IF you are of a whimsical turn of mind (or a fan of Beatrix Potter), you will think “Squirrel Nutkin” when you see this beautiful red squirrel. But you don’t have to go to Potter’s Lake District to see these enchanting little animals. You can see them on Brownsea Island, the National Trust property in…
THE National Trust is looking forvolunteers to help care for the traditional orchards in some of its West Dorset properties, including at Shedbush Farm, St Gabriel’s Farm and West Bexington. These orchards, designated as priority habitats, are rich in biodiversity, including rare and endangered species. However, they are at risk of decline and need dedicated…
A TEAM of Dorset conservation officers and volunteers has begun a project to plant native wildflowers and meadow grasses at Bere Marsh Farm near Shillingstone, aimed at enhancing biodiversity on the Stour floodplain fields. The 92-acre Bere Marsh Farm, between the old Somerset and Dorset railway line and the river, is owned by the Countryside…
THE great West Country moors – Dartmoor in Devon, Exmoor in Devon and Somerset, and Bodmin in Cornwall – are steeped in history and myths. One significant area of Dartmoor is Crockern Tor, once home to the Stannary Parliament, and now the inspiration for a series of story walks, organised by Devon’s Villages in Action,…
THE National Trust is running a series of supper and safari evenings on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour on Thursday evenings throughout June. The aim is to give people a closer view of nature in a truly beautiful and tranquil setting. The evenings begin with a boat ride over to the island from Sandbanks, followed…
STOURHEAD Gardens are beautiful at any time of the year – gorgeous in the full colours of autumn, magical on a frosty or snowy morning, verdant with freshly opening leaves in early spring – but May and June sees the gardens at their most colourful. Henry Hoare’s paradise looks its best with vivid rhododendrons and…
CELEBRATE Somerset this year on Somerset Day, Saturday 11th May – and join in the community-based Big Somerset Picnic, with events across the weekend on 11th and Sunday 12th. As well as the opportunity to enjoy great food and drink, the aim of this year’s Big Picnic is to bring people together and improve opportunities…
HIGH ropes experts have installed cameras on the cliffs near the National Trust’s Dancing Ledge in Purbeck to monitor the last known nesting site for puffins on the mainland of southern England. It is hoped that the cameras will reveal why these iconic birds are on the verge of extinction. In the early 1900s, puffins…
TINY Clouds Hill, near Wareham, where TE Lawrence – Lawrence of Arabia – lived in the 1930s, is now open for the 2024 season. A previously undiscovered photograph shows one of the families who previously lived in the remote cottage – and gives an insight into its appearance before Lawrence. One of the National Trust’s…
APRIL marks the 80th anniversary of Exercise Smash at Studland, a dress rehearsal for the D-Day landings, which took place at Studland Bay, and many other points along the south west coast, in 1944. The event will be marked with a series of commemoration events on 3rd, 4th and 5th April, including a display of…