The County of Dorset.

Just 2 - 3 hours away from Bath, Dorset must be one of England's most unchanged counties. It is still mainly a rural county with traditional market towns and picturesque villages.

Bath's main link with Dorset is the writer, Jane Austen, who not only used Bath in her novel, Persuasion, but also Dorset's Lyme Regis, an attractive, historic town and port.

Dorset's own literary connection is Thomas Hardy, who uses the ancient name of Wessex when describing his native landscape. Visits can be made to many of Hardy's Wessex villages, the county town of Dorchester, his birth place at Higher Bockhampton and his burial place at Stinsford.

The enigmatic T E Lawrence (of Arabia) was based at Bovington Camp and visits can be made to his house at Cloud's Hill and his grave at Moreton.

Dorset's ancient landscape can be explored at Maiden Castle, the Badbury Rings, Abbotsbury Castle and the unique Cerne Giant. The medieval landscape is dominated by the spectacular ruins of Corfe Castle.

The dramatic coast line includes the chalk headlands around Swanage, Poole harbour with the nature reserve on Brownsea Island, the limestones of the Isle of Purbeck, the narrow embankment of Chesil Beach, the geological phenomena at Lulworth Cove, Durdle Door and Kimmeridge Bay, and the highest point on the south coast at Golden Cap.

Towns and villages compliment the landscape. The towns of Wareham, Sherborne, with its castle, Shaftesbury, Bridport, Bere Regis, Powerstock, Worth Matravers, Milton Abbas and Ashmore and many others convey the richness of the county. Tolpuddle, famous for its martyrs, Abbotsbury with its Swannery, Wimborne Minster for the Kingston Lacy Estate and Swanage for its steam railway service all demonstrate the diversity of Dorset.

Let Bath Parade Guides help you make the most of your visit to Dorset.

Local Links.

> Visit Dorset (Tourist Bureau Site)
> Lyme Regis Tourism (Tourist Bureau Site)
> Brownsea Island
> Dorset County Museum