to grow and bloom in the vase. Tulips also continue to grow in the vase – you can find when you arrange tulips that a few days later you’re thinking they’ve put on a few centimetres in the water and grown at a funny angle.”
by Charlotte Tombs Northcombe Flowers
Delcombe Wood to Cothayes Drove 7 miles | Dorset Walks
An easy-to-navigate simple route, and under seven miles making it a nice couple of hour’s hike. Though with a stiff climb to finish (whichever way you walk it – you’re starting at the top of a hill!) it’s not quite as swift as you may expect. No doubt lovely views and definitely some glorious woodland – though you can see we did it on a very wet October day with more mud than scenic vistas!
The routes we feature have always been created and walked recently by ourselves, so you know you can trust them – we aim for unpopulated routes with as little road and as many views as possible!
You can always see the route and follow it yourself via the free Outdoor Active app – see all our routes here.
To follow this route using the Outdooractive App, please find the route here.
We accidentally created this route on a gloomy, overcast October day which quickly turned to torrential downpour. We swiftly re-assessed our planned 11 miles, mapping a shortcut which ended up being a happy accident by finding a lovely new route which we intend to revisit when the sun is shining! The final hill climb up Bulbarrow Hill was inevitable, seeing as we parked at the top, but it wasn‘t too horrific, and the lane made it feel comparably easy after the mud we’d had!
The ancient holloway at the bottom of Green Hill.
The short sharp uphill through the trees from Hilton is guaranteed to get the blood pumping – and the lungs gasping!
Pretty Hilton Church is worth stepping into for a few minutes.
The long straight track with the final climb back up to the top of Bulbarrow – I suspect on another day there’ll be amazing views from this spot!
The final hill climb up Bulbarrow Hill into the clouds.
Experience a different walk
What would happen if we stopped watching wildlife and sensed it in other ways? In this month’s nature column, Jane Adams goes on a sensory walk at dusk.
What smells and sounds did you notice the last time you went for a walk? Did you make a point
of touching a leaf or paying attention to the breeze on your face?
It’s amazing how easy it is to let your sense of sight dominate the way you perceive nature.
I often find myself describing an interesting plant or bird I’ve seen to my husband, but can’t for the life of me remember when I last told him about a scent or texture.
So, this month I’m on a mission (you’re welcome to join me). I’m going to take more notice of my other senses, and to help me I’ve started walking in the nearby woods at dusk.
Spangle galls
There’s no getting away from it, walking in the woods after sunset can feel a bit spooky.
It took me a while to calm my nerves, tune in to the scuttling and scrabbling of the unseen wood mice, and not jump out of my skin when a tawny owl screeched overhead. But the more I do it, the more I love it. The other evening I sat under a favourite oak and, having scooped up a handful of fallen leaves, I started to run my fingers over their surface. Some crumbled, but others were covered in circular lumps about the size of a small flat pea. This oakleaf braille was spangle galls; knobbly hard protection for eggs laid earlier in the year by tiny wasps that develop into larva inside the galls, falling to the ground with the leaves in autumn. The larvae continue to develop through the winter, and emerge as adults in the spring. Later, the scent of a fox that must have passed by just minutes before stopped me in my tracks. Breathing in its heady musk, I could imagine the animal’s steady gaze and alert ears, its russet coat and thick bushy brush.
I’m not suggesting an evening walk is right, or even possible, for everyone, but even if it isn’t, give your eyes a rest and think about appreciating nature with your less used, but nonetheless important, senses.
by: Jane Adams – Naturalist. bTB Badger Vaccinator. Nature writer. Photographer. Bee Watcher.
AFC Bournemouth support the opening of Archbishop Wake’s new MUGA.
Last year the Friends of Archbishop Wake Primary School launched a campaign to raise funds for an all-weather playing field; a multi-use games area or ‘MUGA’. The school is fortunate to have a large grass playing field, but it is mostly unusable for much of the year when the ground is too wet. A MUGA gives the school an all-weather sports surface which is suitable for multiple activities, so that they can use their outdoor space all year round both for fresh air playtimes and for outdoor PE and sports clubs.
The Friends of Archbishop Wake were aware it was an ambitious project, but launched the appeal and worked to raise as much as they could. In May the digital BV featured eight year old pupil Patrick Doyle’s own fundraising efforts, starting with a sponsored walk on Milldown; Patrick eventually raised over £800 for the MUGA fund.
The Friends managed in total to raise over £7000 via a JustGiving page, with the whole school taking part in a sponsored walk event. The Friends also donated an extra £10,000 towards the building of the MUGA – meaning work was able to commence just as the school broke up for the summer.
Work is now completed, and on Friday 5th November the entire school gathered on the school field for the official opening ceremony. After a rousing Good Morning from headteacher Mr Carter, the microphone was passed to the School Council representatives.
School Council Chair Rosie Pitcher and her vice-chair Annabel Amey together thanked the long list of both organisations and people who had made the MUGA possible. They then announced that after a long half term debating (and as voted for by the children) the new MUGA would be called (drumroll please) …
THE WAKE ZONE!
The school cheered its approval of the new name as the heads of houses moved to cut the ribbon. These four house captains are all in year 6, and they had to apply for the position and go through an interview process to get the job. They are viewed as amazing role models for the other children to look up to.
Archbishop Wake recently re-named their houses, which have traditonally been named after local beaches. The children voted to re-name them after people who inspired them, and the four houses are now: Attenborough, Thunberg, Rashford and Seacole.
Mr Carter, headteacher said “The MUGA has changed our PE lessons and playtimes forever. Physical education has always been necessary but it is even more important for all children since lockdown and really does have a massive impact on both physical and mental health.”
The ceremony was watched by members of the AFC Bournemouth Women’s team who had attended to support the installation of the Wake Zone, and were to spend the entire day at the school providing coaching and sports activities for various year groups.
Meteor sighting in Dorset
The Blackmore Vale’s dark skies mean we may witness some rare events – one such event happened in the late evening of Sunday 5th September.
At that time, an all-sky camera was taking long- exposure panoramic views of the sky so as to capture images of meteors and other lights as they passed by above Bagber Common. My colleague, John Savage, set up the camera at his home there so that he could record the comings and goings in the sky throughout the night, every clear night. At 10.47pm he happened to be outside when an incredibly bright meteor, known to astronomers as a ‘Fireball’, momentarily lit up the sky, almost turning night into day.
In John’s words his camera didn’t do justice to what he experienced personally – “the fireball streaked, fairly sedately for a meteor, across the sky just above the south- southwest horizon. It was very bright, lighting up the sky, and seemed, mid- trajectory, to explode in silence.” In the image you can see an enlarged portion of the all-sky photo he captured, depicting the bright streak just below the Milky Way.
Small piece of asteroid travelling at 48,000 mph.
The spectacle was actually caused by a small piece of an asteroid or comet travelling at high speed as it entered the atmosphere about 240 miles away over Brittany in France, heading in the direction of Cornwall. Probably the size of a large stone weighing around 40 kilograms, the explosion was provoked by the heat and pressure that was generated inside the object when it hit the atmosphere at a speed of 48,000 mph.
The fireball was filmed by several webcams as it lit up the sky including one at the brightly illuminated Southampton Docks – see the video bottom left. More videos can be found on the International Meteor Organisation’s website.
So next time when you are out and about after dark, be watchful of what’s happening overhead. You never know what you might see – possibly an Unidentified Flying Object – but most likely a fast moving meteor or fireball!
Dr Richard Miles Dark Skies Adviser Dorset CPRE
The tensions behind the ‘pretty’ façade of Dorset’s villages
Yetminster is in the Sunday Times’ Top 50 Villages, but not everyone is happy about newcomers pushing-up house prices, says Paul Birbeck
The Sunday Times recently ranked Yetminster 26th in its list of ‘The UK’s Top 50 villages.’
The citation reads ‘This is a village that offers more than olde worlde charm, fresh eggs sold
by the gate and a plum position on the River Wriggle surrounded by the fertile farmland of west Dorset.
It has a well-regarded primary school, a shop, a pub and the delightful Old School Gallery café. There’s even a railway connection on the Bristol to Weymouth line.’
And the adulation for the village is not new. Its ‘unique features’ were concisely described by Frederick Treves in his 1906 Highways and Byways of Dorset, in which he described Yetminster as ‘…a picturesque townlet, full of quaint old houses and venerable thatched cottages. The dates on the buildings belong mostly to early part of seventeenth century. In the main street is an old thatched inn, as well as many houses in ancient stone with stone mullioned windows and fine gables. Many of the houses are covered by creepers, and none seems to lack a garden or orchard. Yetminster is probably the most consistent old-world village or townlet in the county, for modern buildings it has few examples.’
Sounds idyllic? Not everyone thinks so. As with any community, evolution benefits some but not everyone.
The 20th century saw the village undergo significant social and economic transformation. The traditional self-sufficient agricultural community that remained largely unchanged for centuries was to be transformed by modernity. Between the 1870s and early 1900s the combination of cheap, imported food products, poor harvests and cattle disease in the vital dairy herds caused 20% of Dorset farmers to give up their farms. The traditional activities of cider making, leather production and the making of Dorset cheeses like Blue Vinney, were abandoned as farmers concentrated on sending milk to large urban markets.
Only the wealthy benefited
The introduction of piped water and electricity supply meant the old wells and water mills were abandoned and the introduction of new farm machinery encouraged large-scale farming, benefitting only the wealthy landowners. By the 1960s changes in farming practice and government subsidies meant that chalk areas became productive for arable farming and intensive sheep production. The historical advantage of clay vales across the Blackmore Vale was reversed. Today, farming in the village of Yetminster is by just three or four farmers.
The pattern of village life has changed. Fine old farm houses remain, but not as working farms. However, not everything
was lost. The village hall acts as the hub for a lot of clubs and activity, and the Community Sports Club hosts football, tennis, croquet and informal recreation. Booming property prices have benefitted many in the village – but not everyone.
The local White Hart pub has been a victim of the pandemic as the leaseholders moved out when trade declined. In the 1990s ex-landlady Carol Bayfield remembers, ‘We used to open the doors and everyone would pile in, there were a lot of thirsty farmers in those days.’ As for today, she adds, ‘there is a real community feel but there have been changes.’
Second home tension
A number of new housing developments have been added around the village. Second home ownership has increased and the recent influx of people from beyond the area can create a feeling of ‘us and them’ between locals and newcomers. Carol continued ‘There’s a large population of older people in bungalows in the side streets. There’s also a new estate by the school, which not everyone is happy about, but it’s brought in a lot of new life. It’s been a really positive move for the village.’
Like all Dorset villages, without new residents – communities can struggle. The most hotly-debated political issues today include the lack of a bus service which makes it difficult for some residents to get into towns. And there
is the inevitable problem for young, first time house hunters and lower income families who struggle to find appropriate affordable accommodation.
by Paul Birbeck
