Highlights from this issue:
Rachel McNamara, chair of #Shillingstone Parish Council, acted on the universal urge to ‘do something’, packed a bag and took a flight to Poland. She’s been speaking to Rachael Rowe about daily life in a Krakow refugee centre, where two trains arrive daily from the Ukrainian border “they are hungry, without papers, with uncertain futures” p.4 A heritage project between Sturminster Newton High School and J.M. Olds Collegiate (a high school in Twillingate, Newfoundland) has proved not just to be fascinating for the all involved – excitingly, it has also led to the discovery of the only known surviving garment made of swanskin, a fabric made only here in the Blackmore Vale from the 16th to 19th centuries. p.8 This month’s Equestrian section is packed – along with Sara Greenwood talking about horses as therapy, Lucy from The Glanvilles Stud shares life as foaling season gets into swing (and yes of COURSE we got photos of the brand new foals), and we welcome Toots Bartlett Eventing to her new column, sharing an insider’s peek at life in a top eventing yard. Giles Henschel, head oliveer at Olives Et Al shares his ‘Dorset Island Discs’ – he came to his national artisan brand by way of school expulsion, the Army, being deported from Libya with his wife (twice), and Take That …, and the influence of his travels are revealed in his eight song choices. p.18 Local shepherd Bonnie Cradock is the subject of this month’s A Country Living from Tracie Beardsley. She shares what it’s like running a flock of almost a thousand sheep with her brother, whilst keeping up a career as Assistant Events Organiser for the Gillingham & Shaftesbury Show ) P.68 In local history, Roger Guttridge tells the tale of Durweston’s Runaway Rector, and shows a ‘Then & Now’ of Cheap Street in #Sherborne, featuring Sherborne School’s Abbeylands. I’ve been talking to our own Allotment columnist Barry Cuff – the man with 10,000 postcards. It’s a fascinating collection. Starts on p.48 In the Trethowans‘ farming section, James Cossins is worried – in 40 years of farming he’s never seen such price volatility. Andrew is scathing about TV’s ‘Fast & the Farmer-ish’ , and NFU county chair George Hosford finds himself struggling to remain calm P.72 The Thorngrove Garden Centre ‘Out of Doors’ section starts on p.85; Charlotte from Northcombe Flowers is telling us to soil our pants, plus there’s news from Barry Cuff’s allotment and this month’s garden jobs from Pete Harcom. This month’s Dorset Walk is an absolute stunner – a nine mile circuit starting from Symondsbury designed purely to enjoy the astonishing Hell Lane and Shute Lane holloways, and a network of ancient green lanes. Definitely one to try. P.82 Reader’s Photography starts on p.42 – and it’s gorgeous as always.