Dorset Holiday with a trip on Swanage Railway

 Here there is a park & ride

 Corfe Castle from the train

 What a BEAUty

 Enjoying looking out of the window

One thing we wanted to do & saw it for the 1st time last year was a trip on Swanage Steam Railway if you click on the link you will see there program of times for the trips it is 9 miles long & can recommend the ride. It was a stunning warm day again & because you can take doggies on the train it was such a treat to see Beau enjoy the ride as well making us smile with him also looking out of the window.

Clouds Hill once home of T.E Lawrence

 The trail notice board

 Inside St Nicholas church

 Whistler engraved window

 St Nicholas church

 His grave site

 1935 version

1925 version

On another stunning warm day of our Dorset holiday we wanted to visit again the once home of the famous  T.E Lawrence at Clouds Hill what was an extra treat for me was the arrival of two Brough Superior
Old Bill which it was affectionately named which recently sold for £291.200 pounds a world record! some of you might know that T.E Lawrence was sadly killed on one of these type of bikes those days crash helmets were not compulsory. He had a fascinating history & was a  British military hero. After the visit the volunteer from NT said have you been to St Nicholas church at Morton no was the reply well worth a visit he stated he was not wrong  St Nicholas Church Morton
Please do click on the links it is fascinating reading

Dorset Sunsets

 Perfect end to the day, radio, organic beer, sea view & sunsets

 What a stunning view

 Sun setting over Bridport & the coast around to beer

 Looking over the fields

The Dorset evening sunset were something to be seen could not stop taking them they were magical wonderful to watch & seeing the coast line around to Seaton & Beer

Max Gate

 What a nice door bell pull

We visited Max Gate in Dorchester on Sunday during May as part of the holiday week  it was once home to Thomas Hardy & his second wife we spoke to one of the volunteers & she happens to have a home in West Bexington where our holiday accommodation was! have met her before & the last time it was pouring with rain, she has got a stunning home which used to be an ex MOD listening post used to track ships & the sounds out in the sea. She also splits her week with her flat in London as she looks after her grand children that's what we love about holidays meet so many friendly nice people especially around National Trust properties

Dorset Holiday

 Beau 1st look around the grounds

 Looking down the field to the sea

 Looking across another field

 Evening sun setting

 Sun starting to go down in the distance Beer

 Where we stayed

 Beau having a mooch

Chesil Beach on a glorious Saturday

June 19th I have been meaning to write this blog for over a month but since we have been back home have knuckled down to finishing off the stone wall pointing on nice neighbours side, sealed the bay windows & porch roofs twice with bitumen & painted the cast iron pots, also dug up around a very large clump of thug grasses & replanted the area so when I came in I felt to tired to sit & write about the holiday.
We had a wonderful holiday at the being of May on a 600 acre organic farm at Tamarisk Farm which has been totally organic for 45 years. If you know us personally you would know that we have been 98% organic eaters since the 1980s we also garden organically.
We can honestly say after being married for 39 years this is the best holiday we have ever had we have never been abroad & always holiday in the UK. The location for this holiday is West Bexington very popular with the sea fishermen & ladies wanting to do beach casting.
Our accommodation was set in a 2 acre field no neighbours so peaceful & 400 yards from Chesil beach the sunsets were stunning but that is another posting with photos. Had underfloor heating, wood burner if required a wet room for showers & the views were breath taking.
Beau also loved the location he did chase a couple of rabbits & also pheasants but they were to quick for him so he gave that up & settled into a mooch around the field, the morning walks was always very enjoyable & came back along the South West coast path which runs along the side of the beach.
Booking for the accommodation is Friday to Friday so as we were already down in Dorset we wanted to visit Bridport it was buzzing with tourists & the Saturday vintage/antique street market is always enjoyable & on every week weather permitting there is also a vintage/antique quarter & they sell everything Vintage  with music playing with a busker, people were dancing in the street it really was a wonderful experience full of joy & happiness we even saw a bride & groom come out of the church into the old Rolls Royce which was waiting for them people in the street were cheering & the weather was perfect nice & sunny with a slight breeze. We all really did not want to leave Dorset in fact we booked a extra day but we could have stay there all year it was idyllic. Please click on the links you will visit some nice websites.  

Ham Radio Mast

 Base bracket fitted

Pole up vertical

 Solar light spinner fitted

Diamond 2000 down!

Wednesday 3rd April Been a wonderful sunny day & after a doggie walk dug over a raised bed ready for  seed planting also put in two bags of fresh top soil.

Then it was over to the Ham Radio vertical winch assisted steel pole & get the aluminium pole down with Cobweb & Diamond 2000 attached to it. Now that sounds a easy job!

Last week I realised the bottom bracket was facing the wrong way because if I brought down the ali pole the aerials would be in the swimming pond! the metal brackets are from the builders merchant with modifications by me! once that was done the next problem I found was the bottom of steel pole was hitting the vertical  4"x4" wooden post anyway run out of energy yesterday so started on it again today.

First job was hacksaw about 2 inches of steel pole & ground the edges then took it over to post attached the steel pole & got it vertical then came the difficult job of attaching the ali pole with aerials to it! anyway after about an hour poles were down & Cobweb & Diamond 2000 disconnected.

My next job will be attaching another steel pole to the existing pole with scaffold clamps to give me more height & refit all the aerials also change the locations of the guy ropes.

Now I have fitted the winch I will be happy winching the aerials into the air without struggling & using manual physical effort.