THE National Trust has signalled its commitment to the long term future of one of the country’s favourite heritage breeds of cattle with the arrival of a new Red Devon bull, at the National Trust’s Kingston Lacy estate near Wimborne. For more than a century Kingston Lacy has been one of the main places to…
HEADING north on the M5 has just become a bit more enjoyable. There is a new motorway services station that promises more than congested fast-food eateries, noisy slot machines, crowded chainstore shops full of grumpy travellers and toilets at least half of which won’t be working on any given day. And that’s without mentioning the…
A QUESTION that I’ve been asked more than a few times in my time as a cheesemonger is for a recommendation of a cheese or cheeses to impress the French. The identity of the person who appointed the French the arbiters of the world’s cheese eludes me, but there are world-beating cheeses from our area…
ALAN Ayckbourn’s Bedroom Farce is one of the most frequently performed of his huge back catalogue, and the latest comes from the versatile Swan Theatre company in Yeovil. Directed by Beryl Snadden with a clever set designed by Geoff Kneller, it is the story of how one selfish and infuriating couple (Trevor and Susannah) can…
AS we move closer to the centenary of the start of the First World War, the Dorchester-based New Hardy Players pay a timely tribute to Thomas Hardy’s own thoughts about war … the Napoleonic War, that is. Extraordinarily, the programme for this touring production, directed by Tim Laycock and Emma Hill, notes that at the…
TRAVELLING chef Philippa Davis from Shaftesbury has crossed the Atlantic for her latest project – and has had some uncomfortable company at night … But she is “happy as a clam,” she says. Arthur kept me up for most of the night, boisterously crashing around and showing off and with repeated spectacular flashes I began to…
AT the beginning of the 20th century, Cecil Sharp collected hundreds of folksongs from working people in Somerset and inspired many other composers and collectors, including Percy Grainger and Ralph Vaughan Williams, to do the same in other parts of the country. In Dorset, brothers Henry and Robert Hammond were similarly inspired, travelling around the…
ALAN Bennett’s 1986 play Kafka’s Dick not only predates the British writer’s position as national treasure but allowed him to explore both his fascination with the Czech’s work but his views on intellectualism and pretentiousness. It is one of his least performed works, but audiences in the south west have a chance to catch up…
BURRINGTON Combe should surely benefit from a few extra visitors this week, as the place which inspired the original Rock Of Ages, in 1763.The hymn, by the Reverend Augustus Toplady, was written after he sheltered from a storm in a cleft in a rock in the Somerset village, a rock since renamed the Rock Of…
SHAKESPEARE’S final play, The Tempest, set on an island full of magic and strange noises, is the perfect vehicle for Miracle Theatre’s special brand of open air performance. Director Bill Scott has cleverly adapted and abridged the original so the whole thing can be performed by just six actors. The touring set is made up…