NORDCAT (North Dorset Community Accessible Transport), the Sturminster Newton-based charity that has provided transport services to elderly and isolated residents for over two
In the first BV Podcast of 2025, Terry and Jenny get straight on with tackling some of rural Dorset’s biggest issues. We start,
Dorset luthier Jeremy Walsh on listening to the wood, a double bass jigsaw, holding a $15m Stradivarius and Friday night rave music
Jeremy Walsh
Giles and Annie Henschel’s return to the Mediterranean highlights the crisis facing olive farmers and the resilience that is keeping hope alive
Annie Henschel
Blackmore Vale Motor Cycle Club combines tradition, innovation and community to keep off-road racing thriving after more than a century
Dean WhittyImage © Michael
Sturminster Newton’s Father Christmas found the town’s gonk nativity scene so offensive he has handed back his Community Star Award
Sturminster Newton’s festive decorations
New issue of The BV
January’s BV is HERE!
Our first issue of 2025 picks up right where we left off – crammed...
Your Community, Your Stories
The BV magazine – our home is in the Blackmore Vale, our heart is rural Dorset
NORDCAT Community Transport to close after 23 Years
NORDCAT (North Dorset Community Accessible Transport), the Sturminster Newton-based charity that has provided transport services to elderly and isolated residents for over two decades,...
47 Healthy Cows Slaughtered – James Cossins’ TB heartbreak
In the first BV Podcast of 2025, Terry and Jenny get straight on with tackling some of rural Dorset’s biggest issues. We start, as...
Same bikes, new mission
Giles and Annie Henschel’s return to the Mediterranean highlights the crisis facing olive farmers and the resilience that is keeping hope aliveIn March 2024,...
‘We’re here to make life better’
Terry Bennett talks to West Dorset’s first Liberal Democrat MP, Edward Morello, who is still negotiating the Westminster jungleWhen Edward Morello walked into Westminster...
Love in triangles – the Bloomsbury set in Dorset
Dorothy Parker famously said of the Bloomsbury Group that “they painted in circles, lived in squares, and loved in triangles.” While this group of...
Winterborne Stickland | Then and Now
Step back in time with our ‘Then and Now’ feature, where vintage postcards from the Barry Cuff Collection meet modern-day reality. Explore the past...
Sixpenny Handley | POSTCARDS FROM A DORSET COLLECTION
This month Barry Cuff has chosen two postcards from Sixpenny Handley, both sent in 1913, the year before the First World War began.Sent to...
Framing the past – Job Pottle’s story
A prolific photographer from the 1880s to the 1920s, Job Pottle captured local life from children to Churchill, the royal family to railways workers.Job...
THEN AND NOW: Okeford Fitzpaine
Step back in time with our ‘Then and Now’ feature, where vintage postcards from the Barry Cuff Collection meet modern-day reality. Explore the past...
Frozen Dorset
This month Barry Cuff has chosen two postcards with a suitably wintery feel – Sherbornians skating on the frozen lake in 1907, and the...
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Death Announcements
Blackmore Vale magazine death notices
Norman Holt
13.07.31 - 31.12.24Peacefully at his home on 31st December...
Blackmore Vale magazine death notices
PETER BRADLEY
Passed away peacefully at home after a short illness...
Blackmore Vale magazine death notices
MARIANNE JANE PARNIER
Aged 86 years, sadly passed away peacefully on the...
Blackmore Vale magazine death notices
Michael Paul Turmris
23rd April 1947 - 12th November 2024Much loved husband,...
The Random 19 Questions
West End star Joanna Woodward answers the Random 19 questions
Based on the best-selling novel by Audrey Niffenegger, the musical adaptation of The Time Traveller’s Wife is scheduled for a West End run at...
Exclusive: Charles Church – plus Dorset’s biodiversity crisis | BV podcast
The BV has an exclusive interview with renowned equestrian painter Charles Church, and Jenny sits down with council leader Nick Ireland to discuss biodiversity,...
Deepest darkest Dorset: preserving our night sky heritage
Seeking sanctuary under the stars: CPRE’s Dr Richard Miles looks at the push for a dark sky reserve to safeguard our natural nightscapesOne of...
The BV magazine is a monthly digital publication which launched in August 2020, and it is in no way connected with the original, much-loved Blackmore Vale Magazine (owned by Reach PLC, and which ceased publication early the same year), nor with any other, more recently launched printed publication with a similar name. Never the free paper you pick up from the floor of the petrol station, The BV is the half hour read you spend a weekend coffee with.
Dorset Island Discs
When every day is a fantastic day
Nick Heyward looks back on rough school days, dreaming of stardom, David Bowie, naming Haircut 100 … and the joy of reading in the...
Dorset Food & Drink
Dorset Farming
47 Healthy Cows Slaughtered – James Cossins’ TB heartbreak
In the first BV Podcast of 2025, Terry and...
Is it the year of the egg? |Farm Tales
Pessimism, promises and poultry: Andrew Livingston asks if 2025’s...
Dorset Farming
FCN – always there to walk with you
Barrie Cooper, a Blandford dairy and beef farmer, shares his work with Dorset FCN, providing vital support and assistance to local farmers in needMay...
Dorset Wildlife
Troglodytes troglodyte – the king of the birds
Wildlife writer Jane Adams greets one of the UK’s...
Graveyards: an excuse for weeds or a space that nature needs?
Rachael Rowe investigates how Dorset’s living legacy of churchyards...
It’s purr-fect inside Dorset Cattery
When Kirsty Sturmey goes to work each morning, she walks across the yard into a space filled with purrs, whiskers and the unmistakable comfort...
Community Pages - in partnership with Wessex Internet
Recent stories
Don't miss the Dorset walks...
Dorset Walks
Hardy Monument walk with big views | 10.5 miles
This day's walk (we took more than four hours,...
Dorset Walks
Win Green to Tollard Royal Circular – 8.5 miles. | Dorset Walks
Win Green Down, the highest point of the Cranborne...
Dorset Walks
Cow Down Hill to the Salisbury Spire Spot
Gorgeous, simple route, with a perfect lunch spot half...
Dorset Walks
Easy Witchampton Circular | 10.3 miles
Easy walking on wide tracks through open farmland between...