IN THIS ISSUE

The fastburgeoning rate of new housing developments in Dorset is a hot topic for many local Facebook groups

Page 4

It may be 10,000 years old, but Toby Hoad believes the ancient skill of horse logging is vital in shaping and saving our woodlands.

Page 28

We’ve teamed up with Lighthouse Poole to offer The BV readers the chance to WIN a pair of tickets to one of five top live music shows

Page 84

Roger Guttridge has personal memories of the fire which destroyed Harding’s newsagent’s shop at Sturminster Newton in 1956.

Page 64

Edwina Baines had an exclusive tour of the art inside the UK’s best new architect-designed house, The Red House.

Page 40

We know, it’s a HUGE magazine. So we make it easy for you - just like grabbing the sections you like best from the Sunday papers, you can click the number to jump straight to the section you want. Or, y’know, just make yourself a coffee and read from the beginning...

Today I popped down the garden, and paused for a second. There it was. That inescapable, inevitable scent on the wind. Spring. It wasn’t a conscious choice, but my mood immediately lifted, and I took a few moments to smile at a suspicious robin who was waiting for me to leave. This winter has been so very long – endlessly, ploddingly, dully long. But you can’t keep a good year down, and as the days lengthen our gloomy northern-dwelling brains, despite their best grumbling intentions, will start to feel that positivity that comes simply from a little brightness in the day. Sometimes, you have to stop thinking so much about how wretched the world is and just feel the spring. We have had long conversations with our son in America today as he tussles between two excellent job offers. One with a stellar global company but a rigid, restrictive work routine, the other with a young company without the name, the recognition or the stability – but all the flexibility and autonomy he could desire. Ultimately his decision won’t be made in a neatly thoughtful pros and cons list. He’ll simply go with which feels right. And rightly so.

Our front cover isn’t necessarily the most technically perfect image that was in our submissions this month. But that happy, pollen-coated fat little bee with his foolishly dangling legs gave us both that same warmth of optimism that a little sunshine in March brings. He’s heading down to just-one-more sticky yellow crocus stamen like it’s a packet of chocolate digestives that it’s frankly rude to say no to. It’s perfect. It feels right.

Highlights in this month’s issue for me are the Country Living focus on Toby Hoad the horse logger, the weirdly interesting insight into where our rubbish goes, and if you never venture as far as the Health columns, don’t miss Karen Geary’s comments around the news that our GP’s will be mass-prescribing statins. As you’d expect, she has Some Thoughts.

And finally, in a bit of a scoop by Edwina, the BV can give you a tour of some of the wonderful art inside The Red House, the winner of the Royal Institute of Architects (RIBA) prize for the UK’s best new architect-designed house. It is nestled in rolling hills south of Shaftesbury. Enjoy March – don’t forget to go outside and lift your face to feel the sunshine when it shows up.