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| Need A Reason To Visit? |
Explore Athelhampton House dating from 1485, with Tudor Great Hall. Trace history from Henry VII to Victoria. 15 rooms of period furniture and fine art. Wander through award winning gardens; topiary pyramids, fountains, pavilions, rare plants, and the River Puddle.
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| Tourist Information: National Trust |
Brownsea Island, Poole Harbour
Tel: 01202 707 744
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/brownsea
Boats run from Poole Quay and Sandbanks from end of March Until beginning of October
A 500-acre island of heath and woodland, with wide views of Dorset Coast. The island includes a 200-acre nature reserve leased to the Dorset Trust of Nature Conservation. Guided tours of the nature reserve can be arranged by calling the Conservation Warden 01202 709 445
Clouds Hill, Wareham
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cloudshill
Tel: 01929 405 616
Open daily except Mon, Tues, Wed (but open BH), 12pm - 5pm or dusk if earlier.
9 miles east of Dorchester, 1 mile north of Bovington Camp.
A tiny isolated cottage, which Lawrence of Arabia bought as a retreat in 1925. It still contains his furniture.
Corfe Castle, Wareham
Tel: 01929 481 294
Open middle of February until end of October
On the A351, Wareham - Swanage road.
Very impressive ruins. This former royal castle was besieged and slighted by Parliamentary forces in 1646.
Hardy Monument
Tel: 01202 882493 (Dorset Estate Offices)
Black Down, Portesham.
A monument erected in 1844 in memory of Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, Flag Captain of HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. This site offers tremendous views across the Dorset countryside.
Hardy's Cottage
Tel: 01305 262 366
Open end of April until end of October
Higher Bockhampton, nr Dorchester
Small thatched cottage where poet and novelist Thomas Hardy was born in 1840. His great grandfather built it.
Kingston Lacy House, Gardens & Park
Tel: 01202 880413
Open end of March until end of October
On B3082 Blandford-Wimborne road, 1.5 miles from Wimborne
A 17th century house, designed for Sir Ralph Bankes by Sir Roger Pratt, and altered by Sir Charles Barry in the 19th-century. The house contains an outstanding collection of paintings including works by Rubens, Titian, Van Dyke and Lely. The "Spanish Room" is in gilded leather with a gilded ceiling brought from the Contarini Palace in Venice. Fine collection of Egyptian artefacts. The mansion is set in 250 acres of wooded park with a fine her of Red Devon cattle.
Max Gate
Tel: 01305 262 538
Open April until the end of September
Alington Avenue, Dorchester
Victorian House that Thomas Hardy designed and lived in from 1885 until his death in 1928. In this house he wrote "Tess of the D'Urbervilles and "The Mayor of Casterbridge". The house contains no Hardy memorabilia.
Montacute House
Tel: 01935 823 289
On A3088 west of Yeovil
Outstanding Elizabethan manor house containing many Renaissance features and paintings.
Studland Beach and Nature Reserve
Tel:01929 442 59
Open all year
1 Marine Terrace, Swanage
Three miles of fine sandy beaches backed by the Studland Heath National Nature Reserve, extending from the South Haven Point to the chalk cliffs of Handfast Point and Old Harry Rocks.
White Mill
Tel: 01258 858 051
Sturminster Marshall, nr Wimborne
Learn about the history of milling in this restored 1776 corn mill, set on the banks of the River Stour.
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