Local
Food and Drink
Dorset is renowned for its quaint country pubs, often thatched, with great local beers from Hall & Woodhouse in Blandford, cider from Rosie just down the hill from Tumblins and even sparkling wine from Cerne Abbas.
Farmers’ markets and farm shops are a regular feature of rural life, offering the best in local ingredients, so that you can take fresh produce home when you have to leave and enjoy the memories in your own kitchen when you get home.
Pubs and restaurants can be variable but for good home-cooked food here are a few of our favourites, although naturally we hope that you will be tempted to dine with us during your stay:
The Green Man, King’s Stag – A vast choice but often including local game and a great scenic drive over Bulbarrow and past the Iron Age hill fort.
The Charlton Inn, Charlton Marshall – A traditional English pub with Badger beers and locally sourced fish and meat.
Hambro Arms, Milton Abbas – A long thatched pub in the historic village, now owned by the local community.
Houses and Gardens
The nearest stately house is the historic seat of the Bankes family, now run by the National Trust, with pictures by Tintoretto, Rubens, Titian and Velazquez. The Stables Restaurant is great to take the weight off your feet after exploring the Badbury Rings just opposite.
Just over the hill from Tumblins is the magnificent 15th Century Benedictine Abbey which can be combined with a visit to the thatched houses that make up the ‘new’ village of Milton Abbas after it was removed to make room for Capability Brown’s lake in the valley below.
Slightly further afield, but within an easy 30 minute drive, are the gardens at Minterne whose valley was another Capability Brown landscape, and at Mapperton, a Tudor mansion frequented by Thomas Hardy and a good place to combine with the Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum. While in the Dorchester locality, there is also the chance to take in Hardy’s Cottage, the writer’s birthplace, and the gardens and animal park at Kingston Maurward. We are also within a leisurely drive of the eccentric Sherborne Castle, built by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1594 and occupied by the Digby family since 1617.
Throughout the summer there are enchanting gardens open to the public on certain days under the National Gardens Scheme, often with cream teas attached, as well as the chance to take home some unusual plants for your own garden, or even your window box.
Museums
Dorset’s traditional connections with the armed forces means that there are plenty of attractions for the boys among us, such as The Tank Museum past Bere Regis and The Royal Signals Museum in Blandford. By contrast, the Fashion Museum is located in a Georgian house dating from Blandford’s rebuilding after the Great Fire of 1731 while the Mill at Sturminster Newton takes you back to the rural life of past centuries.
Both Dorchester and Shaftesbury are within a forty minute drive with attractions ranging from the Dorset County Museum & Archive to the Gold Hill Museum familiar from the Hovis advertisements. An hour to the north of Tumblins lies the historic 13th Century Cathedral at Salisbury with the tallest spire in the country, Europe’s oldest working clock dating from 1386 and one of four surviving copies of the Magna Carta of 1215.
For those who want to take flight, the airfield at Compton Abbas, just the other side of Blandford, offers real flying in a vintage Tiger Moth as well as a restaurant for those preferring to keep their feet firmly on the ground.