There are no big towns - Bournemouth was only wrenched out of Hampshire a few years ago to help with the rates and has no Dorset characteristics. From the first chapter Dorset is a county brimming with history - Iron Age forts, saxon churches, remnants of the Civil War.

Dorset delights by its differences. It is a county of villages and small towns languidly spread over countryside that never remains the same for more than fifteen or twenty miles in any direction. There are no big towns - Bournemouth was only wrenched out of Hampshire a few years ago to help with the rates and has no Dorset characteristics. The county has no cathedral. It has no university. It has never fielded a first-class side at county Cricket. It hardly has any main through road. . . . Yet the last adjective that could be applied for Dorset is dim. It has always counted at every stage of our history and in our pre-history it was without rival. From the first chapter Dorset is a county brimming with history - Iron Age forts saxon churches remnants of the Civil War. In this affectionate and beautifully written volume. Richard Ollard takes readers around the county he most loves giving them sound advice on where to go and what to do.