We began to explore a little further afield, still within Dorset, as we began to settle in to our home for the week. That took us a little further west and a few miles inland from the English Channel. It included a lot of open countryside and then a sizeable settlement.
Dorchester
Dorchester is the county town for Dorset and has about 20,000 residents. Like many British towns it’s been around since Roman times and it has a long complicated history, meaning I was too lazy to untangle it. For Americans, interestingly, it was a primary gateway for Puritans who emigrated to New England. So it’s both very ancient and directly connected to the other side of the Atlantic. It seemed like a nice town with some walkable areas that included a pedestrian shopping area that stretched for several blocks.
The Keep Military Museum
Dorchester has a handful of attractions and The Keep Military Museum was amongst the best (map). It focused on the local history of military units such as the Dorsetshire and Devonshire Regiments.
That might not sound like a lot but bear in mind that the United Kingdom was involved in near continuous warfare across a vast empire for centuries. It seemed like they were always fighting somebody somewhere for reasons big and small. So The Keep included an unexpectedly large array of exhibits from many different periods, just with a local twist. People from Dorset constantly joined the battle and they collected a massive trove of militariana along the way.
The building itself is part of the exhibit. It was an armory and a gatehouse for the Regimental barracks, and served a military purpose until the 1950’s. The self-guided tour traced from past to present before finishing on the roof with some expansive views of Dorchester. That’s where I took the photo at the top of this article.
The Dinosaur Museum
Dinosaurs — and dinosaur tourism — are a big deal along England’s Jurassic Coast. So it’s no surprise that Dorchester wants to grab some of that attention in a dramatic way. Here The Dinosaur Museum occupies a former Victorian-era schoolhouse just a block away from High Street (map). There are obvious space limitations but it packs a multitude of fossils and exhibits into a small area. My older kid with a lifelong dinosaur fascination and a university degree in zoology certainly enjoyed it. I may not have the same focused interest so I considered it a contribution to the local economy.
Cerne Abbas
It doesn’t take much to drive from Dorchester to Cerne Abbas, maybe fifteen minutes, but it gets very rural very quickly (map). Cerne Abbas seemed like an unusual name and I wanted to understand it better. Cerne comes from the River Cerne, which in turn derived from Primitive Welsh, “‘cairn, heap of stones’, so that the meaning was probably ‘the rocky or stony stream’“. The Abbas portion referred to a Benedictine abbey founded along the river in 987 that lasted until Henry VIII abolished Catholic monasteries and created the Church of England.
So, if we string it all together, the village of Cerne Abbas referred to a monastery beside a stony stream. Sounds plausible.
Cerne Abbas Brewery
There’s a brewery near town and it shares the name, thus the Cerne Abbas Brewery. It was a Monday and that’s a day many breweries close. However, this one was open and we got a chance to try a range of beverages in the beautiful Dorset countryside when it was really quiet. These were half-pints with the low alcohol content typical of British Real Ales, i.e., “session” beers. So, by taking our time and enjoying the ambiance, we had no trouble driving to our next destination. And it was a very special destination.
Cerne Giant
Come on, admit it, you’ve seen an image of the Cerne Giant. However, in the unlikely event that this is your first time then understand you can never unsee it.
This is the real tourist draw in Cerne Abbas and tourists come from all over the world to witness this, um, rather enthusiastic man (map). Of course I’d seen this on the Internet before but I only knew it was somewhere in England. I didn’t even know it was in Dorset. But I was researching local breweries and the Cerne Abbas Brewery used it for their logo. So right then I knew I’d be somewhere close by and I had to go. The rest of the family maybe didn’t share the same level of interest but this was a National Trust property of great historical significance and it was for their own good.
Generically this is a Hill Figure, and it’s unquestionably the most well-known example found in England. Whoever constructed this artwork dug trenches into the earth and filled it all with crushed chalk to create an outline drawing. This makes it visible like a giant billboard for miles around to anyone in the vicinity. Oddly, nobody really knows when or why the Cerne Giant first appeared. It may be anywhere from a couple thousand to a few hundred years old. So it could be Roman or it could be Saxon or maybe just an insult or a joke from the 17th Century. Whatever the origin, it’s most striking feature spans a rather impressive 11 metres (36 feet) across the hillside. The entire structure itself covers 55 metres (180 ft).
Minterne House and Gardens
We still had more attraction to see even after experiencing that renowned once-in-a-lifetime cultural phenomenon. So we drove another couple miles farther north to the tiny parish of Minterne Magna and stopped at Minterne Gardens (map). This is part of a large estate, the private residence of Lord Digby, who continues to reside in the massive mansion home. Unfortunately, maintaining an estate is expensive and being a baron isn’t as lucrative as it once was, so the gardens are open to the public for a fee. They also offer a wedding venue and holiday accommodations. Whatever brings in spare change.
I knew everyone would enjoy this. The older kid loved the arboretum in St. Louis a few weeks earlier and the younger one loves nature photography. My wife and I enjoy strolling and hiking. So this was a wonderful way to gain the family’s absolution after The Giant, and before returning to our temporary home in Swanage.
Articles in the England Series
- Do Over
- Jurassic Coast
- Dorchester
- Bristol
- Isle of Purbeck
- Bournemouth
- Tankfest
- Onward to London
- Atypical London
- More Typical London
See Also: The Complete Photo Album on Flickr
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