″Who’s Afear’d.″
~ Dorset’s County Motto
Dorset county
Introduction
Equerry have provided property search services in Dorset since 2000.
It is one of the maritime counties of southern England, fronting the English Channel. Its coastline, which is often referred to as the Jurassic Coast, extends some 140 kilometers from Lyme Regis in the west to Christchurch in the east. Behind the varied coastline lies a county rich in archaeology, unspoilt rural villages and beautiful countryside. West Dorset, which is more hilly with a rich landscape of woodland and small fields, is almost entirely designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – as are the Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase in the south and east. It is claimed that on a clear day, seven counties can be seen from the top of the Chase’s Bulbarrow. In total the county has the highest proportion of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, World Heritage Sites and Sites of Special Scientific Interest in England.
Dorset has a long history of human settlement and some notable archaeology including the hill forts of Maiden Castle and Hod Hill. It is also home to the Cerne Abbas Giant, wonderfully-named villages such as Piddlehinton, Toller Porcorum and Plush, and it provides the setting for the great majority of locations in Thomas Hardy’s novels such as Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Under the Greenwood Tree, Far from the Madding Crowd and The Return of the Native.
Agriculture is the major land use in the county, but there are a number of surprising industries such as Wytch Farm, Western Europe’s largest on-shore oilfield and the world leader in the technique of long reach drilling from land-based sites. The county town is Dorchester. Other main towns include Bournemouth and Poole; and Poundbury, the experimental new town commissioned and co-designed by Prince Charles.
Dorset covers an area of 1,024 square miles and has a population of approximately 390,000.
The area is a popular retreat for celebrities and those who have homes in Dorset include Madonna and Guy Ritchie, actor Martin Clunes, singer-songwriter Billy Bragg, Jonathan Ross, and footballer Jamie Redknapp. Many of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's television programmes are filmed at his home near Bridport while Sandbanks in Poole is said to be amongst the highest land values by area in the world.
Dorset’s key road and rail transit routes
Dorset is connected to London by two main railway lines: the West of England Main Line in the north and the South Western Main Line in the south.
Dorset is one of only four non-urban counties in England not to contain a single motorway, but there are good road connections on the A303, A31 and A35 trunk roads.
Approximate car journey times from Poole, Shaftesbury and Dorchester to London and Birmingham are as follows:
| London | Birmingham | |
| Poole | 2 hrs 20 mins | 2 hrs 55 mins |
| Shaftesbury | 2 hrs 20 mins | 2 hrs 35 mins |
| Dorchester | 2 hrs 35 mins | 3 hrs 5 mins |
Airports and ports
There is an international airport at Bournemouth, and two passenger sea ports at Poole and Weymouth.
Dorset Schools
A selection of top quality Independent Schools in the county of Dorset:
- Bryanston School, Blandford, Dorset
- Milton Abbey School, Blandford, Dorset
- St Mary’s School, Shaftesbury, Dorset
- Sherborne School, Sherborne, Dorset
- Canford School, Wimborne, Dorset
- Castle Court, The Knoll House, Knoll Lane, Corfe Mullen, Wimborne Dorset
- Dorchester Preparatory School, Dorchester, Dorset
Equerry has contacts with many of these schools – and can, unofficially, help you with the kind of ‘local view’ that is not always portrayed in a prospectus!
Where to stay in Dorset
By way of entertainment, Dorset has plenty of variety to choose from – and more than sufficient for those hoping to send weekend visitors off for the day! The county will also host the only Olympic event at the 2012 Summer Olympics held outside London – sailing- at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy in Portland Harbour. The seas around Weymouth and Portland rank amongst the best in Northern Europe for sailing and water sports are also popular at Poole and Bournemouth.
A selection of high-quality pubs and hotels in Dorset are:
- Plumber Manor, Sturminster Newton, Dorset DT10 2AF T. 01258 472507 A 17th century Jacobean manor house in the heart of Hardy’s Vale of Little Dairies.
- Stock Hill House Hotel, Gillingham, Dorset, SP8 5NR Tel: 01747 823626 A Victorian mansion set in eleven acres of mature and beautifully nurtured, wooded grounds on the borders of Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire.
- Summer Lodge Country House Hotel, Evershot, Dorset, DT2 0JR Tel: 01935 48 2000 Recognised by Harpers & Queen as one of the “100 Best Places in the World to Stay” and one of the “Top 10 in the UK”
- Fox, Corscombe, Dorset DT2 ONS T. (01935) 891330 A picturesque old thatched pub in a lovely setting.
- The Museum, Farnham, Dorset DT11 8DE T. (01725) 516261 Well-prepared inventive food is very much the focus at this informally civilized place.
- Square & Compass, Worth Maltravers, Dorset, BH19 3LF T. (01929) 439229 Very much an old style pub with no bar counter and a couple of basic, unspoilt rooms with simple furniture on flagstone floors.