Down in the depths of the Isle of Purbeck, you’ll find a perfect chocolate box village called Worth Matravers. It’s all built from local grey limestone, there’s a duckpond in the middle and one of these tiny local pubs perched on the hilltop, with incredible sea views, the sort of pub where you can get… More Walking to Dancing Ledge from Worth Matravers
I don’t really celebrate Halloween. My parents never let me trick or treat as a kid and we never carved pumpkins either so those are both things I just don’t do. Well, by the time I was old enough to not need their permission to trick or treat, I was too old for it –… More Halloween at Upton Country Park
RSPB Arne is a nature reserve, a peninsula covered mostly in rare lowland heath sticking out into the west side of Poole Harbour. You may remember it from my Christmas Adventure with Tom & Catherine this year. It welcomes day visitors but you don’t normally get to camp there so when the opportunity came up… More Camping at RSPB Arne: the Big Wild Sleepout
Yes, I was a Lumenator in Green Space Dark Skies’ Maiden Castle short film which was released late last week! It’s the first time – and probably the last time – I’ve ever added a video to a playlist called Videos I Appear In That I Didn’t Make Myself and I don’t even actually appear… More I played a Lumenator in a Green Space Dark Skies film!
You may have noticed by now I’m a bit of a fan of the Rebel badges. Last week I talked about how I was apparently starting my Wild Swimmer badge, I’ve previously talked about Stargazer and Water Sports and Adventurer and I probably haven’t mentioned Community Service, Craft, Critic, My Brand, Linguist or Reader. Well,… More An overnight adventure in Purbeck
It feels like a long time since I’ve done some Wessex Girl/local travel stuff so today we’re heading to Blandford Forum, a market town in North Dorset which I really should have written about years ago. Its interestingly Roman name just means it has a market. It’s not a Roman town, although I think it’s… More A day in Blandford Forum
January is a gloomy time of year. The lights and joy of Christmas are behind us but spring is still a long way ahead. It’s a month to get through, not one to relish, and you’re probably making it worse by putting pressure on yourself to make a load of unrealistic life changes all at… More Illuminate at the Blue Pool
Welcome to 2022! Traditionally, the first or second post of any year is my Christmas Adventure With Tom, depending on whether I have time to finish it in time for the first post of the New Year, and this year here it is up first – with some changes. Of course there are changes. We’re still… More Two Bears and a Barnacle
Welcome to the Polar Bear Winter Festival! I’ve written two posts a week for years and now, to celebrate winter because I am, after all, a polar bear, I’m doing an extra post every week until Christmas on the joys of the cold, the snow, the ice, some freezing northerly places I’ve been – and yes,… More 20 things to do in Dorset this Christmas
On Friday I went out for my long-awaited night navigation by sea kayak, which is the mysterious thing I had to practice sea kayaking for in September. The October weather smiled down on us. The run of wind and rain and grey skies vanished literally just for the evening and we set out onto a glassy… More Serenity, sunset and shooting stars: night navigation by sea kayak