TRAVEL writers will be descending on Sherborne over the weekend 5th to 7th April, for the town’s Travel Writing Festival, bringing tales of adventures and experiences around the globe, from Bodmin to Beijing, and across the centuries, from Caesar’s Gaul to the UK shipping forecast. Speakers include world-famous photographer Don McCullin, explorer Benedict Allen and…
ONE of the most consistently exciting film events around, the Banff Mountain Film Festival tour, returns with a series of new action-packed films, continuing at the Regent Centre in Christchurch on 10th April. The Festival returns to the south and west in September. From mountain biking across America to terrifying freestyle mountain climbing or skiing…
HUMAN rights and peace activist Zohar Lavie brings her first-hand experience of working for justice and peace to the next Help Our Planet (HOP) talk at Sladers Yard contemporary art and craft gallery, West Bay, on Thursday 4th April at 7pm. The devastating suffering and violence we are witnessing in Gaza, the West Bank and…
LIKE most regions of Italy, Friuli Venezia Giulia has no shortage of attractions for visitors but one of its most appealing is what is NOT there … hordes of tourists. Friuli, as it is known – if it is known at all – is sometimes called ‘Secret Italy’ because of its location, perched at the…
FROM wild geese to the night skies, Shaftesbury’s Folde nature and art bookshop, has lined up a fascinating series of writers’ talks for the spring and early summer, continuing with Taking Flight on Thursday 18th May. It will feature Lev Parikian talking about his new book, Taking Flight: The Evolutionary Story of Life on the…
TRAVEL writer Rory MacLean, who lives in West Dorset, has curated an exciting programme for Sherborne’s first Travel Writing Festival, from 14th to 16th April in Sherborne School’s Powell Theatre. These last years have brought dramatic changes to our lives – Brexit, Covid lockdowns, soaring energy costs, climate change and the largest, most brutal war…
TOLLARD Talks return to the village on Cranborne Chase on Friday 14th October with an unusual and exciting event, Chinese Boxing, a performance by Mark Kitto, an expert on the vast but mysterious country. The play is also being performed at Martock’s beautiful parish church on Thursday 13th October, at 7.30pm. The event is organised…
HAVE you ever wondered how Saffron Walden got its name? Or why Saffron cake is one of Cornwall’s most famous dishes? Nowadays most saffron is grown in Spain and Iran, but for centuries, England had a flourishing saffron industry, whose roots are largely lost in time and myth. In her new book, Fool’s Gold: A…
THINK of Devon and food and you instantly picture cream teas and the finest fresh fish, but the county has a lot more to offer on the culinary front, from brewery tours to wine tasting to food festivals. Here’s a taste of what’s available across the county this spring and summer: Brewery Tour at Salcombe…
AS the second season of Gentleman Jack returns to our screens, the interest of the audience will once again turn to Shibden Hall, the beautiful Tudor house where Miss Anne Lister grew up, and where she lived with her aunt, uncle and sister – when she wasn’t travelling, usually with her lover and wife, Ann…