Bridport Times August Edition 2019

AUGUST 2019 | FREE

A MONTHLY CELEBR ATION OF PEOPLE, PLACE AND PURVEYOR

GRUB'S UP

with Bridport Community Cooking Kit

bridporttimes.co.uk

WELCOME

A

child could be forgiven for an ambivalence towards lettuce when it’s idly grabbed from a supermarket shelf, pre-shredded, pre-washed, wrapped in plastic and labelled ‘99p’. Tasteless, pushed aside and ultimately thrown away. Easy come, easy go.

When a child meets a farmer, hears their tale of how a very different lettuce came to be and helps pull it from the soil, a connection is made.

Its value is realised and it tastes as lettuce should.

Likewise, modern parents complain (and yes, I am one) of having little time to cook and even less time to involve the children. A meal prepared out of sight, served in a hurry and eaten at speed offers little in way of enlightenment. Do we really have less time these days or do we just choose to spend it differently? It may not feel like a conscious ‘choice’ but a day still consists of 24 hours and it’s for us to decide how it’s spent.

This month, Jo and Katharine visit Washingpool Farm, who play host to the Bridport Community Cooking Kit, and enjoy a delicious lunch prepared by the green-fingered pupils of Symondsbury Primary School.

Have a great month.

Glen Cheyne, Editor glen@homegrown-media.co.uk @bridporttimes

CONTRIBUTORS Editorial and creative direction Glen Cheyne Design Andy Gerrard @round_studio Sub editors Jay Armstrong @jayarmstrong_ Claire Bowman

Simon Barber Evolver @SimonEvolver @evolvermagazine evolver.org.uk Lucy Brazier River Cottage Festival rivercottage.net Molly Bruce @mollybruceinteriors mollybruce.co.uk

Photography Katharine Davies @Katharine_KDP

David Burnett The Dovecote Press dovecotepress.com

Feature writer Jo Denbury @jo_denbury

Caroline Butler BSc (Hons) MNIMH herbalcaroline.co.uk

Editorial assistant Paul Newman @paulnewmanart

Kelvin Clayton @kelvinclaytongp greenthoughts.me philosophyinpubs.co.uk

Print Pureprint Distribution Available throughout Bridport and surrounding villages.

Please see bridporttimes.co.uk for stockists.

Kathy Dare The Melplash Show melplashshow.co.uk Jane Fox Yoga Space @yogaspacebridport yogaspacebridport.com Kit Glaisyer @kitglaisyer @kitglaisyer kitglaisyer.com

1 Bretts Yard Abbey Corner Sherborne Dorset DT9 3NL 01935 315556 @bridporttimes glen@homegrown-media.co.uk paul@homegrown-media.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk Bridport Times is printed on an FSCÂŽ and EU Ecolabel certified paper.

It goes without saying that once thoroughly well read, this magazine is easily recycled and we actively encourage you to do so.

Whilst every care has been taken to ensure that the data in this publication is accurate, neither Bridport Times nor its editorial contributors can accept, and hereby disclaim, any liability to any party to loss or damage caused by errors or omissions resulting from negligence, accident or any other cause.

Bridport Times does not officially endorse any advertising material included within this publication.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form - electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise - without prior permission from Bridport Times.

4 | Bridport Times | August 2019

Charlie Groves Groves Nurseries @GrovesNurseries @grovesnurseries grovesnurseries.co.uk Danielle Holmes Dansel Gallery danselgallery.co.uk Samantha Knights Shute Festival shutefest.org.uk Little Toller Books @LittleToller @littletollerdorset littletoller.co.uk Will Livingstone @willgrow willgrow.co.uk Gill Meller @GillMeller @Gill.Meller gillmeller.com

Suzy Newton Partners in Design @InteriorsDorset partners-in-design.co.uk Anna Powell Sladers Yard @SladersYard @sladersyard sladersyard.wordpress.com Leila Simon Tamarisk Farm @ tamarisk_farm tamariskfarm.co.uk Charlie Soole The Club House West Bexington @TheClubHouse217 @theclubhouse2017 theclubhousewestbexington.co.uk Steven Spurrier Bride Valley Vineyard @BrideValleyWine @bridevalleywine bridevalleyvineyard.com Antonia Squire The Bookshop @bookshopbridprt @thebookshopbridport dorsetbooks.com Emma Tabor & Paul Newman @paulnewmanart @paulnewmanartist paulnewmanartist.com Chris Tripp Dorset Diggers Community Archaeology Group dorsetdiggers.btck.co.uk Colin Varndell Colin Varndell Natural History Photography colinvarndell.co.uk Karen Watts Porter Dodson Solicitors porterdodson.co.uk Sally Welbourn Dorset Wildlife Trust @DorsetWildlife @dorsetwildlife dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk Glenda Willis Bridport Museum @BridportMuseum bridportmuseum.co.uk

50

AUGUST 2019

6 What’s On

48 Archaeology

80 Gardening

24 Arts and Culture

50 B RIDPORT COMMUNITY COOKING KIT

86 Legal

34 History 38 Wild Dorset 44 Outdoors

60 Food and Drink 68 Body and Mind 74 Interiors

90 Philosophy 91 Literature 94 Crossword

bridporttimes.co.uk | 5

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ASDA

WHAT'S ON Listings

Heritage Coast Canoe Club

____________________________

____________________________

Westbay Watersports Centre,

Thursdays 9.30am-3pm

01308 862055 westbaykayak.co.uk

Felt-making (16th), Felt Mosaics

Fisherman’s Green, West Bay. Age 12+

Felt Workshops: Introduction to

____________________________

(23rd), 3D forms (30th)

LSI, East St. 07881 805510

Tuesdays 7.15pm

The Durbeyfield, West Bay. All materials

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The Bottle Inn, Marshwood.

Mondays 10am-12.15pm Watercolour Painting for Beginners marion@taylormade.demon.co.uk

Uplyme Morris Rehearsals

Mondays (term-time) 6.30pm-8pm

07917 748087 Facebook: Uplyme Morris

Bridport ASD & Social Anxiety

& morning tea & coffee included, £40 jurassiccoaststudio.com 07973 769432

____________________________

____________________________

Thursdays 6.30pm

Support Group

Tuesdays 7.30pm-9pm

Pop-up Restaurant - The

Bridport Children’s Centre.

Bridport Sangha

Monmouth Table (fish tapas)

For teens, parents & carers

editation Evenings

____________________________

Soulshine Cafe, 76 South St. Bookings

Mondays 7.30pm-9.30pm

Quaker Meeting House, South St. 07950 959572

Bridport Dance Club

07425 969079 themonmouthtable.co.uk

____________________________

____________________________

Every 1st Thursday

WI Hall, North St, DT6 3JQ. Folk dancing

Every 2nd Tuesday 7.15pm

10.45am-11.45am

with recorded music. 01308 423442

Bridport Sugarcraft Club

Free Community Coffee Morning

____________________________ Mondays 7.30pm-9pm

Ivy House, Grove Nurseries, West Bay Road, DT6 4AB

St. Swithun’s Church Hall, Allington

____________________________

Every 3rd Friday 10.30am-3.30pm

Women’s Coaching Group

Every 2nd Tuesday 7pm-9pm

Bridport Embroiderers

67 South St

Co-operation Bridport

St Swithun’s Church Hall, Allington.

Mondays 7.30pm-9.30pm

cooperationbridport.eventbrite.co.uk

Bridport Campfire -

____________________________ Bridport Choral Society

Free. 07974 888895

____________________________

01308 456168

____________________________

____________________________

Saturdays 10am-12pm

bridportchoral.wordpress.com/Facebook

Tuesdays 10am-11.30am

Chess Club

____________________________

Bridport Summer Yoga

Mondays 8th & 22nd 7.15pm

Ballroom, The Bull Hotel. £7. Mixed ability.

LSi Bridport, 51 East St. Free/donation

Biodanza @ Othona Othona Community, Coast Road,

01308 485544 corrievanrijn@aol.com

lsibridport.co.uk/chess-club-on-saturdays-2/ ____________________________

____________________________

Saturday 20th July - Sunday

Burton Bradstock DT6 4RN. £8-10

Wednesday or Thursday

4th August 10.30am-4.30pm

01308 897130 biodanza-bridport.co.uk

9.30am-12.30pm (term-time)

Art in Squares

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Painting & Drawing Art Classes

Tuesdays 10am-1pm

Mangerton Mill Artist Studio

The Gallery, Symondsbury Estate,

Art Class Town Mill Arts, Lyme Regis DT7 3PU.

07505 268797

____________________________

DT6 6HG. Free parking & entry. lymebayarts.co.uk

____________________________

07812 856823 trudiochiltree.co.uk

Wednesdays 7pm-10pm

Thursday 1st, Friday 2nd,

____________________________

Bridport Scottish Dancers

Saturday 17th, Thursday

Tuesdays & Thursdays 10.30am

Church House, South St. 01308 538141

22nd & Friday 23rd 10am-4pm

____________________________

Lyme Regis Museum, Bridge Street,

Walking the Way

bridportscottishdancers.org.uk

Various Clay Workshops

Starts from CAB 45 South St.

Every 4th Wednesday 7.30pm

Lyme Regis, DT7 3QA. Drop-in

____________________________

George Hotel, South St. Read Kelvin

to Health in Bridport 01305 252222 sarahdavies@dorset.gov.uk

Philosophy in Pubs

Tuesdays 6pm-8pm

Clayton’s monthly article on page 90

8 | Bridport Times | August 2019

sessions included in admission price. lymeregismuseum.co.uk

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WHAT'S ON Thursday 1st 10.30am-12.30pm

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Elemental Art Morning with

Thursday 1st - Friday 30th

Community Artist Kathy Kelly

Exhibition - John Boyd -

Cooper‘s Circle, Allington Hill. Workshop

A Take On Turner ‘En Plein Air’

siblings) Tickets: Bridport TIC.

lsibridport.co.uk

Loders Church). Xtreme Falconry,

band, bar, stalls, games & activities. emilybourne1@icloud.com

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for age 5 yrs+. £9 (£7 concessions &

LSi, 51 East St. Free/donation.

Saturday 3rd, Wednesday 7th,

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Wednesday 21st & Saturday

Saturday 10th, Saturday 17th,

Thursday 1st 10:45am-11:45am

Friday 2nd 10.30am-12pm

24th 12pm-2pm

Coffee Morning

‘Fiery Dragons’ with

Dinosaur Footprints Walks

St Swithun’s Church, Bridport. Coffee ____________________________

Workshop for ages 5-7 yrs. £8

local artist Darrell Wakelam

to Keates Quarry

& cake free of charge. 01308 426459

Broadoak Village Hall, Broadoak.

Family-friendly Dinosaur Footprints

Thursday 1st 11am-3.30pm

(£6 concessions & siblings)

Adults £6, children free. jurassicoast.org/shop

Try Your Hand at Boat Building West Bay Discovery Centre. Free. Donations

Tickets: Bridport TIC.

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Walks to Keates Quarry in Purbeck. to book 01308 807000

____________________________

welcome. westbaydiscoverycentre.org

Friday 2nd 1pm-3pm

Saturday 3rd 2pm-5pm

____________________________

‘Pirate boats’ with Lyme Regis

Loders Fete

Thursday 1st 2pm-3pm

based artist Darrell Wakelam

Open-air Folksy Theatre:

Broadoak Village Hall, Broadoak.

Loders Court DT6 3RZ. Stalls, games,

‘Mister Magnolia’ The Hyde Residential Gardens, Walditch,

Workshops for ages 8-12 yrs. £9

bar, teas, brass band. £2. U-12s free

____________________________

(£7 concessions & siblings)

Sunday 4th 12pm-11pm

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West Bay. Fun activities & entertainment

Tickets: Bridport TIC.

West Bay Day

Thursday 1st 2pm-5pm

Saturdays 3rd, 17th &

Burton Bradstock Church Fete

31st 10am-2pm

for all the family. westbay.org.uk

Church Street, DT6 4QY. Traditional

‘40s Food, Fun & Fashion’

Monday 5th -

village fete. £1 entry.

Friday 9th 10.30am-12pm

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Bridport Town Hall, DT6 3LF. Free

Deutschklub /

Thursday 1st 4.30pm

entry sheilannmeaney@btinternet.com 01308 424169

German Club for Children

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West Bay Discovery Centre. Tickets £3

Saturday 3rd 2pm-5pm

LSi, East St. 4 day course: using role play, music & games. Ages 8-13 lucychant.co.uk

01308 424901 westbaydiscoverycentre.org

Loders Court, DT6 3RZ (next to

DT6 4LB. folksytheatre.co.uk/whats-on

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Talk: All Boats Have a Story to Tell from Discovery Centre/Bridport TIC

10 | Bridport Times | August 2019

Loders Fete

____________________________

____________________________ Tuesday 6th 10am

THURSDAY 22nd AUGUST WEST BAY, BRIDPORT DT6 4EG

Children 16 and under Go FREE

FREE BUS FREE PARKING + PARK & RIDE

the best of agriculture by the sea www.melplashshow.co.uk

On the day: Adults £17 - Advance tickets: Adults £15 Advanced tickets can be bought on-line or from local outlets... Footeprints, Bridport - Spar, West Bay Road - Highlands End Holiday Park, Eype - Freshwater Beach Holiday Park, Burton Bradstock - Golden Cap Holiday Park, Seatown - Gorseland Caravan Park, West Bexington - Girling & Bowditch Veterinary Surgery, Beaminster - Felicity’s Farm Shop, Morcombelake - R J Balson & Son, Bridport - Axminster, Bridport, Dorchester & Lyme Regis Tourist Information Centres - Beaminster Yarn Barton and Crewkerne Local Information Centre

WHAT'S ON DWT - Introduction to Bats Kingcombe Centre, Toller Porcorum. £75 kingcombe.org 01300 320684

____________________________

LSi, 51 East St. Practical demonstration

Guided Walk

Craft World. Free/donation. lsibridport.co.uk

Portland Stone. jurassicoast.org/shop to

by Alan Rogers - Keyhole Surgeon of the

Visit a working mine & learn about

____________________________

book 01308 807000

Tuesday 6th 10am-12pm

Saturday 10th - Sunday 18th

Artsreach Creative Summer

Burton Bradstock Festival

Wednesday 14th 7.30pm

Programme Workshop - ‘The Lost

of Music & Art

Wyld Morris

Stories’ with Martin Maudsley

St Mary’s Church, The Village Hall,

Bottle Inn, Marshwood

897203 burtonbradstockfestival.com

Thursday 15th 10am-2pm

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Pop Up Puppets Workshop

Tuesday 6th 2pm-4pm

Sunday 11th 10.30am

Artsreach Creative Summer

Bridport Jurassic Coast Run

Lyric Theatre, Barrack St. Age 8+,

Programme - Vicky Ashford –

Promenade West Bay. 10K & 1/2

St Andrew’s Hall, Charmouth, DT6 6LH. Ages 5+

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‘Wild Art’ Burton Bradstock Community Library.

Burton Bradstock. To book: 01308

marathon. 01308 459942 bridport-

____________________________

____________________________

dress for mess. Tickets: Bridport TIC aloadofstuffandnonsense.co.uk

____________________________

runners.co.uk

Thursday 15th -

____________________________

Friday 16th 10am-4pm

Ages 5+. £5. 01308 897421

Sunday 11th 2pm

‘The Story Boat’

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Symondsbury Flower,

Wednesday 7th 7.30pm

Produce & Novelty Dog Show

Bridport Arts Centre. A miniature

Wyld Morris

The Tithe Barn, Symondsbury,

Using found & foraged materials.

The 5 Bells, Whitchurch Canonicorum

____________________________ Thursday 8th 10.30am-11:30am

DT6 6HG. Schedules from The Ilchester Arms or Symondsbury Store

maritime museum created from a fishing

boat. Free 01308 458703 bridportmuseum. co.uk/whats-on/view/?v=storyboat

____________________________

____________________________

Friday 16th 10am-12.30pm

Guided Walk - 75 Years On -

Tuesday 13th 9.30am

Fran Quinlan ‘Let’s Get Recycling’

Remembering the Normandy

Trip to Keyneston Mill, Blandford

Landings & Local Connections

with Uplyme & Lyme Regis

Burton Bradstock Community Library.

Meet outside West Bay Discovery

Horticultural Society

£3 adults. westbaydiscoverycentre.org.uk/

£21 guests. 01297 34733 ulrhs.wordpress.com

‘A Sketch of the West Dorset’

Age 8+. £8. 01308 897421

____________________________

Centre. Not suitable for dogs or children.

Depart Uplyme Village Hall. £18 members,

Friday 16th 7.30pm

____________________________

____________________________

in Song & Story

Saturday 10th –

Tuesday 13th 10am-2pm

Sunday 11th 10am-5pm

‘Robots Large & Small’ Workshop

Bridport Town Hall, DT6 3LF. Tickets:

Lucien Pissarro’s Stay in Fishpond

Lyric Theatre, Barrack St. Age 8+,

St John the Baptist Church, Fishpond,

Bridport TIC. bridportandwestbay.co.uk

____________________________

dress for mess. Tickets: Bridport TIC.

Saturday 17th 10am-4pm

____________________________

Bridport United Church Hall. Entry

aloadofstuffandnonsense.co.uk

Vinyl Saturday Record & CD Fair

Saturday 10th -

Wednesday 14th 2pm-4pm

Wednesday 21st 10.30am-4.30pm

‘Turner Twists’

£1 (trade entry £3 from 8.30am). Stalls:

Terra Incognita:

Bridport Library. Messy art session,

DT6 6NN

____________________________

Recent Paintings by Andy Rollo The Gallery, Symondsbury Estate,

inspired by Turner’s watercolour.

John 07548 278 276 or hdicksrecords@ yahoo.co.uk vinylsaturday.co.uk

____________________________

All ages. 01308 458703

Saturday 17th 10am-2pm

____________________________

Bridport Town Hall, DT6 3LF. Free

bridportlibrary@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk

‘40s Food, Fun & Fashion’

Saturday 10th 1pm

Wednesday 14th 4.30pm-6pm

‘Impossible Bottles’

Albion Stone Mine -

entry sheilannmeaney@btinternet.com

DT6 6HG

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12 | Bridport Times | August 2019

01308 424169

P R I C E M AT C H G U A R A N T E E D | I N T E R E S T F R E E C R E D I T | B I G G E S T S E L E C T I O N O N V I S P R I N G B E D S

andsotobed.co.uk | 01308 426 972 And So To Bed Bridport Pymore Mills, Bridport, Dorset, DT6 5PJ

WHAT'S ON ____________________________

Tuesday 20th 7.30pm

Sunday 25th 11am

Saturday 17th 10.30am-1pm

Apothecary Presents...New

RNLI Fun Day

Beaminster Museum Finds

Ways of Seeing: Visualisation

Identification Morning

& the Spoken Word

West Bay on the Green. Family

Beaminster Museum, DT8 3NB. Free

LSi, 51 East St. Free/Donation.

____________________________

____________________________

Sunday 25th 12pm-5pm

Saturday 17th 7pm

Thursday 22nd

(set-up from 7.30am)

Bridport Carnival

Melplash Country Show

Dorset’s Giant Fete

Grand procession features plenty of

Melplash Showground, West Bay.

& Car Boot Sale

____________________________

____________________________

Info: 01308 422638

identification & advice. No need to book.

floats & colourful walking entries.

lsibridport.co.uk

attractions & children’s games. Rescue

display on East Beach & the Piers. rnli.org ____________________________

melplashshow.co.uk

Symondsbury, DT6 6HD.

Saturday 17th 7.30pm

Thursday 22nd

____________________________

A Musical Entertainment!

Wyld Morris

Sunday 25th 6pm

Loders Church DT6 3SA. Organ, piano

Near the 'pub' at the Melplash Show

Traditional Choral Evensong

____________________________

with the Whitchurch

421606 or on the door

Friday 23rd –

Occasional Choir

____________________________

Saturday 24th 10am-4pm

Sunday 18th & Wednesday

Uplyme Church Art Festival

Whitchurch Canonicorum Church

28th 10.30am-2pm

Pound Lane, Uplyme DT7 3TT.

Monday 26th 2pm-5pm

____________________________

Whitchurch, Morcombelake &

& voices. Tickets £12 from TIC, 01308

Worbarrow Bay & Tyneham -

____________________________

Free. Refreshments.

Wyld Morris

Geology walk. Tickets £5, JCT

Saturday 24th –

Ryall Flower & Dog show,

to book 01308 807000

River Cottage Festival

Sunday 18th 10.30am–12.30pm

£25. £95 weekend camping. U-16s free

U3A talk: The View

Guided Walks Members £2.50. jurassicoast.org/shop

Sunday 25th 10am-11pm

____________________________

Trinity Hill Rd, Axminster EX13 8TB.

Tuesday 27th 2pm

____________________________

from the Wings

Litton Cheney Village Hall. £20

Saturday 24th – Saturday 31st

Bridport United Church Hall, East St.

yogawithnadiya.co.uk

Mosterton Art Group

Restorative Yoga and Yoga Nidra

Whitchurch Canonicorum

____________________________

- booking essential. 07800 712998

10am-5pm (4pm on 31st)

____________________________

31st Annual Exhibition

Wednesday 28th 7.30pm

Sunday 18th 9pm

Skyrm Room, Beaminster Public Hall,

Horticultural Society Talk -

____________________________

Uplyme Village Hall. Members free;

Bridport Torchlight Procession

Members: free. Non-members: £2

____________________________

DT8 3EF. Free. 01308 867581

Plants of the Dolomites

traditional bonfire & fire works. Buy

Saturday 24th 10am-4pm

guests £3 ulrhs.wordpress.com

From Buckydoo to West Bay for torches from 6.30pm

Royal Air Forces Association -

____________________________

Brew for the Few

Thursday 29th 10.40am

Tuesday 20th

Salthouse, West Bay. Please join us.

Walk - Stepping into Nature –

____________________________

Treasures of the Seashore

Upcycled Basket

Saturday 24th 4pm-5.30pm

Studi0ne, Broadwindsor Craft Centre

Open Source Improvisational

Meet at the Discovery Centre.

hotmail.co.uk, josadlerforgednwillow.

Yellow Room, Chapel in the Garden,

____________________________

____________________________

Willow Workshop -

£55 booking essential jojo.sadler@

Dance Workshop

bigcartel.com 07531417209

East St. 07719 280375

14 | Bridport Times | August 2019

____________________________

Free/donations. 01308 427288

manager@westbaydiscovercentre.org.uk

____________________________ Friday 30th Willow Workshop - Bees

Thinking of letting your holiday property?

Your local holiday cottage specialist is currently looking for properties in the area to add to their ever-growing portfolio in Dorset.

If you are considering letting your holiday home, we offer free, honest, expert advice on how to get the most out of your holiday property and the potential income you could generate through marketing.

www.toadhallcottages.co.uk Call us: 01297 443550 44 Church Street, Lyme Regis, Dorset DT7 3DA

WHAT'S ON Workshop - Nuno Felting

____________________________

£65 booking essential jojo.sadler@

The Durbeyfield, West Bay. All materials

Last Saturday of every month,

bigcartel.com 07531 417209

jurassiccoaststudio.com 07973 769432

Bridport Vintage Market

Friday 30th -

Saturday 7th – Friday 15th

____________________________

Sunday 1st September

September 11am-9pm

Every Sunday, 9am-3pm

Lyme Folk Weekend

Art Exhibition

Local Produce Market

Lyme Regis. Annual folk festival.

The Durbyfield B&B, West Bay DT6 4EL.

Customs House, West Bay

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____________________________

Wednesdays 7th,

Saturday 31st 12pm

Saturday 7th September

14th & 21st 4pm-8pm

Bridport & District Gardening

Bridport Hat Festival

West Bay Market & Craft Fair

Club Late Summer Show

Various Bridport venues. Competitions

The Salt House & Fishermans Green,

& drink, workshops & dancing. 01308

01308 424901

Studi0ne, Broadwindsor Craft Centre. hotmail.co.uk josadlerforgednwillow.

& morning tea & coffee included, £40.

10am-4pm

____________________________

St Michael’s Trading Estate, DT6 3RR

____________________________

Info: 07968 959298

United Church Hall, East St.

Free. 01308 423307 thedurbyfield.co.uk

for adults, kids and dogs, live music, food

bridportgardeningclub.co.uk

____________________________ Saturday 31st 3pm

250350 bridporthatfest.org

____________________________

The Spirit of Spain St Mary’s Church, Beaminster. Mark

Fairs and markets

at the door, including light refreshments

Every Wednesday & Saturday

Jennings (guitar) plays virtuoso classics. £10

____________________________

____________________________

Weekly Market

____________________________

West Bay. Indoor & outdoor stalls.

____________________________ Saturday 10th 10am-2.30pm Vegan Market Bridport Town Hall, DT6 3LF

Free entry. Vegan food, cosmetics & advice. bridportveganmarket.co.uk

____________________________

South, West & East Street

Saturday 24th 9am-3pm

____________________________

Bridport Town Hall

____________________________

Second Saturday of the month,

Arts & Craft Fair

Monday 2nd September 7.30pm

9am–1pm

Bridport Choral Society

Farmers’ Market

DT6 3LF. Free entry.

Untied Church Hall, East St

Bridport Arts Centre

To include your event in our FREE

____________________________

listings please email details (whole

____________________________

Every Saturday, 9am–12pm

listing in 20 words max) by the

Friday 6th September

Country Market

1st of each preceding month to

9.30pm-6pm

WI Hall, North Street

listings@homegrown-media.co.uk

Planning ahead

bridportchoral.wordpress.com

____________________________

A SPACE for LIVING SPIRITUALITY

at The Quaker Meeting House, 95 South Street, Bridport, Dorset DT6 3NZ Series 8 “Care of our Souls, Care of our Planet” Connecting personal transformation with sustainability of life on earth.

Event 1: Sat, Sept 14th, 10am - 4pm “Seeking the Peace Within” In a world of difference and division, how can we live and work for healing and peace? led by Jo Jamil Parsons

Event 2: Sat, Oct 12th, 10am - 4pm “Connecting our Souls and the Natural World through Poetry and Story” led by Janet Lake

Event 3: Sat, Nov 9th, 10am - 4pm “Bridging the Inner and Outer Landscapes” led by Satish Kumar

Event 4: Sat, Dec 14th, 10am - 4pm “Me, My Soul and the Biosphere” Where are we? Where are we going? led by Joe Burlington and Andrew Davies

Space is limited so booking is required. Donations £10-£40 per day. Bring-and-share lunch. Contact Janet Lake: iona.lake@aol.co.uk 16 | Bridport Times | August 2019

PREVIEW In association with

‘Spread’

ANDY ROLLO: TERRA INCOGNITA Lyme Bay Arts CIC, the members-based company of artists

a new gallery to open that provides opportunities for work to

and makers in the Southwest, opens its new exhibition venue

be exhibited that isn’t quite as traditional – work that doesn’t

with landscapes of the psyche by painter Andy Rollo. The

only respond to a specific place but delves more into imaginary

Gallery, Symondsbury will have its official opening on 10th

landscapes and foregrounds, visual language, elements like

August with a showcase of recent paintings by Andy Rollo, a

shape, line and colour.”

lecturer in art and design at Yeovil College.

Andy is excited about exhibiting at Symondsbury for a number of reasons: “Firstly, the work I have been producing

evolver.org.uk

____________________________________________

over the course of the last ten years has been inspired in part by

Saturday 10th - Wednesday 21st August,

the geology and history of Dorset and in particular the Dorset

10.30am - 4.30pm

Ridgeway and Jurassic Coast. Secondly, I want to develop a

ANDY ROLLO: TERRA INCOGNITA

higher profile in the area and feel that this new gallery provides

The Gallery, Symondsbury Estate, Symondsbury,

a good opportunity for me to do so. It’s a beautiful location in the midst of the landscape of Dorset. Thirdly, it is exciting for

Bridport DT6 6HG. 07821 463601 lymebayarts.co.uk

____________________________________________ bridporttimes.co.uk | 17

Arts What's & Culture On

RIVER COTTAGE FESTIVAL

I

Lucy Brazier

t has been 20 years since Hugh FearnleyWhittingstall first burst on to our TV screens encouraging us to embrace a more seasonal, local and organic way of eating. As a food writer, broadcaster and campaigner Hugh has continued to share his uncompromising commitment to ethically-produced food and his concern for the environment, earning a huge following through his River Cottage TV series, books and campaigns.

In 2006 Hugh and his team set up River Cottage HQ, a 100-acre farm with a 17th-century farmhouse and threshing barn on the Dorset/Devon border where they run events, courses and dinners. They also throw an annual festival every year, renowned for its brilliant mix of food, live music and special guests. This year promises to be extra special as River Cottage celebrates their 20th birthday across the August Bank Holiday weekend.

As you would expect food is central to the Festival with food demonstrations at The Fire Pit, hosted by River Cottage author and tutor Steven Lamb, featuring food writer Valentine Warner, chef and food writer Claire Thomson and River Café’s Joe Trivelli amongst 18 | Bridport Times | August 2019

others. River Cottage contributor favourites John Wright, Rachel de Thample and Naomi Devlin will be leading a full schedule of masterclasses around cocktail making, fermentation, foraging and gut health.

Hugh says, ‘Our River Cottage Festival is the highlight of the year for the whole team. Probably because it gives us a chance to meet and feed so many people, from so many places. Excuse the lack of modesty but I’m sure we are doing the best festival food anywhere. That’s not just because of the lovely stuff cooked up by the River Cottage team, but also because of all the brilliant food producers and pop-ups who join us for the weekend.’

Festival goers can opt for Festival Feasts in the 18thcentury threshing barn or enjoy River Cottage street food served alongside local producers including Thali Café, Good Game and Assembelly. There is a fully licensed bar serving local ciders, craft beers and organic wines. Evening Feasts Over Fire, are led by guest chefs, the incredible Welsh Persian chef Leyli Joon & Co and the brilliant team from Roth Bar & Grill.

Throughout the weekend the discussions focus on conservation, sustainability and well-being. Joining

Hugh on stage will be the TV presenter Anita Rani, Hugh’s co-presenter in their new BBC1 series War On Plastic With Hugh and Anita. Another TV favourite, Steph McGovern will be talking with Hugh about health and well-being, and the new series on that subject that she and Hugh are filming over the summer. Joining them to address the issue of how we can all look after ourselves better will be Giles Yeo, geneticist, author and BBC presenter, also seen recently on Hugh’s Fat Fight.

The Festival Gigs are back with two headlining DJ sets; Belle & Sebastian’s Richard Colburn and Happy Monday’s Bez. The curated list of diverse talent including Honeyfeet, The Luck and Rum Buffalo, makes it the most exciting line-up yet, stretching from lunchtime ‘til after dark.

To make this anniversary extra memorable, River Cottage are introducing a new element to the event, an ethical fashion panel featuring Georgina WilsonPowell, founder of Pebble magazine, who will be in discussion with famed British designer Alice Temperley and Maria Chenoweth (CEO of Traid).

Kids under 16 are free and there is plenty to keep them occupied. ‘The Little Theatre’ space features Tallulah Swirls Puppet Theatre, puppet-making workshops, circus performance and skills and musical sessions. Elsewhere they can get stuck in to bushcraft, felting, art, forest skills,

woodcraft and headdress-making. There is a fantastic array of workshops for the grow-ups too, including willow making, watercolour botanicals, paper art and pottery. The Calm Corner offers massage, reiki treatments and yoga classes (plus family yoga).

With a friendly, relaxed atmosphere, the whole family is welcome to stay the weekend. The grounds are open to campers, either to bring their own tent or campervan, or to enjoy a glamping experience by booking a stay in a luxury bell tent. Arrive on the Friday for an exclusive campers’ party with food, drink and live music to kick off the weekend.

Hugh adds, ‘In the end it’s really all about family – the families who come to see us often, returning year after year. When everyone comes together it feels like a massive party for the whole extended River Cottage family – a family that, I’m delighted to say, seems to get bigger every year.’ rivercottage.net/festival

____________________________________________ Saturday 24th - Sunday 25th August RIVER COTTAGE FESTIVAL River Cottage HQ, Trinity Hill Road, Axminster EX13 8TB. Day and weekend tickets available from rivercottage.net/festival/2019

____________________________________________ bridporttimes.co.uk | 19

Arts What's & Culture On

Kathy Dare ‘This year’s Melplash Show will, as always, feature many of the traditional aspects of an agricultural country show, as well as having plenty of new and exciting visitor attractions. There really will be something for everyone, with lots to see and do for all the family to enjoy! Whether it’s being blown away by the feats of motorcyclist Jamie Squibb in the main arena, admiring the finest livestock and equines, examining the latest state-of-the-art agricultural machinery, watching a chef or two in action, enjoying the hospitality at one of the many trade and business stands or stopping for a tasty bite in the Food Hall or a pint in The Melplash Inn, we are sure you’re going to have another amazing Show Day!’ says Show Secretary, Lucy Hart.

The Melplash Show, now in its 172nd year, is a traditional one-day agricultural show that celebrates all aspects of farming and rural life by the sea. It brings together the very best of West Dorset with animals, food, fun and entertainment. With farming still very much at the heart of the Show it gives visitors the rare opportunity to see close up the finest farm animals in the area as they compete for the top prizes. For the horse lover there is always an outstanding selection of horses and ponies on show, including heavy horses and show jumping. A visit to the horticultural, floral arts, home produce and handicraft competition tents is always a highlight of the day and a chance to marvel at not just the size of the vegetables and beautiful floral displays but also the exceptional talents that are in the area.

In the Bradfords Building Supplies main ring and the Kitson & Trotman Countryside arena there is an exciting programme of events including the grand parade of award-winning animals, falconry, ferret and terrier racing, as well as this year’s special main show attraction, the thrilling and furious motocross rider Jamie Squibb and his motocross team. For the younger generation there is a packed programme of free hands20 | Bridport Times | August 2019

on field-to-plate and farming activities in the Discover Farming and Explore Farming marquees.

The cookery theatre at the Show this year, welcomes Bridport-born celebrity chef and restauranteur Mark Hix. Mark will be talking about, and demonstrating recipes from, his new book Hooked: Adventures in Angling and Eating, which opens with the story of his first catch at West Bay being cooked by his grandmother, the catalyst for his passion. He will be joined by other local chefs and drink experts, Helen Choudhury from the Taj Mahal, Jamie Pimbley from the Half Moon at Melplash, Lloyd Brown and friends from the Dark Bear and James Whetlor from Cabrito, who will be showcasing ‘kid’ goat meat.

Alongside there will be more than 400 exhibitors and trade stands offering a wide range of products and services spread across three fields, including two indoor craft and trader marquees, a large food hall full of award-winning producers and suppliers and a fantastic selection of ‘food to go’.

With the gates opening at 8am and closing at 6pm, visitors of all ages are guaranteed a full day’s entertainment!

There is a free bus from Lyme Regis, Charmouth, Chideock and Bridport, free car parking at the show site off the A35 and free park and ride sites around Bridport. All car parks will be well signposted. Visit the show website for further information and timetables.

____________________________________________ Thursday 22nd August, 8am-6pm The Melplash Show Melplash Showground, West Bay Road, Bridport DT6 4EG.

Entry on the gate is £17 for adults. Children 16 years and under go FREE. Discounted advance tickets available from local venues or online at melplashshow.co.uk

____________________________________________

bridporttimes.co.uk | 21

Arts What's & Culture On

SHUTE FESTIVAL

Samantha Knights, Co-Director, Shute Festival

N

ow in its fourth year, Shute Festival boasts a truly diverse array of events and speakers.

Held this year on the weekend of 13th - 15th September, this boutique festival in the stunning village of Shute, near Axminster, bills itself as the small festival with big ideas.

One of the highlights this year will be the UK premiere of Free Men, an award-winning documentary film about the life of death row artist Kenny Reams, who has spent more than 25 years in solitary confinement in his 9 x 4ft cell in Arkansas. Kenny, who has spoken widely in the US, will dial in after the film for a Q&A. A solo exhibition of his work opened in the UK at the Bridport Arts Centre in 2017 and his work and film have attracted widespread international attention. It’s a real coup for Shute to be hosting the UK premiere. It is an amazing film and no one speaks better about his experience inside than Kenny himself.

Continuing with the theme of law, order, crime and punishment, the festival will also welcome Dr Angela Gallop CBE, one of the UK’s leading forensic scientists, who will speak about her role in some of the country’s most notorious murder cases, including Stephen Lawrence, Rachel Nickell and Damilola Taylor.

22 | Bridport Times | August 2019

Image: Jesse Adlam

The festival will also hear from Isabel Bannerman on her new book Scent Magic: Notes from a Gardener; Owen Matthews on An Impeccable Spy; Tim Pears on The Redeemed (the third in his West Country trilogy), and Sunday Times war correspondent Christina Lamb.

Matthews’ recently published book has already made its way into the Sunday Times top 100 reads for the summer and all the authors have had excellent national reviews of their books. There are two poetry events this year Fiona Benson on Vertigo & Ghost and Anthony Wilson reading from two of his works.

The festival opens with a free landscape walk led

by Legacy to Landscape to the King John Oak in the former medieval deer park at Shute, now on private land. There is also a wonderful array of free children’s activities, including a ceramics workshop run by Lyme Regis-based Fiamma Montagu and Sam Bazeley, as well as land art, film-making, bushcraft and wild activities.

From the beginning, the festival has run a separate and impressive outreach programme for the local primary school, which has, to date, included creative writing, calligraphy, a Bollywood dance workshop and an opera workshop leading to a performance by the local Grassroots Opera company. Its outreach continues

Jaz O'Hara. Image: The Worldwide Tribe

Christina Lamb

this year with two after-school clubs at Shute Primary funded by East Devon AONB. The festival was set up by three Shute residents: crime fiction writer and psychotherapist Paddy Magrane, barrister Samantha Knights QC and historian and writer Bijan Omrani. The aim was to bring excellent and diverse speakers to a stunning location near the Jurassic Coast, to allow an intimate and engaging festival where speakers and audience can mingle in a way which is not possible at bigger festivals. The venue is a medieval church in Shute dating back to Saxon times, overlooking the historic manor of Shute Barton, now owned by the National Trust. Landscape and gardens are always an important focus. Anna Pavord, Sir Ghillean Prance, Anne Swithinbank, all of whom are based locally, have spoken at previous Shute Festivals.

Another strong theme for this year’s festival is regeneration and concern about the future of the planet.

David Jones, founder of Just One Ocean and behind the much-acclaimed documentary Plastic Ocean will be speaking about plastics in the ocean. This is a theme which resonates strongly in the local area with a number of local groups actively working to engage the community, including Turn Lyme Green and Plastic Free Axminster.

Angela Gallop. Image: Nottingham Trent University

Esther and Annie Freud. Image: Jesse Adlam

Of equal global concern is the issue of migrants and refugees. Jaz O’Hara’s talk should be an inspiration in this context. As a 20-something she gave up her job in the fashion industry and set up The Worldwide Tribe, which works directly on the ground globally providing practical assistance to those who are displaced.

The festival has the strong support of the wider local community with a band of volunteers assisting on the day with teas, homemade cakes and on the door.

Its patrons are Dorset-based poet and artist Annie Freud, publisher Tremayne Carew-Pole (whose family owed Shute Barton for many centuries), and Caroline Montagu, Countess of Sandwich and Mapperton House and Gardens. shutefest.org.uk

____________________________________________ Friday 13th -Sunday 15th September Shute Festival St Michael’s Church and Shute Primary School. Haddon Road, Shute, Axminster EX13 7QR. Information and advance tickets

from shutefest.org.uk. Tickets are also available through Archway Bookshop, Axminster.

____________________________________________ bridporttimes.co.uk | 23

Arts & Culture

40 YEARS OF LIVING AND WORKING WITH WOOD 1979 – 2019

F

orty years ago, Danielle and Selwyn Holmes made a bold and life-changing move. Having worked from their small home workshop for three years since leaving art school, they were given a golden opportunity to move to a row of converted thatched stables in Abbotsbury, owned by the Ilchester Estate.

To begin with, the beautifully converted building was mainly a workshop for the furniture that the couple produced but eventually, with more and more people stopping by to see what was going on, part of the building became a shop for selling the smaller items they were developing.

When they took over their premises in Abbotsbury in 1979, they started to produce a range of products which varied from the functional to the decorative – all in wood and hand-finished to a very high standard, appealing to all pockets. Soon other makers were welcomed to increase the range of products.

By 1990 the whole building was given over to a gallery selling work in wood. Set on a gravelled courtyard with parking, it’s a place to find contemporary ideas crafted out of wood by more than 200 makers. It features a superb collection of high-quality items carefully selected with the emphasis on good design and quality of finish.

Greeted by friendly staff – Danielle, Sue, Kay, Yvonne and Celia, with Sara and Tilia behind the scenes – the atmosphere is calming and relaxing and there is a wonderful ‘wood aroma’.

The Dansel range is made from many sustainable timbers, too numerous to mention. Some pieces make use of burrs and spalted timber with intricate natural forms creating interest in the most simple item, while 24 | Bridport Times | August 2019

hand finishing and lacquers, oils and waxes, allow the full beauty and colour of the wood to shine through, making every piece unique.

It’s a place where you can stand back and admire the beauty of wood. Probably no material used by humans has the comparable warmth, appeal and practicality of wood, and with its natural beauty, it can be crafted into fine details suited for a contemporary look.

Wood can be carved, steamed, bent, twisted and glued, and used sensitively, is appropriate for any room in the house. It is a living, breathing material with myriad colours, scents, grains and textures.

Use of the building has varied over the 40 years, from half of it originally housing the workshop, to having a play area for their children in the office upstairs. The old rocking horse is now ridden by the children of children who first visited in the early days. Many wood enthusiasts and the occasional celebrity continue to visit and they play host to a fantastic old Vintage Ford meeting.

The future is never set in stone but hopes are high for Dansel to continue in the same vein and be run by other younger family members. danselgallery.co.uk To celebrate their 40th anniversary and encourage the planting of trees, Dansel Gallery will be giving away free tree seeds with every purchase during August.

Dansel Gallery is open seven days a week, March to October, 10am-5.30pm and December to February 10am-5pm.

Dansel, Rodden Row, Abbotsbury DT3 4JL

Inspired by the natural world

E

Elementum Gallery

South St, Sherborne

@elementumgallery

POP-UP SHOP FOR ONE MONTH ONLY

3 The Square, Beaminster Moroccan inspired hand painted furniture and personally sourced pieces from the Souks. www.saffranmaroc.co.uk www.katinkastampaorwin.co.uk Monday - Friday 10.00 - 17.00 Saturday 10.00 - 16.00

Saturday 20th July - Saturday 17th August

Contemporary Interiors in Wood

PLANT A TREE Free tree seeds

with every purchase during August Celebrating 40 years of promoting British woodwork in Abbotsbury 1979 - 2019 Rodden Row, Abbotsbury, DT3 4JL www.danselgallery.co.uk

01305 871515 Open 10am – 5.30pm everyday

bridporttimes.co.uk | 25

Arts & Culture

INSPIRED BY TURNER

Anna Powell, Director, Sladers Yard Gallery and Café Sladers Janette Kerr Glimpse of Sunlight, Shetland, oil on board 30 x 30cm

S

laders Yard’s current exhibition, Igniting Sight, celebrates Turner in Bridport by exploring his influence on six eminent contemporary landscape painters. Following last month’s look at Fred Cuming RA, Luke Elwes and Alex Lowery, now we trace the influence of Turner in the work of Vanessa Gardiner, Frances Hatch and Janette Kerr PPRWA RSA Hon, all of whom have developed strong individual voices through their irresistible fascination with a particular painting practice.

‘In my parents’ house,’ Vanessa Gardiner writes, ‘I remember there used to hang two small colour-tinted etchings of Cornwall, made after Turner’s watercolours.

Both were exquisitely observed: one of Boscastle 26 | Bridport Times | August 2019

harbour and the other a waterfall at Beeny, nearby. The precipitous cliffs were depicted in an exaggeratedly high manner, emphasising the wild theatricality and grandness of the landscape.’

I love to imagine the observant child Vanessa, who was often taken to Boscastle and the surrounding area by her parents, absorbing Turner’s technique as well as his love of drawing those particular beautiful dramatic places. Vanessa continues, ‘These same distinct landscapes around the Cornish coast have been longstanding sources of inspiration for my own work. Such places as Pentargon, Beeny, Trevalga and Godrevy; and at Boscastle, where the natural crook of the harbour is almost enclosed by the architectural forms of the dark

Vanessa Gardiner, Godrevy Point 17 2018/19, acrylic on board 58 x 58cm

slate cliffs and inlets of deep turquoise sea.’

While Vanessa Gardiner’s paintings may seem to have much of the intellectual rigour of Ben Nicholson and St Ives about them, they are fed by a longing for those rocky promontories and an unerring accuracy and truth to the landscape as she has observed it. The clean lines and scoured textures of her many-layered compositions spring directly from her relish of that deep turquoise sea which engraves itself, with wild white spume, on precipitous dark slate cliffs.

Tate Britain’s 2015 exhibition Late Turner: Painting Set Free was a revelation for many, including Jonathan Jones in the Guardian, who wrote ‘Here at last is the Turner who matters – the man who invented modern

painting.’ The loose visionary way Turner handled paint in his later years was mocked and misunderstood during his lifetime. To us, this work points the way forward.

For Frances Hatch, ‘These works were salty – they were expressive gestures of pure painterly abstraction.

Material paint itself speaking of experience.’

Frances Hatch, whose own experimental and expressive paintings are often painted on the beach during spectacular light effects, says, ‘I’ve had many moments of overwhelm with Turner over the years… The changing selection of sketchbooks at Tate Britain are full of risk and innovative playfulness…and there are so many of them!’

One can only admire the daring freedom with which Frances improvises onsite with found materials, clays, > bridporttimes.co.uk | 27

Frances Hatch, Chalked Air Lulworth 30 x 30cm, earth pigments with cerulean turquoise on Indian handmade paper

pigments and paints to capture the moment.

For Janette Kerr, ‘Turner was the first of the abstract painters, to whom I owe a huge debt.’ His late works ‘could have been made yesterday; surfaces of loosely scumbled paint and scratched lines holding the full sound and fury of the sea.’ Janette‘s practice is similarly immersive to Turner‘s and her words could describe her own work as well as his. ‘My paintings reflect my own struggle to capture the nature of the marine environment,’ she writes. ‘Painting is dialogue between visual thinking and the activity of the body – a pushing and pulling between mind and physical activity – between a surface of paint and the movement of the sea; marks built up, scrubbed out, overlapped, drawn and scored into; layers of transparent and opaque paint that both conceal and reveal the history of a painting made over time, as the sea ebbs and flows.’

Janette Kerr’s sea paintings move between the abstract and the more figurative. Most striking is her affinity for the elemental wildness and wet.

They blow through her paintings into the eye of the 28 | Bridport Times | August 2019

beholder. Janette has strong academic credentials, she has been president of the Royal West of England Academy, has organised and raised funding for major exhibitions, projects and collaborations with scientists, environmentalists and meteorologists in the UK and in Norway. Like Turner himself, she directs her thinking, her travelling and endless drawing to making paintings that truly convey the force and majesty of the sea. sladersyard.co.uk @sladersyard

____________________________________________ Until Sunday 8th September Igniting Sight: Contemporary artists inspired by JMW Turner Fred Cuming RA, Luke Elwes, Vanessa Gardiner, Frances Hatch, Janette Kerr PPRWA RSA Hon and Alex Lowery

with ceramics by Richard Batterham and furniture by Petter Southall. Sladers Yard Gallery and Café Sladers, West Bay Road, West Bay, DT6 4EL. 01308 459511

____________________________________________

D I S C O V E R | E AT | S H O P | S T AY | C E L E B R AT E

Welcome to Symondsbury Estate, set in the beautiful Dorset countryside just a stone’s throw from the Jurassic Coast. Join us for lunch. Browse our home, garden and gift shops.

Explore our fabulous walks and bike trails. Relax and unwind in our holiday accommodation.

Celebrate your wedding day … … isn’t it time you discovered Symondsbury Estate?

DIARY DATES Symondsbury Flower, Produce & Novelty Dog Show, Sunday 11th August

SY M O N D SBURY E S TAT E

+44 (0)1308 424116 www.symondsburyestate.co.uk The Estate Office Manor Yard, Bridport, Dorset DT6 6HG

Arts & Culture

BRIDPORT AND WEST DORSET OPEN STUDIOS Kit Glaisyer, Artist, Photography, Pete Millson

Bjork Harraldsdottir

T

he Bridport & West Dorset Open Studios team have been busy preparing the beautiful guides for our nine-day event which takes place from 7th-15th September. With more than 80 artists in 50 venues, it’s sure to be a lively and eclectic event, with an exciting range of work from familiar names and many new faces. Once again, photographer Pete Millson has been out taking portraits of our participating artists, several of which you can see here. Keep a hold of this edition of the Bridport Times as it’s a handy guide to the Bridport-based artists taking part in Bridport Open Studios. Next month I’ll cover the out-of-town artists.

Björk Haraldsdóttir & Jacy Wall will have an exhibition Materials Matter at the Portmanteau Gallery at 10 North Street, with ceramics by Björk and woven tapestry and etchings by Jacy.

Just up the road at 11 Downes Street, Kit Glaisyer will be opening a new studio/gallery showing large, panoramic West Dorset landscape paintings as well as new ‘Drip Figure’ paintings.

Nearby, on Rax Lane, Boo Mallinson will be showing her semi-abstract paintings, which explore the local landscape and coastline with both large paintings 30 | Bridport Times | August 2019

on canvas and smaller works on paper.

Down the road, artists Ali Tebbs and Mart Tebbs work and exhibit from their home at 6 St Andrews Road. Ali makes semi-abstract collages from paper painted in a free style, with imaginative images dictated by random outcomes, while Mart creates paintings with a gestural calligraphic approach and abstract works with shapes derived from natural objects and machines.

Heading to East Street, Phill Moon is at the Chapel in the Garden. She fiercely believes in the healing and transformational power of art through simple designs in painting, collage and other media.

Then there is a cluster of artists in venues to the south of East Street: at 9 Stanley Place, illustrator Pippa Evans favours Pen and Indian Ink as a medium and focuses on nature and botanical subjects.

Around the corner in Askers Gardens are Megan Dunford & Sarah Jane Ross. Megan presents a new series of works influenced by recent travels to Mexico and Peru through colour, form, text and material-play, while Sarah creates bold and experimental sculptural and mixed media works with bright colours, industrial lines & texture in work that is playful and humorous. >

Hugh Dunford Wood

Jacy Wall bridporttimes.co.uk | 31

Rob Morgan

Ellie Preston

Nearby on Follymill Lane, Caroline Liddington creates colourful narrative oil paintings inspired by the Dorset coast, sky, sea and landscapes, with interior and exterior vistas seen through windows, doorways and unexpected places with familiar images of birds, cats and other recognisable motifs.

Head down South Street to 9 Normandy Way and the studio of Judith Gait with colourful and inspiring oil paintings, mixed media drawings, joyful still-life pieces and landscapes.

Then back to 9 Gundry Lane and cloud9studio where Chris Neaves works in a diversity of styles and subject.

Walk down to 4 St Michael’s Lane to enjoy Marian Young’s semi-abstract paintings: intuitive and subtle evocations of land, sea and shoreline that evoke a deep sense of place.

On the St Michael’s Trading Estate, Isla Chaney creates contemporary sculptures varying in scale and application, concerned with the interconnectedness of life, focusing on the patterns of growth and transformation common to natural phenomena.

Across the yard you’ll find paintings by Ellie Preston and Rob Morgan. Ellie works in oil on board on a small scale, taking a formal and subtle approach with colour, 32 | Bridport Times | August 2019

Mart Tebbs

tonal variations and form, to questions posed by abstract painting. Meanwhile, Rob creates large, vigorous and gestural oil paintings inspired by a delight in colour and the physicality of paint, expressing feelings in a classically abstract manner.

Then there’s a large group of artists at the west end of St Michael’s Studios: on the ground floor, Franny Owen makes contemporary ceramics using stoneware and porcelain, showing in her shop FO & Co. Upstairs on the first floor, David Brooke weaves influences of mythology and medieval book illumination together in his distinctive, well-crafted, imaginative acrylic paintings. Sally Davies pushes the boundaries of her own photographs of nature to create striking, surreal images and Elizabeth Sporne paints vibrant landscapes and bold portraits that capture both likeness and character, while Steve Rose creates distinctive, colourful, commissioned pieces in stained glass.

On the first floor you’ll find our guide cover artist Ella Squirrell, whose paintings explore the polarities of belonging, oscillating between the dualities of sexuality, gender and ethnic identity. On the 2nd floor, Rus Snedker explores the fragmentation of life under our skies and below the surface with geometric shapes,

Boo Mallinson

attention to detail and flowing lines over layers of translucent colour and texture.

Across the road and up some steps to Studio 48, you’ll find Fi Neylan & Jenny Penney. Fi is a traditional hat maker, showing handmade, embellished, revived, up-cycled, designer, vintage hats and headwear, while Jenny creates meticulously cut and layered 3D sculpted, coloured-card landscapes of well-known Dorset scenes and wildlife.

Near the police station you’ll find illustrators Paul Blow and Suzanna Hubbard. Paul’s work appears regularly in national and international publications.

He uses bold colours to creates images that are as entertaining and thought-provoking as they are delightful to look at. Suzanna is an illustrator and book designer with a strong narrative aesthetic, working both with her own texts and with other authors.

Head up to 80 North Allington to find Tony Heaton who works in line, coloured crayon and pastel. You’ll be familiar with his greetings cards of local scenes. He creates architectural illustrations of local buildings, landmarks, countryside and seascapes.

Then head back to 29a West Allington to Kim & David Squirrell, who will be showing a collection

of artists at their new shop Ink & Page where they continue the ‘making’ tradition with a bindery upstairs and makers-shop downstairs showing handcrafted work from local makers and artists. Then head up to the studio at the top of Allington Park to the new studio of artist-designer Hugh Dunford Wood, recently settled in Bridport, a renowned artist who previously set up the National Gallery of Lyme Regis.

Finally, find Elizabeth Sayers at 3 Plumptree Gardens, across the A35 from Askers Meadows. Elizabeth is showing hand-dyed textiles and printed-silks that are layered and stitched to give a sense of depth and space.

You can see images by all these artists on the Bridport Open Studios website. bridportopenstudios.co.uk kitglaisyer.com

____________________________________________ Saturday 7th - Sunday 15th September BRIDPORT AND WEST DORSET OPEN STUDIOS Showcasing the work and process of more than 80 artists in 50

venues across the region. Visit bridportopenstudios.co.uk for details ____________________________________________

bridporttimes.co.uk | 33

History

LOST DORSET

West Bay ‘The Catch of the Season’

A

board the Silver Sprat, though in this case the catch is mackerel. Traditionally, the mackerel season ran from March to midsummer, dominating life in the coastal villages once the first shoals were sighted. A report into Dorset agriculture describes one boat crew downing three hogsheads of cider while waiting for the tell-tale dark patch of ripples that marked the arrival of a shoal: ‘The payment of this makes a great hole in the money earned when the fish do come.’

Lost Dorset: The Villages & Countryside 1880-1920, by David Burnett, is a large format paperback, price £12, and is widely available throughout Dorset or direct from the publishers. dovecotepress.com 34 | Bridport Times | August 2019

HUTS TO HUNKER DOWN IN plankbridge.com 01300 348414

NEVER MISS A COPY

If you enjoy reading the Bridport and Sherborne Times but live outside our free distribution areas you can now receive your very own copy by post 12 editions delivered to your door for just ÂŁ30.00 To subscribe, please call 01935 315556 or email subscriptions@homegrown-media.co.uk

bridporttimes.co.uk | 35

History

W.B. Cooke, engraving after J.M.W. Turner, hand-coloured by Marion Taylor

J.M.W. TURNER THE PAINTER OF LIGHT

Glenda Willis, Volunteer, Bridport Museum

F

ew people can have missed the banners and posters all over town, proclaiming TURNER IN BRIDPORT. This is to celebrate the fact that the Museum has been loaned a watercolour painting of Bridport Harbour, now known as West Bay, made by one of our country’s most celebrated painters.

Of even more relevance to the museum is the fact that amateur painter, Captain Alfred Percy Codd, the man who bequeathed the building and many of his own paintings to the town in 1932, was an ardent fan of Turner. He spent many hours in the late 1890s copying his idol’s works, which were at that time housed in the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. Now, eighteen of his paintings are hanging in the Museum’s exhibition room, alongside Turner’s Bridport Harbour.

36 | Bridport Times | August 2019

Turner was commissioned to make a series of pictures for the engravers, W.B. and George Cooke, for their most important work, Picturesque Views of the Southern Coast of England. Published between 1814 and 1826, the books contained about 100 engravings of pictures made principally by Turner himself. Each image was accompanied by a page or two of text about the town or subject and effectively were the travel brochures of their day, sold to a public with a growing interest in their own country, when unrest in Europe and the Napoleonic wars had inhibited travel abroad.

This was the period before photography had been invented, and making line engravings in copper and later steel plate, or in wood, was the only sure way to reproduce an image in any quantity.

By 1811, at the time of his visit, Turner was already

well known as a painter, both in watercolour and oil, and had been elected as a member of the Royal Academy at the very young age of 27. His method was principally to make preparatory sketches of his subject, take copious notes about the light, colour and atmospheric conditions, and return to his lodgings or studio to make the paintings. He travelled extensively, both at home and in Europe. Often on foot, covering many miles, sometimes in adverse conditions, wearing a large overcoat with capacious pockets containing his paints and sketchbooks, he looked and sketched, sketched and looked, and looked again.

Is it fanciful to imagine this slightly dishevelled character striding down South Street, heading for the cliffs and hailing a boatman to take him out to sea, to better observe the shape and colour of the coastline? I don’t think so! We know he loved the water and often went out sailing.

In the painting, we can see both West and East Cliffs, the harbour wall and the end of two buildings, still standing by the beach today. Tucked away behind the harbour wall, we see the masts of sailing ships, which were still being built in Bridport at that time, and listing perilously in the rolling waves, a ship, possibly a brigantine, with a rope disappearing off the port side into the sea. On the shore, a line of figures appears to be hauling at the other end of the rope, pulling the brig in, or perhaps trying to steady her against the waves and keep her off the rocks. Almost certainly, this is a fictional scene, and although many vessels did founder along our coast, none were recorded at Bridport at this time.

We think Turner had done his homework, and the painting is telling a story about the industry of our town in the early 1800s. Rope was still being made, although not in such quantity since the royal dockyards had been commissioned, but there was still a thriving shipbuilding, net and sailcloth industry. Ships were coming in carrying flax and hemp from Russia, coal from Scotland and northern England, and going out carrying nets and salt to the vast fishing fleets of Newfoundland. These ships usually came back laden with salt cod, which was highly prized among the populace.

The cliffs themselves are imposing and impressive.

Rising high up into the boiling clouds, fading into the distance where we spy a tower, or spire, possibly at Abbotsbury, not visible today, but again, perhaps added with artistic licence to balance the picture.

The process of translating this image into an engraving is a complex and fascinating one, and Turner

"Is it fanciful to imagine this slightly dishevelled character striding down South Street, heading for the cliffs and hailing a boatman to take him out to sea?" himself was an accomplished engraver. It is well documented that he checked all proofs carefully before allowing impressions to be made, and we can clearly see his intervention in this image when we look at our engraving in the exhibition. Perhaps we will leave that for you to discover yourself, dear reader!

Part of the text accompanying the engraving in the book reads: “The town is of considerable extent, and displays a handsome appearance… The haven is situated at the mouth of the river Brit, about a mile south of the town. It has a pier which terminates in a sweep. History does not mention Bridport having at any time acquired a maritime character, and the different attempts which have been made to form it in to a port, have altogether proved ineffectual.

The cliffs possess somewhat of a grand character, which Mr Turner’s pencil has seized with his usual felicity.”

Indeed.

We are indebted to Bury Museum for the loan of this painting from their permanent collection, and to all the individuals, organisations and businesses who have come on board with us to help celebrate this unique event.

A programme of complementary events is available from the museum and Tourist Information Centre.

Turner in Bridport is open Monday to Saturday, 11am to 4pm, until 28th September. bridporttimes.co.uk | 37

Wild Dorset

Sand Lizard. Image: Steve Davis

REPTILES

SOAKING UP THE SUN IN DORSET Sally Welbourn, Dorset Wildlife Trust

L

ike humans, reptiles love basking in the sun at this time of year. In Dorset we are lucky to have lowland heathland habitat to support all six British native reptile species.

Reptiles are truly magnificent creatures, but they need a very specific habitat to thrive in and can be very sensitive to changes in their environment, which is why all reptile species are legally protected. You also need a licence to handle and monitor them.

As reptiles are ectothermic (cold-blooded), they bask in the sun to warm up, and hide away in the shade to cool down again. During the colder months they hibernate, but in the summer months reptiles will be enjoying the sunshine and feasting on the delights the heath has to offer, with lizards preying on spiders and insects and snakes favouring small mammals.

As with lots of wildlife species in Dorset, their survival and success is largely due to having wellmanaged habitat to thrive in. Dorset Wildlife Trust’s Great Heath team work hard on our heaths to ensure there is sandy soil, low vegetation and not too many trees, to create a dry and warm habitat for reptiles.

If you’re out on the heath this summer, please admire reptiles from a distance, and do not lift metal tins (used for surveying purposes) to see them. Fires can 38 | Bridport Times | August 2019

be devastating to a reptile population on heathland so please report any suspicious behaviour on heathland to Dorset Police on 101. In the event of a fire, call 999.

Find out more about our nature reserves in Dorset at dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature-reserves.

Five British reptile facts: • A grass snake can grow up to 150cm long and is often found near water.

• Smooth snakes are actually rarely seen in the open, and the first record of this species was on a Dorset heath in the 1850s.

• A slow worm is a legless lizard and they get their heat by lying under objects that warm up in the sun.

The female can drop its tail if caught, to confuse its predator!

• The male sand lizard has green sides after shedding its skin after hibernation.

• The adder is our only venomous snake – a bite is rarely fatal but seek medical assistance if bitten.

Adders are very recognisable with red eyes and a black zig zag pattern on their back.

dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk

Kingcombe Kids Club Do you have a wild child?

DORSET WILDLIFE TRUST

Join our nature-themed events & activities for ages 6-11 at The Kingcombe Centre this summer! ÂŁ6 per child

Visit: www.kingcombe.org

Photos Š Katharine Davies & Stewart Canham

Wild Dorset

Image: Colin Varndell 40 | Bridport Times | August 2019

ROE DEER

Colin Varndell, Photographer

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oe deer are native to west Dorset, and thrive within the local rural area. The mosaic of small fields around Bridport, strewn with thick hedges and copses provides the perfect habitat for their needs. Roe deer are a small, secretive, elegant and attractive species with the male standing at only 65 -70cm to its shoulder and weighing up to 25kg maximum. During summer, the adult coat is reddish brown; this is moulted in the autumn and replaced by a much thicker, grey winter coat.

Males are known as bucks and females does, young roe deer are known as fawns or kids. A doe can be distinguished from a buck by an anal cushion of white fur known as the tush. Bucks are devoid of tails, but can be distinguished by their antlers, which have a maximum of three branched points or tines. Bucks tend to be mostly solitary, while does will be accompanied by fawns for much of the year and may even form small groups in winter.

Roe deer are browsers, feeding on the leaves and shoots of deciduous trees and shrubs and grassland vegetation. They have a bad reputation amongst gardeners due to their liking of roses!

Their activities tend to be crepuscular and nocturnal, but when undisturbed, may be seen out in the open at any time of day. Roe bucks defend a territory of up to ten hectares against other males.

Females are not territorial, but have home ranges, often overlapping with other does.

For much of the time, roe deer are fairly quiet, apart from during the rutting season, which occurs during high summer, peaking at around the beginning of August. At this time, females attract the attention of males with rhythmic, high-pitched squeaking calls. The rut is usually centred on a bush or young tree, the so-called ‘rutting ring’. The ground around the ring is typically heavily worn and scented. Fawns are born at the end of May to early June. A couple of weeks prior to birth, the doe chases out the previous year’s kids.

Roe deer can be regularly seen in the countryside around Bridport, especially in fields near Walditch, Symondsbury, Bothenhampton and throughout the Marshwood Vale. Photographing roe deer demands reconnaissance, planning, preparation and patience. The first task is to identify an ideal situation where deer can find plenty to eat, with thick cover nearby and where there are no public footpaths, to minimise potential disturbance. Maximum available evening light is also an important consideration. Deer stalkers tend to use high seats, so that their scent is taken away on air currents, high above deer noses. I prefer to be on the same level as the deer, sitting on the ground, concealed behind a camouflage net.

The roe buck in the photograph was shot near Powerstock after a long wait. Patience is the final, essential ingredient, and I sat in the same position here for around four hours on six occasions during early August before achieving success.

Last month Colin wrote a short article about the plight of hedgehogs. The Hedgehog Predicament is a slide show presented by Colin, covering the natural history of hedgehogs, the decline of the species and what we can do as individuals to help them. It is being shown at St Swithun’s Church Hall, Allington, on Friday 20th September at 7.30pm and is hosted by the Dorset Mammal Group. colinvarndell.co.uk

bridporttimes.co.uk | 41

Wild Dorset

TALKING ‘TIL THE COWS COME HOME Leila Simon, Tamarisk Farm

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ne of the things we feel strongly about is showing how we farm and why we believe in farming the way we do. We want people to understand how their food is produced. We want them to feel happy about it, and to use their buying power to encourage methods they approve of. It’s been said we actually get three votes a day on how the world around us looks and works: they’re called breakfast, lunch and dinner!

We are at this the whole time: someone may come to the shop in the hope of finding an ice cream and we explain that we sell only what we grow and that perhaps some tomatoes would be equally refreshing; someone else may come wondering about whether to buy meat or peas and we talk about the rights and wrongs of different diets and the ways in which we grow and rear food. As salespeople we aren’t going to win any awards, but we believe in what we do, and people like to talk about the whys and hows of farming.

Because we like to engage people in what we do, we lead farm walks on and off throughout the year, each focusing on an individual aspect of our farm with perhaps the most popular being our wild-flower walk at Cogden in June. But in the summer we have our Open Day, a full day during which we show and talk about everything. Part public exhibition, with visitors from all over Dorset, and part party where we sit on the lawn and drink tea with familiar customers and friends. These past few years we have added a discussion topic over lunch as food for thought.

Planning for the event starts vaguely in January, when we discuss the events for the year. It usually goes 42 | Bridport Times | August 2019

something like this: ‘Shall we really do an Open Day again this year?’

‘It went well last year’ ‘It’s quite a lot of work’ ‘… but people like it, and we like it, too’ So into the diary it goes: August Bank Holiday Sunday.

Come mid-June, it’s on our mind again. Time to start the ball rolling with posters and planning. Who from the farm will be around that day, what needs to be done in advance, and other little details.

During the week before, we’re mowing the lawn; we’re using every spare hand putting up the marquee, which can be tricky in the wind; we’re gathering chairs and tables; we’re discussing the route for this year’s walks and planning the bread to bake for tasters and what simple fare we can offer for lunch. We are also milling flour, hulling barley, packing peas, filling the shop displays of yarn and sheepskins, all because this is also an opportunity to make available what we sell.

By now we should have learnt that worrying about the weather is a waste of time, but for this we have conflicting wishes. If it rains will anyone come? If it’s windy, will our marquee blow away? And most importantly, if it’s sunny… will we have to be out harvesting on the same day?

In the many years of running the open day, we always have contingency plans organised in case an urgent farm job arises. We know who will take on the job, and who will take over the walk or talk that person was going to lead. The plan has usually involved me, with less

experience, filling the gaps to make sure that, by hook or by crook, the day continues smoothly and all the planned walks and demonstrations go ahead.

In all the years we’ve been running it, we’ve only once had to follow our contingency plan. Two years past we watched the weather forecast with trepidation. It had been too wet earlier to harvest, and the grain, ripening quickly, would need to be harvested soon. As the Open Day drew near we had three drier days in a row; every day the wheat was nearer to being ready. We forged ahead with our plans, but on Sunday morning, with rain looming for the coming week, the decision had to be made. We could not jeopardise the crop for the pleasure of having all of us to hand for the open day.

So while he started the day with the rest of us, as soon as the dew was off Adam went out alone to combine, leaving us to meet, greet and chat. After a bit, Ellen set off on a farm walk, planning to see the arable ground, the green manures, the flower-filled field margins and hoping to culminate in seeing the combine harvester at work. She expected to return the walkers to the tea urn and then rush back to the harvest field to empty the grain trailer. But she could tell when she was two fields away that something was wrong. The combine harvester was stationary. Leaving the walkers a little way back, she went up to investigate and found the engine off, Adam nowhere to be seen, the combine listing at an alarming angle and a great gouge through the soil behind the vehicle. To the side was the wheel that had fallen off ! The following day was Bank Holiday Monday, but such is the Bridport community spirit that before

breakfast Andrew Townsend generously opened his shop to find replacement bearings, before taking his family out for the day. Luckily, the weather held until they were fitted and we were back on harvest by lunch time.

Last summer we had a drought, but continuous rain on just that day meant we had no worry about whether we should be combining! It was a more intimate gathering than usual, made up of those who were prepared to brave the weather. With the rain beating the tight plastic like a drum skin, the poly tunnels afforded shelter for looking at some of the vegetables, if a bit loud inside for discussing the finer points of vegetable growing! The closer garden and farm walks worked for those who enjoyed getting blustered around. But even for the adventurous few, the final walk – planned for high up the hillside with brilliant views over the farm and the sea – seemed beyond the call of duty. They promised to come back another time to enjoy it and we sat under canvas and shared another pot of tea.

And now, with our fingers crossed for sunshine (but not too much), we’re preparing for this year’s event on Sunday 25th August; with a lunchtime discussion on “Can meat be ethical?” So come on down and see what shenanigans there may be this time. tamariskfarm.co.uk

____________________________________________ Sunday 25th August Tamarisk Farm Open Day Beach Rd, West Bexington, Dorchester DT2 9DF

____________________________________________ bridporttimes.co.uk | 43

Outdoors

44 | Bridport Times | August 2019

On Foot

PILGRIMS, FUGITIVES AND MONARCHS Emma Tabor and Paul Newman

Distance: 4 1/2 miles Time: Approx. 2 1/2 hours Park: Car park at Shave Cross Inn Walk Features: A walk with few gradients, which loops through the farmland in this corner of the Marshwood Vale, nestling under the shoulders of Pilsdon Pen and Lewesdon Hill. There are views across the vale and south towards Copper Hill and Denhay Hill. Although a relatively easy walk, there are some challenging segments where footpaths cross crop fields or fields with stock and electric fences. In summer there are some overgrown areas which may make following the footpaths and finding wayside markers difficult. Some of the stiles and footbridges are in poor repair so please take care.

Refreshments: Shave Cross Inn

bridporttimes.co.uk | 45

E

ach month we devise a walk for you to try with your family and friends (including four-legged members) pointing out a few interesting things along the way, be it flora, fauna, architecture, history, the unusual and sometimes the unfamiliar.

For August we follow the routes of pilgrims, fugitives and monarchs. Folklore says that Shave Cross Inn was a stopping point for pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St Wite in the church at Whitchurch Canonicorum.

The Monarch’s Way is based on the route taken by King Charles II during his escape from Cromwell in the Battle of Worcester in 1651. It is now the longest inland trail in England. The Jubilee Trail is a 90-mile trail stretching between Dorset’s east and west borders which was created by the Dorset Area Rambler’s Association in 1995 to celebrate 60 years of the founding of the Association.

Directions

Start: SY 415 980 1 Out of the car park entrance, head straight across the road to the junction, then turn left and continue up the road in front of the red brick cottage on your right. Walk up this road for 200 yards and then just past Gillins Head cottage, turn right, over a stile with a footpath sign, into a field. Walk across the field, keeping the hedge on your left, with views of Lewesdon Hill now straight ahead. Keep along the hedge until you reach a metal gate at the far end of the field. Go through this into a paddock, again keep the hedge on your left and follow this to the far left-hand corner of the field and another metal 46 | Bridport Times | August 2019

gate. Pass through this into another field and aim diagonally across this field towards a metal gate to the right hand side of Black Cross coppice (there is a small area of scrub in the middle of this field- keep to the right of it). Cross a small brook on a track/ bridge to reach the gate to the right of the coppice and into another field, now walking along the right hand edge of Black Cross coppice, keeping this on your left. There are views to the right and behind of Colmer’s Hill, Denhay Hill and Copper Hill. At the top left hand corner of this field, head down into a small dip and through the remains of a stile, then up into the next field. Again, keep to the left of the field along the edge of the coppice. To your right, across the field, is Gerrard’s Farm but keep towards the left corner of the field. Pass over a wooden stile marked the Monarch’s Way and into the coppice. Cross over a small footbridge, go to the right then fork left over another wooden footbridge. Make your way steeply up out of the coppice and cross a stile into a large open field.

2 Head diagonally across the field towards the summit of Pilsdon Pen and the right-hand corner of the field. Here, you meet a dirt farm track. Turn right onto this, through a metal gate to leave the field. Stay on the track (don’t bear right) and keep following it round. You soon meet a drive coming from a farm, with a barn conversion and cottages on your right. Follow the drive until you meet the road.

Here, turn left by a postbox and pass St Mary’s church on your right. Keep straight ahead on the

road until you come to a junction. Turn right here, by a cottage and walk for another 200 yards until you see a sign on your right for Pilsdon Dairy.

3 Turn right down this track, marked with a bridleway sign, and after a few yards turn left into a field (leaving the track as it bends round to the right).

Head straight across the field – on the far side you will reach a metal gate and a Jubilee Trail sign.

Through this, keep straight ahead with a hedge on your right. There are views of Lewesdon Hill now ahead of you and Pilsdon Hill on your left. Keep going until you descend to a small wooden gate and a footbridge over a stream. The footpath then goes around to the right and through another small wooden gate. You emerge into another field. Follow the right-hand edge of this field keeping the hedge and tree line on your right. In the far right hand corner of this field you will come to a large metal gate. Go through this and cross Yard Lane onto an inviting path that starts to descend between trees.

Head along this pleasant little path for 150 yards until you reach a large metal gate. Pass through this, by a beautiful large ash tree, to enter a field which forms part of the Laverstock Estate, by a four-point signpost. Head right, following the bridleway sign for Venn Farm ½ mile, keeping the hedge and trees on your right.

4 You soon reach a large wooden gate leading onto the drive coming from Laverstock House. Through this, you then turn immediately right through another large wooden gate, with the sign ‘Langhams’ on it.

Go into this field and head straight across (there are two paths leading from here so you need to go straight ahead from the gate rather than to your left). On reaching the far side of the field you will find a footbridge, in summer quite overgrown. Cross the footbridge into the corner of a field, which you then head across aiming to the left of Venn Farm.

After going through a gate in the middle of this field, pass Venn Farm on your right to then exit the field through a large metal gate, onto a road.

5 Turn right and follow the road for 400 yards until you reach a sharp bend to the right. Turn left through a large metal gate and head diagonally across the field towards the left hand corner. At the corner, go through an opening into the next field, now following a hedge and brook on your left. Keeping the hedge on your left, head for the left-hand corner of this field and then leave via a stile (at the time of writing this had a metal hurdle in front of it). This takes you into a thicket. Turn immediately left and then up to your right to leave the thicket into another field, via a stile. Turn left into this field and follow the hedge on your left.

After 200 yards, keep straight on through a metal gate and after another 200 yards, go through a metal gate onto the road, near a small brick building, just before Monkwood Farm.

6 Turn sharp right onto the road and in half a mile you will reach the road coming from Broadoak and Atrim. Turn right onto this road to take you back to Shave Cross. bridporttimes.co.uk | 47

Archaeology

Denis Burdin/Shutterstock

48 | Bridport Times | August 2019

AFTER THE ICE, A HOME The Palaeolithic & Mesolithic of Dorset

Chris Tripp BA (Hons) MA, Community and Field Archaeologist

T

he ice last retreated from the land that would become Great Britain around 10,000 years ago and left Dorset dominated by loose and fragmentary rocks of limestone, sandstone, shale, clay and chalk, especially chalk, running from Cranborne Chase in the north-east to Eggardon Hill and Beaminster in the west. The chalk is cut by the Frome, Sydling, Piddle, Winterborne, Stour and Allen rivers, clear and sweet water that attracted the first settlers to this pleasant land, with its flint-bearing strata useful for tool-making an added bonus. These tools are our only connection to these people.

The main tool associated with this distant past is the ‘handaxe’, a beautifully made object found across the county from Corfe Mullen and Christchurch to the Axe Valley. With the advance and retreat of the ice over hundreds of thousands of years Neanderthal and Homo Sapien people came and went leaving their sharp as a scalpel flints behind them that would have been used for cutting, scrapping and shaping their environment.

They could walk across the land bridge quite easily until around 6,500 years ago when the sea broke the last thin strip of land connecting Britain to the continent.

At Warren Hill a new type of tool-making is found at a seasonal camp, where small flints called ‘microliths’ are being made to fit into bone and wooden handles; the beginning of an era archaeologists call ‘Mesolithic’. This is one of the earliest sites for late glacial re-colonisation of southern Britain. The coast would have been changing rapidly, with waters rising as the ice retreats, leaving stark and sparsely vegetated tundra with mudflows washing cliffs into the sea, as land that once connected the Isle of Wight to the mainland and stretched out over Poole and Christchurch bays is engulfed. The woods are ash, beech, elder, lime, hazel, alder and oak populated by deer, elk, wild pig and auroch. But these forests are already being cleared by people living on the rivers and coasts.

How do we know this? At Blashenwell, Purbeck, we see how people were exploiting the rivers and coast

environment, eating limpets and winkles easily gathered from the silts of waterways, in mud and sand, as well as hunting red deer, roe deer, wild pig and cattle. The shells and bones of these animals can be found at their camps along with the burnt remains of their fires. It would have taken courage and skill to hunt and kill an auroch, much larger than any cow now living, with large horns for defence. The bones have been carbon dated to 64505425bp (before present).

More evidence has been found at the Fleet and Thorncombe Beacon with Whitcomb Hill delivering rare evidence of possible house platforms, circular patches in the sand strata, along with postholes; a settlement or camp perhaps? The remains of ivy, surviving in wet conditions on the coast and rivers, may indicate the use of fodder, perhaps indicating that herding started earlier than the next era called Neolithic, when farming began to dominate.

At Iwerne Courtney, near Blandford, microliths and axes were so numerous that it is possible that manufacturing of flint tools took place here, with around 900 flint cores being found. Being sited near the Stour corridor this would have been a route into the interior from the coast; a useful location for trade connecting both environments. Cores of river gravel flints and chert from Portland and the Vale of Wardour, Wiltshire have been found at Kingston Magna and at Cranborne Chase microliths, picks and axes have been found near springheads and wooded uplands where the clay-withflints strata is accessible.

With possible settlements, domestication of animals such as the dog and even larger fauna and evidence of the trading of materials from coast into the interior, it is possible to see the beginnings of the first settled cultures in Dorset. In the next edition we will look at one of the most important sites to be found at this early stage in the past of Dorset. @archstories

bridporttimes.co.uk | 49

BRIDPORT COMMUNITY COOKING KIT Words Jo Denbury Photography Katharine Davies

W

e are standing at the highest point of the ridge at Washingpool Farm and looking out towards the town and the sea in the distance. It’s a bucolic view. The red Devon cattle are happily grazing and beyond sit neat rows of plump salad and courgettes. Life is in abundance.

‘Food touches on everyone’s life,’ says Ines Cavill, who manages Bridport Community Cooking Kit, founded in 2017 as part of the town’s Local Food Group. The reality for many local farmers however is that youngsters are drifting away from careers in agriculture. This creates a real challenge for family-run farms like Washingpool and for some threatens their very existence. >

50 | Bridport Times | August 2019

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52 | Bridport Times | August 2019

That’s why another local enterprise, Discover Farmingthe education programme established and managed by the Melplash Agricultural Society - has set up a permanent classroom here at Washingpool Farm, home for three generations of the Holland family. Run by former primary school teacher Katie Vining, Discover Farming’s aim is to inspire the next generation of agriculturalists, in the hope that they will remain in the area and make a rewarding, positive contribution to the local economy and environment.

Today, Symondsbury Primary School’s Gardening Club has arrived. While they’re busy donning sun cream and caps, Katie has handed out the recipe of the day.

They’re to make a vegetable pasta using the kitchen kit which has been set up as an outdoor cooking station in the classroom’s garden. But first the children need to pick the ingredients, so off they head to the field of courgettes and Washingpool’s inviting edible garden.

There are gasps of delight when the children discover that the courgettes come with an enormous, yellow flower and the boys head into the sweet peas to pick flowers for the table. One member of the gardening club announces that she ‘doesn’t like courgettes, only cucumbers’, Katie suggests that she might like these courgettes and they head off into the polytunnels which are packed full of juicy tomatoes.

Meanwhile, Ines and I talk about the idea behind the Community Cooking Kit. She explains that the kit is totally mobile, with anything you might need to cook with up to 30 people. There is a big gas hob, saucepans, a tea urn, chopping boards, mixing bowls and cutlery.

‘It was important that it was both child-friendly and professional,’ says Ines. ‘We were offered a sustainable development grant from Dorset AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and a shareable, flexible kitchen for the town seemed full of potential uses.’ The kit features in the children’s marquee at the Bridport Food Festival and will appear again at the Melplash Show. It is available for other events and would frankly be ideal for any local young chef who fancies trying their hand running a pop-up. But its main purpose is to encourage cooking as a core life skill. It gives people of all ages the opportunity to cook and enjoy good food.

Back at today’s pop-up kitchen at the classroom, things are in full swing. The Gardening Club have found the chopping boards and knives, and under the guidance of Katie and Ines vegetables are sliced and diced ready for the pot. Total silence has swept the class as the children are absorbed in the task in hand. The few boys who were a little unsure about aprons are now focused on the knife skills. Learning to slice an onion with speed and dexterity might just be the bud of a career in the food services > bridporttimes.co.uk | 53

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56 | Bridport Times | August 2019

industry but for now the focus is on doing it safely.

Before long the veg is ready for the pot and Katie has two big vats of water bubbling on the gas. A breeze has got up and the gas flames flicker. Warnings are issued

by Katie: that although you can’t see the flame, it’s there and it’s hot! But the children aren’t deterred from the cooking, this is experiential and everyone gets a turn at stirring. Meanwhile another group of children are setting the trestle tables. The sweetpeas are plonked in jam jars and the cutlery is laid out. It’s going to be a feast.

Jo Sage, Chairperson of Melplash Agricultural Society has popped by. As a local farmer’s daughter she is keen to encourage the next generation to understand the role of farming and agriculture in the local economy.

The classroom at Washingpool is just one of the ways they hope to engage their audience. It offers the ideal venue where they can invite local primary and secondary schools to learn more (visits to the Discover Farming Classroom throughout 2019 are free and there's even a subsidised bus service for schools within a 12 mile radius of Melplash village church). At this year’s Melplash Show Discover Farming will be offering children and teenagers the opportunity to experience a variety of farm-to-food techniques as well as drive a tractor and

help calve a cow (not a real one). For anyone serious about furthering their education in agriculture or horticulture there are even college bursaries available.

Meanwhile the veggie pasta is ready to be served and it smells delicious. Hands are washed at the trough and an orderly queue is formed for serving before the children sit down and tuck in. The adults hover, secretly hoping they might be offered a bowl but this is all about the children, who are clearly enjoying their endeavours. ‘It’s really, really good,’ says one. ‘So hot,’ says another, eyes agog; that’ll be the chilli. Soon another queue is forming for seconds (bad luck adults) and even the non-courgette eaters are reformed.

Of course, few of us have time to grow, tend, reap and cook our food everyday but with the help of the Bridport Community Cooking Kit and our local food producers we can at least dip in and who knows? Maybe inspire a whole new generation of chefs and farmers in the process.

Bridport Community Cooking Kit is contactable via bridportfoodfestival.co.uk discoverfarming.co.uk washingpool.co.uk melplashshow.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk | 57

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DAILY ‘TIL 11.30AM

JUST OVER THE BRIDGE, RISE, WEST BAY DT6 4EX | 01308 422011 | www.RISECAFEBAR.co.uk SISTER RESTAURANT - SWIM, LYME REGIS, DT7 3JH | FOLLOW @WESWIM | www.WESWIM.co.uk 58 | Bridport Times | August 2019

Food & Drink

RUNNER BEANS WITH HOT-SMOKED MACKEREL, HORSERADISH AND TARRAGON Gill Meller, River Cottage

I

wasn’t overly interested in runner beans as a child; they were always in my periphery. I did, however, like the old turquoise, crank-handled, runner-bean slicer my mum used to get out to prepare them (people like anything you put something in, and it comes out looking different). I found the turquoise slicer sinister, although it drew me in, as red jam to a wasp, to turn the handle, to test it, to slice... things. These days I love runner beans, but I use a sharp knife to slice them. I like them cut thinly and on the angle. When they are young and fresh, they are divine simply buttered, but this salad of smoked mackerel, peppy horseradish and sweet tarragon offers an altogether different way to enjoy them.

Ingredients Serves 2

200g (7oz) runner beans (stringy bits removed), sliced thinly at an angle 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon chopped tarragon leaves 4 hot-smoked mackerel fillets for the horseradish and tarragon dressing 1 tablespoon horseradish sauce 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 2 teaspoons crème fraîche juice of 1⁄2 lemon 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar 1 tablespoon chopped tarragon 1⁄2 teaspoon caster sugar salt and freshly ground black pepper

60 | Bridport Times | August 2019

Method

1 First, make the dressing. Combine all the dressing ingredients together and season with salt and pepper to taste. The dressing should be hot, sharp and sweet all at the same time. Set aside.

2 To make the dish, bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Cook the runner beans for 3–4 minutes, until just tender. Drain the beans and dress them with the olive oil and some chopped tarragon.

3 Flake the mackerel flesh into large chunks, discarding the skin, and tumble the fish together with the warm beans and half the dressing. Transfer to a salad bowl, trickle over the remaining dressing and scatter over the rest of the tarragon. Serve straight away. gillmeller.com rivercottage.net

Time by Gill Meller (Quadrille, £25) Photography Andrew Montgomery

bridporttimes.co.uk | 61

Food & Drink

BARBECUE MONKFISH TAIL WITH HERITAGE TOMATO SALAD AND SUMMER SLAW Charlie Soole, The Club House, West Bexington

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onkfish is such a versatile fish with its firm white flesh. It can take on some pretty robust flavours and not get lost. You can grill it with rosemary or stew in a curry sauce. Here, I smother it in a zingy and smoky barbecue sauce with some lovely refreshing summer salads. The simplicity of the heritage tomato salad really concentrates the sweet and tangy flavours. Who said coleslaw had to have carrots and cabbage in it? I love making different slaws with finely sliced vegetables that are in season. This one is made lighter by using 50% mayonnaise to 50% Greek yoghurt. Enjoy.

Ingredients Serves 4

4x 300g-400g monkfish tails (skinned) Barbecue Sauce 4 medium shallots, sliced 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1 small piece of ginger, peeled and chopped 250g good-quality tomato ketchup 100ml Worcestershire sauce 50ml light soy sauce 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds Juice of 2 limes 100g dark brown sugar 62 | Bridport Times | August 2019

Heritage Tomato Salad Variety of heritage tomatoes, roughly chopped Juice of 1 lime 2 spring onions, finely sliced Small bunch of coriander Drizzle of extra virgin rapeseed oil Salt and pepper Summer Slaw 200g mange tout or sugar snap peas 1 bulb of fennel, thinly sliced 2 banana shallots, thinly sliced 1 kohlrabi, julienned 100g mayonnaise 100g Greek yoghurt Fresh mint, chopped Method

1 Place a saucepan on a medium heat, add a splash

of rapeseed oil and gently cook the shallots. When they have softened, add the garlic and ginger. Cook for a further minute and add the fennel seeds and smoked paprika. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and bring up to a simmer for 15 minutes. Take off the heat to cool down and then blend until smooth. When completely cool, place in a sterilised container and seal it. The sauce will last for two weeks in the fridge.

2 To make the tomato salad, place the chopped tomatoes and spring onion in a bowl, add the coriander, pour over the lime juice and extra virgin rapeseed oil. Stir together and season with the salt and pepper.

3 For the summer slaw place all the chopped vegetables in a bowl and stir. Mix together the mayonnaise and Greek yoghurt and stir into the vegetables. Stir in the mint and season with salt and pepper to taste.

4 If you are cooking the monkfish on a barbecue make

sure your coals are at a medium to high temperature.

Oil and season the monkfish tails and place on the hot grill. Turn after three to four minutes and cook for three to four more minutes. Baste the tails with the barbecue sauce and keep turning every couple of minutes, basting each time. This should give the sauce a lovely caramelisation. When the tails are cooked, serve with the tomato salad and slaw.

5 If you don’t have a barbecue, you can pan-fry or griddle the tails and spoon some of the sauce over them before placing them in the oven set at 180c for five minutes. Finish the tails off under a hot grill to caramelise the sauce slightly.

This is an amazing summer dish with the light and fresh salads. I hope you are enjoying the summer and the weather is letting you all cook on the barbecue. theclubhousewestbexington.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk | 63

Food & Drink

GREAT BRITISH BACCHUS OUR RIVAL TO MUSCADET

Steven Spurrier, Consultant Editor, Decanter Magazine and Co-Owner, Bride Valley Vineyard

G

iven the success of English sparkling wine in recent years, it is easy to forget that the country, the southern part at least, has had far longer experience of making still than sparkling wine.

My first experience of such wines was in 1972, when I received a visit from Major-General Sir Guy Salisbury-Jones, who was the owner of an estate named Hambledon in Hampshire, also known as the birthplace of cricket. He had one of the very few English vineyards at that time, planted to Madeleine Angevine 7672, a white grape variety described by Jancis Robinson in her encyclopaedic Wine Grapes (Allen Lane 2012) as ‘a white German variety with a tangled and confused parentage, quite popular in England’.

Early-ripening with nice fruit and low acidity, affectionately known as ‘Mad Angie’, Sir Guy was proud of his wine, and having been a military attaché to the British Embassy in Paris after the war, wished to see it present for the first official visit of the Queen around Easter 1972.

I agreed to import 60 bottles, which were duly flown 64 | Bridport Times | August 2019

into Orly, but when I went to collect them from the customs office, expecting to pay some sort of import duty, I was told the wines could not be cleared through customs as le vin anglais n’existe pas. Since the five cartons were visible behind the desk, this was untrue in reality, but true in fact, since in none of the customs documents was there any reference to English wine.

Faced by this, I returned the following day bearing the French newspapers full of the Queen’s visit and told the customs officer that whether le vin anglais existed or not, his job would not exist for much longer, as the wine was to be served by Her Majesty to President Pompidou that evening at the British Embassy. Remarking Bien sur, pour mon President, papers were stamped and the wine freed. This was, of course, a lie.

Back in Paris, I filled the window of my small shop with Hambledon’s wine and a big photograph of the Queen, writing in white paint across the front Il y a deux bonnes choses qui viennent d’Angleterre: La Reine et le vin (there are two good things that come from England: the Queen and wine). Only half true at the time, doubly true now.

Fast forward to 18th June, when a tasting of 36 wines from the Bacchus grape was held in London under the title Great British Bacchus. The white Bacchus grape, described by Jancis Robinson as ‘one of the most important German crosses producing highly aromatic whites, not least in England, where it was first planted in 1973’, has emerged as the varietal with the most potential for quality still wines. The 2018 vintage, outstanding in both quality and quantity, provided a perfect opportunity to test this and the wines were indeed very attractive, whilst not being the most complex.

Germany is closely associated with the Riesling grape and Bacchus has none of these steely, precise characteristics, having more in common with the other widely planted German grape, Müller-Thurgau. I found the soft, easy charm and its balance of florality, fruit and light acidity very attractive. Some tasters likened it to Sauvignon, others to Chablis, but for me it more resembled Muscadet without the salinity.

The 50 or so tasters throughout the day at the Atlas pub near Earl’s Court were asked to rank their top ten

wines, the final collated result being: 1 Chapel Down Kit’s Coty 2017. (91) 2 Winibirri 2018. (91) 3 Roberson Baker Street 2018. (87) 4 Hoffmann and Rathbone HR 2018. (90) 5 Woodchester Valley Orpheus 2018. (88) 6 Bolney Lychgate 2018. (89) 7 Hush Heath 2018. (90) 8 Davenport Vineyards Horsmonden Dry 2018. (88) 9 Woodchester 2017. (88) 10 Camel Valley 2018. (90) I was ranking the wines out of 100, with only five at 90 (a Decanter Silver Medal) and above. I have added my rankings to those of the group. I should mention that Dorset’s Furleigh Estate 2018, attractively off-dry, got 89. Overall quality was good and the wines, as one would expect, were very English. bridevalleyvineyard.com bridporttimes.co.uk | 65

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66 | Bridport Times | August 2019

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Body & Mind

ATTITUDE

Jane Fox, Yogaspace Bridport

Y

oga, as we have talked about before, consists of eight limbs according to Patanjali. The ancient texts and teachers tell us that all we need, all the knowledge and answers are within us. We just have to get quiet (and open) enough to hear it.

It’s an experiential philosophy that has to be practised, and one of the beauties about yoga, for me, is that there is no hierarchy. No one is telling us what to feel, think or believe. We are given guidelines, teachings and practices and told to find it for ourselves.

Most of us in the West begin our yoga journey with the third limb, Asana (physical postures).

The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali – one to the primary ancient texts – defines asana as “Sthiram sukham aasanam” which translates to “asana is a steady and comfortable seat”.

This relates to a comfy seat for meditation so that the body and mind can be open and still, but 68 | Bridport Times | August 2019

my understanding is also a metaphorical comfy seat within our skin. How do we ‘sit’ within our own self and life? How do we talk to ourselves? Some days I get to my practice and realise I am not sitting well at all in my skin. My mind is flighty and negative, my grounding and balance are off. This is when I need the structure of the practice to bring me back and give me the much-needed assistance for my fidgeting mind and body.

Do it... whatever it is

If I can make it to my mat, whatever I do there, the sheer act of getting there will begin to shift me into a better space. The practice of breath, movement and sitting at the end will mean I have interrupted the old loop. If I’m lucky, then I will have received some insight into that behavioural pattern to help me move through it a little smoother the next time it comes around.

“I hate this one “ “I can’t do this one” “I love this one!”

“I feel amazing when I do this!”

Bringing ourselves into the witness place, we can approach each pose without the mind’s polarised attachment to love/hate, which will directly affect our muscle tension and physical state. We can then take this attitude into our lives.

Grab a partner by the hand (or foot)

As soon as we start doing yoga from a habitual place, we are not practising yoga. So mixing it up to keep it fresh and following the fun thread, why not ask a friend over for some self-practice or do some partner yoga.

Here are some partner poses to try: Tip: Stay aware of how you feel; observe yourself. It can feel odd to begin with as it is new. Come out of any poses that make you feel uncomfortable.

1 Lizard on a rock Sitting cross-legged back-to-back, extend your arms overhead and hold hands. Exhale as you lean forward, gently pulling your partner’s arms forward and up; they can inhale as you bring them into a gentle backbend over your back. Then reverse.

Luna Vandoorne/Shutterstock

Attitude

On observing great beings, of which there are many in our modern times, they always seem to be smiling and laughing. Reflecting on this, I have realised something happens when I approach any part of my life with this attitude of openness, inquiry and fun. My yoga practice takes on a lightness that allows me to flow more smoothly and drop deeper inside. I notice this flows into my life and creative work.

Of course things are hard work and I am a master of avoidance where some feelings are concerned, but asking myself what is my state of mind, I can bring an approach of curiosity and self-inquiry to even very challenging aspects of my practice and life. I can also begin to step back a little and cultivate more of a witness-consciousness sakshi bhava, one of the truly foundational practices of yoga.

The mind likes to take a black-and-white stance regarding certain poses:

2 Double Boat Navasana Sit facing your partner about 3ft away. Bring your feet to your partner’s. Reach forward and grip your partner’s forearms, bring feet up into boat pose, toes pointing up and abs engaged.

3 Double tree Come into tree pose about 3ft apart, then when stable bring right/left palms together between you. Remaining hands stay at chest.

4 Face to face chair and revolved Stand facing your partner one arm’s length away and clasp each other’s hands. Now lower yourself back into a squat-like position, thighs parallel to the ground and keeping your toes further forward than your knees. For a revolve, take your partner’s opposite hand and each open out to the side. Repeat on other side.

Have fun! yogaspacebridport.com bridporttimes.co.uk | 69

Body & Mind

Riccardo Bruni/Shutterstock

70 | Bridport Times | August 2019

HERBAL FIRST AID Caroline Butler, Herbalist

O

ften people come to see a herbalist because they have a chronic health condition. These are often decades in the making, and getting to the bottom of what is wrong involves unravelling a long history of symptoms and causes, taking roughly as many months of treatment as it took years for the problem to develop. Herbs are great for this, as their broad range of actions can gently support the body in many different ways at once, but the benefit of herbs in acute, shortlived problems should not be underestimated.

I recently spent time with two groups of people using medicinal herbs as first aid and treatment for acute conditions. The first of these was a team of herbalists, all trained in standard first aid as well as herbal medicine, who provide medical care at festivals during the summer. We were greeted with a steady stream of people with minor injuries and ailments at the festival, with the occasional call-out to a serious problem requiring emergency care. In most cases short consultations of basic screening questions were enough, and standard herbal mixes were preprepared for the more common problems – large bottles labelled ‘Hayfever mix’, ‘Acute infections’, ‘Period pain’, ‘Headaches’ and ‘Sleep’ lined the mobile dispensary shelves next to bottles of individual herb tinctures if a more personalised mix was needed.

Doses of these mixes were in demand throughout the week, but a pattern of ailments emerged over time.

At the beginning we were busy cleaning and bandaging small wounds acquired while putting up tents – bashed fingers from hammering in pegs, gashed feet from tripping over the pegs and other similar injuries. Most just needed cleaning, a spray of antimicrobial myrrh tincture and a dressing. As the days passed and the weather became hot there was a wave of foot injuries from going without shoes, and the ‘Drawing Poultice’, an ointment made using marshmallow root powder and plantain among other things, got heavy use to remove splinters and draw out any associated infection.

Twisted and sprained ankles were also common, with the treatment tent often having at least one

person sitting with their foot in a tub of hot water, chatting away while the comfrey, wintergreen and arnica ointment slathered on their ankle got to work.

As the festival progressed the wood smoke, dust and raucous nights began to take their toll and we had repeated requests for gargles and soothing throat syrups from singers due to perform later in the day.

Sage was the herb of choice here, and the level on the bottle of thyme and liquorice syrup dropped steadily. Sprinkled in amongst all this were people needing help with everything from nosebleeds and sunburn to severe nerve pain or chest infections, and a combination of herbs and conventional first aid was sufficient for almost everything.

Not long after, I spent time with some bushcraft experts who used only the herbs that grew in their surroundings. Some medicinal plants which I'm aware of, but never use in clinic, were for them major players, including Bugle (Ajuga reptans), which is a gently astringent plant that can be used as a wound wash or gargle for sore throats, and may also have a tonic effect on the heart. Water mint thrived on the woodland rides and replaced peppermint as a digestive tea, while oak and sweet chestnut, trees high in astringent tannins, were used to help to relieve diarrhoea and to wash wounds and stop bleeding. Plantain's bushcraft use included its beneficial effect on hayfever, but focused more on the fact that the entire plant can be eaten as food, as well as crushing the leaves for use on insect bites and stings.

Wood avens was used for the clove-like flavour of its root, to include in cooking or for toothache, as it contains eugenol, the same substance as exotic cloves which gives a numbing effect. Unsurprisingly, a large number of bushcraft herbs focus on stopping bleeding and preventing infection. Yarrow was the star here, and over the few days I was in the woods, both dried and powdered yarrow and fresh bugle were used on cuts made by sharp knives during carving. herbalcaroline.co.uk

bridporttimes.co.uk | 71

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Interiors

LOOKING BACK TO MOVE FORWARD

THE STORY OF VERY BRITISH FABRIC DESIGNERS AND PRINTERS

L

Suzy Newton, Partners in Design

aunched by past directors of Farrow & Ball, fabric brand Fermoie has experienced a fascinating journey that stems from an original approach to colour and print.

Martin Ephson and Tom Helme, directors of Farrow & Ball from 1992-2006, are pioneers of presenting paint and wallpaper in a tempting array of colour families.

Tom Helme is known as one of the leading colour experts in the UK, having gained a wealth of knowledge from his 20 years as colour consultant with the National Trust. During that time, he came across Farrow & Ball and decided to buy it with Martin Ephson, and together they grew it into the company we know today.

In 2012, having sold Farrow & Ball, they turned their focus to fabrics, with an emphasis on bringing back the enjoyment of the printing process. Fermoie design and print all their fabrics in their own studio and factory in Wiltshire, printing with traditional rotary screens to give a lightness of touch and richness of texture to all their printing. The process to make a printed fabric appear as if it is woven entailed research into historical documents and a journey to India to source a machine last bought by a UK company more than 25 years ago.

The manufacturers of the machines worked alongside the Fermoie team to achieve the delicate tone and ‘soft impression’ on the surface of the fabrics.

Colour still lies at the heart of Fermoie. After screen prints are made, the lengthy process of trialling colours 74 | Bridport Times | August 2019

begins – it’s not just a matter of producing a colour that is beautiful in its own right, it’s about producing a series of colours within colour families that will sit well together in any combination. The results make the decision-making a lot easier for the customer. Fermoie has colours that make it very difficult to combine badly or to clash, so the customer has a good chance of getting it right every time.

In controlling the design and manufacturing process, Fermoie are able not only to ensure a beautiful product, but also to provide an outstanding service. They place great emphasis on sourcing as much of their raw materials as possible within the UK – their pigments, cottons and unions. Printing to order has a lead time of just five days from order to shipping. This is a truly artisanal product with huge charm and relaxed elegance.

As well as a vast range of unique fabrics offered by the metre and printed on natural cottons and linens with natural pigments, Fermoie have created a broad range of lampshades and cushions, all made with their own fabric and manufactured in the UK. Fermoie sell worldwide and have showrooms in Pimlico and Marlborough.

Partners in Design are delighted to be showcasing their wonderful array of fabric hangars and lampshades in their Sherborne and Beaminster showrooms. partners-in-design.co.uk

bridporttimes.co.uk | 75

Interiors

76 | Bridport Times | August 2019

THE BEAUTY OF BAMBOO

I

Molly Bruce, Interior Designer

n my never-ending quest to bring the outdoors inside, I can often be found, secateurs in hand, gathering greenery to decorate our home. One of my favourite crops to harvest is our forest of bamboo – planted by our property’s previous owners, we are lucky to have an abundant supply all year round at the bottom of the garden. It runs the length of the neighbours’ wall, providing an oasis of calm for whoever seeks a moment of solitude amongst the trees; where you can listen to the birds and watch the bamboo and eucalyptus swaying gracefully in the wind.

Often mistaken for wood, bamboo is actually the largest member of the grass family. The species of bamboo we know of today evolved from prehistoric grasses almost 30 million years ago, long after the extinction of dinosaurs.

Bamboo is a wonder product, making a name for itself as a sustainable and renewable environmentallyfriendly resource. When bamboo is harvested, the roots remain and continue to grow new shoots, avoiding the need for replanting and therefore not contributing to deforestation or soil erosion, as can happen in areas where a hardwood forest is cleared, leaving the soil below exposed to the elements. Depending on the species, bamboo can reach full maturity in one to five years, some growing as much as 4ft each day. Being naturally antibacterial, it requires no harmful pesticides and fertilisers during cultivation, the natural composting of its own fallen leaves supplying the only nutrients required.

Bamboo also releases over 30% more oxygen into the atmosphere compared to an equivalent mass of trees.

So how can we incorporate this amazingly versatile plant into our households? If you haven’t already noticed, bamboo is popping up all over the place, and is often used as a great alternative to plastic. There are plenty of products to choose from; lunch boxes, camping utensils, phone cases and toothbrushes to name a few. As far as building materials go, its strength and durability make it perfect for many projects. We are all familiar with antique bamboo furniture, currently seeing a resurgence in interiors alongside more contemporary furniture designs. Independent shops stock beautiful, unique homewares, and larger brands have a good selection of products for the kitchen and bathroom as well as

bamboo furniture and lighting.

You can never have too many house plants, and being such a great air purifier I recommend you add some bamboo to your household. New processes have made it possible to transform this hard and durable plant into an ultra-soft fabric that rivals luxury textiles such as silk and cashmere, although as with much industrial manufacturing, it is not without environmental problems.

At work I have started incorporating bamboo into my interiors, most recently as a feature in a design for kitchen cupboard doors. I have a number of very different samples, from poles, screens, boards and veneers, ranging from purely decorative use to more robust varieties to suit different performance needs. As a styling tool, bamboo can create dramatic impact at a very affordable price. Last Christmas I used flexible fresh-cut canes to construct a circular leafy frame, woven with winter foliage and decorated with lights and glass baubles that spent the festive season suspended above our dining table. This proved so popular that it remained there until late spring (minus the Christmas decorations – I think I removed them in March!), turning a beautiful golden colour as the foliage dried. When eventually cut down, it only travelled a few paces into the yard to be hung on our garden wall where it remains, a beautiful decoration.

And with the summer holidays in full swing, why not camp out in a bamboo framed yurt for travel escapades or a resting place in the garden? It has been an ambition of mine for quite some time to banish my synthetic tent, or “nylon nasty” so called by my yurt-dwelling camping companions. After all I would rather be an asset to the Dorset landscape than a blot.

Having recently tried and tested a 9ft beauty from local yurt maker Mike Jessop, I can certainly admit there is a calmness that comes over you when relaxing inside such a lovely environment, maybe a nod to those makeshift dens from childhood, to where we always yearn to return. mollybruce.co.uk @mollybruceinteriors Bamboo yurt enquiries - jessop.yurt@btinternet.com Bamboo kitchenware - wastenotwantnotbridport.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk | 77

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Gardening

80 | Bridport Times | August 2019

PLENTIFUL PICKINGS

A

Will Livingstone, WillGrow

s the long days hot up, watering can become a very time-consuming chore that is worth getting right. The trick is consistency. Plants tend to react badly to inconsistent moisture and are likely to bolt if watering is irregular.

Rainwater collection is a great way of utilising a plentiful natural resource and should be one of the first things to be considered in the development of any garden. Installing a seep hose to long-lasting crops such as tomatoes will keep the moisture consistent and reduce water wastage.

Adding organic matter as a mulch to your beds in the summer months will help with water retention, relieving some of the pressure of regular watering. Pots and raised beds will require more water, as you have taken the roots away from ground level water. If your soil is in good condition, then I urge you to leave ground level beds alone, making the plants work for it and in turn making a stronger, healthier plant.

Careful harvesting is as important as diligent growing. Picking the lower leaves on salads is not only a method of ‘cut-and-come-again’ harvesting to increase yield, it also removes cover for slugs and snails.

Harvesting a whole row of carrots will decrease the attraction of carrot fly – avoid harvesting sections of a row as the smell will only lure the fly to your crop. If you harvest courgette flowers, take time to recognise the difference between male and female flowers (the females will have small fruits forming and the males will be on stems). Harvest the male flowers only and leave the females to produce fruit. I grow some varieties, such as Bianca, for flowers only, as they produce in abundance.

They are best stuffed with goats’ cheese, deep-fried and drizzled with honey.

As beans climb for the sky, help them along by winding anti-clockwise up supports. Check regularly for black fly that often migrate from the remains of the broad beans, and pick regularly to encourage more flower growth. Like tomatoes, pinch out the growing tip of the plant once it has reached the top of the support to prevent bunching. Dwarf beans will require staking in windy areas to help avoid the risk of delicate stems snapping. I like to pick beans as small as I can get away

with, giving them more versatility in the kitchen – they are wonderful eaten raw in salads or lightly blanched for a delicious sweet crunch. If you were late at putting your beans in, you can direct sow Dwarf French beans at this time of year, giving you an autumn harvest.

At the end of July/early August it is time to summer prune trained fruit trees to allow light to reach the swelling crop. To reduce the possibility of secondary growth, prune towards the end of August. If secondary growth does appear, prune in September. Growing cordon pears and espalier apples is a great way to grow top fruit in restricted space. Make sure your secateurs are sharp and clean to guarantee a nice clean cut. Remove any upright, vigorous growth completely and be sure to remove any dead or diseased wood. Prune sub-laterals over 8in long back to three leaves above the basal cluster.

Leave shoots less than 8in, as they usually terminate with a fruit bud.

Successional sowing of turnips, radish, kohlrabi and carrots can continue in the early part of August giving you a staggered crop through to the end of autumn. Sow these as a catch crop between leeks and parsnips, making good use of the space between rows of plants.

Now is the time to sow chicory and endive for autumn harvest. The bitter salads have become more popular in recent years and are definitely worth growing.

The sweet but bitter taste of blanched chicory or radicchio is something that becomes addictive, and fills the garden with plants right through to winter.

Winter brassicas are sown now using the latent heat of the summer to get off to a really good start before the weather turns cold. Kale, winter cabbage and purple sprouting broccoli will see you through the darker months, right through to the hungry gap.

It’s sometimes easy to get bogged down with the seemingly endless list of garden tasks. Just remember you can only do one job at a time, and it is now that the winter planning really pays off. Knowing what will succeed your summer crops will give you a head start on winter. @WillGrow willgrow.co.uk

bridporttimes.co.uk | 81

Gardening

ALFRESCO DAYS Charlie Groves, Groves Nurseries

I

’m a bit too young, actually far too young, to remember the beginning of the 1960s but I’m sure a few of you will remember when the ‘outdoor living’ trend started to take off. Slowly but surely the new white plastic garden chairs and sun loungers took the place of the old wooden kitchen chairs, which until then were used outdoors a few times a year to enjoy beautiful summer afternoons in the garden with a cuppa.

We wouldn’t consider them stylish now but in those days, basic as they were, they must have been very appealing; however, with no barbecues or supermarkets selling cheap wine and beers it’s hard for people of my generation and younger to imagine how little gardens were used for entertaining and dining. We’ve come a long way and when I look around the garden centre now at the fantastic outdoor lighting, comfortable, durable sofas, chairs, swing seats, benches, arbours, barbecues, fire pits and outdoor dining accessories I can see why it’s so easy now taking life outdoors as the weather warms up.

However, if you’re fed up with your garden and don’t feel it’s entirely up to scratch and ready for summer entertaining, I’ve a few handy tips on how to give it a makeover without spending a fortune. Easy steps like painting your furniture or shed in bold colours or investing in a few large pots packed with colourful 82 | Bridport Times | August 2019

summer bedding.

Try some more easy ideas to make you very proud of your outdoor space when friends drop round this summer: Create an outdoor room

It’s amazing how just moving a table and chairs round can make a difference, and they really should be the centre of your outdoor entertaining. There’s a fantastic choice of really comfortable sofas and armchairs now in modern materials like rattan, and because they’re waterproof, they can be left out all summer making it easy to design your cosy outdoor seating area.

Tidy up

Cut back tired, overgrown plants and be ruthless – throw away then replace any you just don’t like any more. Roses are always a good bet in summer gardens as they will bloom till autumn.

Tidy up path edges with stylish edging stones, put new gravel down on worn paths and give your lawn a makeover with Aftercut for instant greening.

Add a splash of colour

Bold, vibrant plants in new pots will instantly brighten up your patio. It really is amazing how you can

Image: Katharine Davies

transform a tired garden with a collection of beautifully planted pots and planters in different shapes and sizes.

For even more colour take a paintbrush to your garden furniture or shed to give them a new lease of life.

Plant climbers

Hide ugly fences, sheds and buildings with climbing roses and clematis. They may take a while to establish, but it’ll be worth the wait.

Design a vertical garden

If you’re short of space, think of going up as well as out.

Use a wall or fence space to plant a vertical garden and not just with flowers; try herbs, tumbler tomatoes and strawberries as well.

Make over your beds and borders

There’s still time to fill in gaps with summer bedding or to give borders a tweak by widening and adding some curves and planting things like helenium, dahlias and rudbeckia that will flower in August.

Spread some light

As darkness falls, your garden can become a magical space if you light it imaginatively: string fairy lights around the

patio, solar lights through bushes and along pathways.

Make it a summer of barbecues

It’s so easy to barbecue nowadays especially with gas models that offer instant cooking, so you’ll find you really do use your garden more than ever and not just for entertaining friends but regular summer meals with the family.

Invest in garden kitchenware

There’s a fantastic range of plates, glasses and tablecloths nowadays to brighten up the outdoor table and they don’t cost a fortune.

Keep warm

Rustic fire bowls like the Kadai are all the rage at the moment making a stylish centrepiece for the garden by day as well as a hub of warmth and light in the evening.

You may be lucky enough to have a great big garden, but it doesn’t matter whether your outdoor space is a simple balcony or tiny patio, transforming it to make the most of the sunshine has never been easier so you can enjoy your alfresco days. grovesnurseries.co.uk bridporttimes.co.uk | 83

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Legal

CLEAN BREAK ORDERS Karen Watts, Porter Dodson Solicitors

W

indfarm millionaire, Dale Vince, got a nasty shock when his ex-wife of 20-plus years suddenly made a claim against his assets. This was on the basis that they had once been married and had a child together.

Whilst we can’t all be millionaires, anyone who goes through the divorce process (and more than one in three marriages still, sadly, end in divorce) could find themselves exposed to the same risk if they do not settle future financial arrangements at the time of the divorce and, importantly, also obtain a financial clean break order, which brings the right to make claims to an end.

Many divorcing couples have access to expert legal advice and so should be in no doubt about the risk of not obtaining a clean break order that terminates an ex-spouse’s right to pursue financial claims against them. However, others may not realise that unless the right to pursue claims is specifically brought to an end then it remains live, irrespective of how long ago the divorce may have taken place. Claims can include claims for maintenance, against property, for payment of lump sums or against pension benefits that are often valuable.

Whilst, on occasions, a respondent to a divorce may be prevented from pursuing claims because they have subsequently remarried, known as the re-marriage trap, any who have not, or were the party who applied for the divorce, may be able to pursue a claim, even if the assets against which they claim were acquired after the marriage.

In the case of Dale Vince, when the parties divorced they had barely two pennies to rub together (they lived in a converted ambulance). Despite this, the Supreme Court decided that because the former Mrs Vince had brought up the parties’ son (by then an adult and working for his father), she could pursue a claim. It was made clear that her right to do so could only be brought to an end after a Court had considered all of the circumstances, rather than simply by reason of the passage of time and the end of the marriage. Ultimately, the case settled, but only after Mr Vince had spent many hundreds of thousands of pounds upon legal fees, both his own and those of his ex-wife and, it is believed, paid her a lump sum that enabled her to buy a home outright.

So, whilst you may think that a former spouse cannot pursue claims against you or your assets because you have obtained a divorce, or simply agreed between you how your assets should be divided, or because at the time of your marriage you didn’t have anything of real value, you would be wrong. It follows; you could find yourself, some years later, having set up a successful business, inherited funds or even having won the lottery, facing a financial claim from an ex-spouse which, depending on all the circumstances, might result in you having to share your assets with them.

Anyone who is going through a divorce process should seek advice from an expert family lawyer about the risks of not obtaining, at the very least, a clean break order. porterdodson.co.uk

86 | Bridport Times | August 2019

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bridporttimes.co.uk | 89

Philosophy

IDENTITY

W

Kelvin Clayton, Philosophy in Pubs

ho are you? Does giving your name really answer this question? When asked for evidence of your identity, how do you respond? By providing your photo-card driving licence? Your passport or birth certificate? Two recent utility bills containing your name and address? But do these documents in any way reflect your actual identity? And what do we mean by identity in the first place?

One of the questions raised at the recent Bridport Philosophy in Pubs discussion on ‘identity’ concerned whether we have an intrinsic identity, an identity that is in some way inbuilt and defines who we actually are, or whether our identity is simply defined by our relationship to others. For example, there has been a great deal of talk recently about ‘identity politics’, the tendency for people who share a particular cultural, ethnic, racial, religious or gender identity to form exclusive political alliances with other members of that group. Publicly at least, such people identify themselves by that shared characteristic. But does such a practice do justice to the richness of their individuality?

Conversely, some people believe that we each have an intrinsic identity, some core and irreducible principle that is our true self. But where might this come from? And how do we know such a core principle exists? A religious response might refer to some notion of a soul that in some way preexists our biological existence. A more scientific response might refer to our biogenetic make-up, to our genetic inheritance that heavily influences the neurological networks of our brains both as embryos and as babies. And a more sociological response might refer to how experiences during our formative years help shape these still very plastic networks as we grow and develop.

A very uplifting response to this question has recently been published by the psychologist Brian Little. In his little book Who Are You, Really? he acknowledges both the biogenetic and sociological aspects of our identity, but adds a third, one that we have some control over – our personal projects.

He argues that our identities, our personalities, are far more fluid than we think, and that rather than ‘who we are’ explaining ‘what we do’, it’s the other way around.

One of the intriguing aspects of this question of identity relates to what has been termed ‘places of lostness’, places like, for example, those used for transit, like airports and railway stations, or those used for consumerism, like supermarkets and shopping malls. To what extent do we hold on to our personal identities is such places? To what extent do we allow our identities to be subsumed by such places? To use Nietzsche’s famous phrase, to what extent do we allow the herd instinct to either shape or deny our identities?

Philosophy in Pubs is a grass-roots community organisation promoting and practising community philosophy in the UK. Discussions take place regularly in venues around the country. Anyone can attend and anyone can propose a topic for discussion. The Bridport group meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month in the George Hotel, South Street at 7.30pm. Attending the discussion is free and there is no need for any background knowledge of philosophy. All that’s required is an open mind and a desire to examine issues more closely than usual. For further details, email Kelvin Clayton at kelvin.clayton@icloud.com

90 | Bridport Times | August 2019

Literature

LITERARY REVIEW Antonia Squire, The Bookshop

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane (Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin Books) RRP £14.99 Bridport Times reader price of £12.99 available at The Bookshop, South Street

J

uly 1973, in a blisteringly hot and swelteringly humid New York City, a rookie cop awaits his new partner as they start their regular beat in Brooklyn. Francis Gleeson, born in New York but raised in Ireland, and Brian Stanhope, Irish too, but ‘back a ways’, met on the first day at the academy and went through training together. That they have ended up in the same precinct is surprising, and as partners more so, but within the first few weeks they make their first arrest. At least Gleeson does, and Stanhope was there.

Two young men who met and married two young women and each moved to a small town upstate, outside the city, perfect to raise a family. Francis and Lena moved first, she wasn’t so keen, she loved Queens, but she made the best of it with her first born, Natalie, soon followed by Sara and finally Kate. Lena, feeling a little lonely, was thrilled when Anne moved in next door with her husband Brian, but couldn’t Francis have told her that he and Brian worked together before they moved in? And honestly, couldn’t Anne be a little friendlier?

Anne, though, had problems of her own, including a still birth and miscarriage before Peter finally arrived a couple of months before Lena’s Kate. And in the

1970s no one in the suburbs understood mental illness, and they certainly never talked about it. Not until they could ignore it no longer, and by then Peter and Kate, the inseparable children, became separated by a trauma neither could foresee or prevent.

But this is not just a tale of the suburbs, of families in conflict, deep trauma. This is the story of Kate and Peter and their lives together and apart. A story of love beyond circumstance, beyond family. A story of hope and forgiveness, even when both seem out of reach. A story spanning 45 years, through betrayal, fear and anger. It is ultimately love that wins in all its forms. A struggle, yes, but a struggle worth facing and a fight worth fighting.

With deep understanding of human nature, human interaction, fears, hopes and dreams, Mary Beth Keane has created a tale of love and redemption that is tragic, compelling and ultimately satisfying. It is about the effects of our families upon us as we develop and how we make our peace with them and with ourselves; there is always hope, there is always room to evolve.

Just wonderful. dorsetbooks.com bridporttimes.co.uk | 91

Literature

O

EXTRACT

FOUR HEDGES

By Clare Leighton (Little Toller Books, 2019) ÂŁ12

n a perfect August day I lie in the grass under our pet plum tree and look at it. Its beauty exceeds even that of a laden apple tree. The shadows of the branches are flung across the rounded shapes of the plums; sticky drops of plum juice ooze out of some of the fruit.

Others have a dust of bloom on them. A few bluebottles and wasps are making holes in the ripest plums, clearing them out and leaving the empty skin in perfect form and appearance. The fruit sings in colour against the particular clear blue sky of early autumn, and the sun glistens on the leaves, or turns them yellow as one looks at them against the light. As the wasps excavate the plums, I laugh at the remembrance of dear old Aunt Sarah; she was determined that the plums should not be eaten by bird or insect, until I should be able to visit her and have my feast of them. So elaborately she would fasten round each fruit a little paper bag such as children buy their sweets in, and the tree would stand with its burden of white paper bags, to the amusement of the entire village. As I lie in the grass, there is no sound but the buzz of the insects in the plums and the chirping of many grasshoppers around me.

One of them jumps upon my bare arm, rubbing his legs. He is a beautifully shaped creature, but dull of colour compared with the grasshoppers I have seen in France, their wings backed with bright red or blue. But his continuous chirping adds to the feeling of benign heat all about me.

One of the first things we do this month is to plant our new colchicum bulbs. Already the square of uncut grass in the middle of the front lawn is rich with them, but we are enlarging the area under bulbs and have some specially fine new ones to put in. These autumn crocus bulbs, as we all call them, have the strangest shapes imaginable. Below the ordinary base of the bulb the large white growth of the new flower extends downwards, making the planting of them exceedingly difficult; we have, in fact, to dig especially shaped holes to suit their individual eccentricities. But it is exciting work, and we shall have to wait only a few weeks before the first flowers appear.

This gentle weather of alternating sun and rain is kind to our seeds. The boxes grow greener and thicker as wallflower and columbine, mixed foxgloves and violas strengthen and expand. This year we are trying alpine strawberries, to be used as borders, and we watch their box with especial excitement.

Gardeners get a double supply of pleasure, for always, while they are enjoying the actuality of the present and its blossoming, in imagination they enjoy in their planning the flowering of future plants. As we look at the small shoots of these new alpine strawberries we watch the berried borders of next June.

But in the autumn flowering of our garden one plant is missing: the dahlia. I visit other gardens, and see this flower in its amazing variety of form and colour, and I reproach myself for my stupidity.

My mother had brought me up to have a terror of earwigs, and would never allow a dahlia in the garden or the house because it especially harboured them; and this grotesque taboo was stamped into me, and persisted long after I grew to like and respect the earwig. Only now have I emerged from its hold and will allow Noel to grow dahlias. Next year we shall have them of all sorts and colours. We may even grow as enthusiastic about them as a friend of ours whose entire summer holiday abroad was spoiled for him by the continual remembrance of the fact that he was missing his dahlias.

But at what time of year should we not feel that we were missing something by our absence? If it is not dahlias, it is peas or crocuses. The possession of a garden is an exacting tie. Someone told me the other day that nobody who was still young would consent to be dominated by a garden, and perhaps he was right. Perhaps that is why, as the blacksmith tells us, half the village allotments are untilled; the young men will not have their leisure controlled by the earth, for she is a relentless mistress. To us the excitement of taming the earth seems worth this tie. In a world where science shelters us from all the hardness of life, gardening gives us our only chance of a stimulating battle with the elements. littletoller.co.uk

92 | Bridport Times | August 2019

LITTLE TOLLER

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JULY SOLUTIONS

ACROSS 1. User; purchaser (8) 5. Extent of a surface (4) 8. Denise van ___ : English actress (5) 9. Performer of gymnastic feats (7) 10. Group of figures representing a scene (7) 12. Insects found where you sleep (7) 14. Dried grapes (7) 16. Spiral cavity of the inner ear (7) 18. Type of optician (7) 19. Customary practice (5) 20. Mineral powder (4) 21. Wheeled supermarket vehicles (8) 94 | Bridport Times | August 2019

DOWN 1. Lump of earth (4) 2. Acquired money as profit (6) 3. Artificial (9) 4. Plays out (6) 6. Massaged (6) 7. Amazes (8) 11. Able to speak two languages (9) 12. Complete loss of electrical power (8) 13. Real (6) 14. Roof beam (6) 15. Inborn (6) 17. Animal doctors (4)

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