Dorchester

If you're heading down to the beautiful county of Dorset, chances are you'll want to check out the county town, Dorchester—especially if you're a fan of Thomas Hardy. The town's noted for its interesting museums, but what else does it have to offer?

The location

You have to remember that this is Dorset—a very rural county—and even the most urban areas barely qualify as what a city dweller would call urban! Dorchester is in the middle of wonderful countryside and only a very short distance from the South Coast. It's reasonably well connected to the road and rail networks, so it's accessible. But it's quieter and smaller than you might expect. If you're looking for "bright lights and big city", you're going to be very disappointed: Dorchester is really a quaint little market town. I'd suggest it's not so much somewhere you come to visit, per se, as a convenient little base from which you can explore a wide area of Dorset all around.

Economy

Dorchester County Council is based in Dorchester and one of the town's biggest employers; administration is one of Dorchester's biggest "industries". Tourism is obviously important too and so is farming. There's no university in Dorchester (though there are colleges in nearby Weymouth). The town has a sort of affluent, retired, rural, feel to it.

Things to do

Countryside and coast

There's stunning coastal countryside all around you, from the rolling green hills of Cerne Abbas (with its famously rude nude and a selection of very good places for morning coffee, lunch, or afternoon tea) down to the lovely Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site that stretches from Swanage into Devon. You'll want to visit seaside Weymouth with its marvellous Victorian esplanade and perhaps the lovely honey-stone market town of Sherborne about half-an-hour's drive to the north. How about a day-trip down to Bridport or Lyme Regis? If you're planning on walking or cycling, get yourself a copy of the Ordnance Survey Outdoor Leisure 15 map, which covers a huge swathe of eastern Dorset centered on Dorchester and running from Swanage in the east to Bridport in the west. Interesting "themed" walks include the 145-km (90-mile) Jubilee Trail and the South West Coastal Path.

Attractions

In Dorchester itself, there are at least three interesting museums, including the Dinosaur Museum, the Dorset County Museum, and the Keep Military Museum. Still on a heritage theme, Maiden Castle, an Iron-Age hill-fort south west of Dorchester, is also worth exploring. Lawrence of Arabia's cottage at Clouds Hill is a short distance away, as is the famous Bovington Tank Museum. If you're coming in late August, you might want to make a date with the Great Dorset Steam Fair in nearby Blandford Forum. Monkey World, towards Wareham, is great if you like animal rescue and conservation. How could you visit Dorchester and not take a look at Thomas Hardy's Cottage in Higher Bockhampton and Max Gate? It's a National Trust property occupied by tenants and only partially open to the public. There's also the view from the Hardy Monument, but that commemorates another Hardy: Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy of Lord Nelson and HMS Victory ("Kiss me, Hardy") fame.

Houses and gardens

If you like historic houses and gardens, you must visit nearby Athelhampton and Wolfeton House (open on selected days in summer) near Charminster. Other great houses nearby include Sandford Orcas (just north of Sherborne) and Mapperton (just outside Beaminster). Dorset is famous for its huge selection of historic houses and gardens. If this is your sort of thing, you could easily spend a whole week going from one to another. You're not far from Somerset and places like Montacute, Barrington Court, and Tintinhull. Even marvellous Forde Abbey is only a short stretch away. Abbotsbury, just outside Weymouth, has wonderful subtropical gardens, a famous swannery, a children's farm, and some interesting little shops. The lovely Minterne gardens are between Dorchester and Sherborne.

Sports and leisure

The Thomas Hardye Leisure Centre is about a mile out of the town and shared with a local school.

Shopping

Dorchester has its fair share of interesting independent shops (hurrah, there's still a hardware shop!) and chain stores, but it''s not the sort of place you'd head for large-scale high-street stores. There are chain stores, yes, but they're small and you'll almost certainly find them disappointing compared to the big-city equivalents.

Places to stay

There are some coaching-inn-style hotels in the town that could have come straight out of the Mayor of Casterbridge. Otherwise, Dorchester is (perhaps refreshingly?) rather short of big-chain hotels. There are plenty of self-catering cottages in the countryside nearby. The Tourist Net UK website has a varied selection of interesting looking places to stay.

Places to eat

To my mind, Dorchester has an acute shortage of decent eating places. There are lots of lunchtime cafes, but they tend to be unremarkable and crowded.

Getting here

Dorchester is easily accessible by road from the A37, which runs around the top of the town, and the A35, which skirts around the bottom.

Dorchester has two small train stations. Dorchester South, the main station, is on the mainline from Weymouth to London Waterloo and offers direct services to Bournemouth, Southampton, Winchester, Woking, and Clapham Junction. Dorchester West is an even smaller station with trains tootling up through a very pretty branch line to Bristol. The two stations are about five minutes walk apart, so changing from one line to the other is not brilliantly convenient if you have lots of luggage. Buses run from Dorchester South station to Axminster (for Lyme Regis) and beyond.

Map

Here's a map of Dorchester from Google Images. You can use the "Find businesses" tab and search box to find local businesses, places to stay, and so on.

More information

• Dorset for You: Official Dorset County Council guide includes loits of information for tourists and visitors.
• Dorchester, Dorset: An introduction from Wikipedia.
• Rural Dorset: Covers the countryside area to the north-east of Dorchester.

A handy tip

If you're looking for accommodation, it really helps to spell it correctly. Lots of people come to this page looking for things like acomodation and accomodation. At least no-one searches for accomadashun!