What's On Dorchester

Continued into 2018, new public camping option for the experienced camper and people who love nature and the great outdoors. Campers are even welcome to kayak/sail/paddle across from the mainland straight to South Shore. Booking is essential. Booking Essential. Phone: 01202 492161. Assistance Dogs only are welcome.

The travels and exploits of T E Lawrence in Arabia during 1918, month by month, are explored in a series of leaflets; each month a new one will be issued and given to visitors on arrival at Clouds Hill. Booking Not Needed.

An early morning wildlife experience. Come and experience the island at its most peaceful. This is your opportunity to take a boat over to the island long before the public arrive. A member of the ranger team will talk you through the sights and sounds of wildlife in this natural habitat.

The travels and exploits of T E Lawrence in Arabia during 1918, month by month, are explored in a series of leaflets; each month a new one will be issued and given to visitors on arrival at Clouds Hill. Booking Not Needed.

A free guided walk that explores Brownsea’s WW1 connections in this special centenary year. Take a tour around the island and discover it’s significance during WW1 with one of our expert volunteers. Booking Essential. Phone: 0344 249 1895.

Come along and discover the amazing orchids in our meadows. Help our volunteer ecologist survey orchids on this guided walk from Stonebrrow. A chance to discover the beautiful orchids on the Golden Cap Estate and learn how we care for them.

Tim Laycock brings Hardy’s home to life with music and stories. There will be three performances, each lasting approximately 25 minutes, between 1pm and 4pm. The performances will take place in the Drawing Room. Seating is limited and as there is no booking it will be on a first come first served basis.

Join one of our experienced rangers and discover more about the creatures that make the Brownsea shoreline their home. Booking Essential. Phone: 01202707744.

Mr Hardy invites you to take tea with him in his garden along with special guest Marie Stopes and a short performance from the Hardy Players. Suggested donation to the New Hardy Players for the tea of adult 3, child 2. Booking Not Needed. Assistance Dogs only are welcome.

Come and celebrate this great foodie festival on the spectacular Jurassic coast. Spring Tide pulls together some of the best local food, drink, art and entertainment available on this outstanding coastline.

Dorchester Support Group Committee and the Dietitians will be celebrating 50 years of Coeliac UK. 11 a.m. - 3p.m. We are cutting the Birthday cake at 11 .30a.m. Come along and celebrate with us. The restaurant will be serving some gluten free food and there will be some nibbles. There will be a raffle.

Q is essentially all things to all men, a modern cottage town garden with many facets, jam packed with bulbs, shrubs, trees, climbers and herbaceous plants. Gazebo, statutes, water, bonsai and topiary.

Join us, the Committee of Dorchester Support Group to Coeliac UK for tea/coffee and gluten free cake. Come and have a chat with us. Ask what we do and what Coeliac UK is raising funds for.

Explore the Hardy family home with this new trail and learn how Thomas and his family would have used herbs growing in their garden to make medicines to cure their illnesses. Booking Not Needed. Assistance Dogs only are welcome.

Creating an intrepid new world where folk and urban traditions of her Zambian homeland blend with London’s vibrant eclectic music scene, Namvula crosses boundaries with a refreshing honesty and evocative lyricism, transporting listeners into different worlds whilst staying firmly rooted in African soil.

Annual Plant Sale selling various high quality plants for all aspects of gardens, patios, baskets ,tubs and pots , outdoors and indoors. You need look no further for your plant requirements. Sold at reasonable prices. We will be helping to raise funds for Julia’s House Children’s Hospice.

Unusual and challenging ½ acre garden set on steep hillside with fine views. Wildlife friendly garden with mixed borders, ponds, propagating area, vegetable garden, fruit cage, greenhouses and polytunnel, chickens and bees, nearby allotment. Daffodils, tulips and hellebores in quantity for spring openings.

This unusual garden is tucked away without being isolated and has an atmosphere of extraordinary peace and tranquility. At no point do visitors perceive any idea of the whole, but have to discover, by degrees and at every turn, its element of surprise, its variety of features and its appreciation of space.

4 acres. From NT car park down steep public footpath and 64 grass steps to woodland garden with chainsaw tree sculptures. More formal Italianate garden around house with wonderful arbours. Mediterranean feel. Strong structural planting.

An evening of Jazz. The concert is given by the Sherborne Girls Jazz Ensemble. It will be a varied programme with music for all to enjoy. The concert is free and there will be a retiring collection for church funds

Annuals, shrubs, perennials and herbs for sale; split that large clump of asters/geraniums and bring a bit to sell! Tombola and a cake stall in aid of the RNLI

Steep paths lead to beguiling 4 acres of natural woodland with many springs, streams, 2 pools one a natural swimming pool planted with native plants. Front garden with pleached crabtree border, topiary and soft planting incl tulips, peonies, roses and verbascums.

½ acre plantlover’s garden full of interest from spring (bulbs, many hellebores, pulmonaria, fritillaries) through abundant summer perennials, old roses scrambling through trees and late seasonal exuberant plants amongst swathes of tall grasses. Wildlife pond and plants to attract bees, butterflies, etc.

A new dance theatre production with high pace and intricate choreography aiming to emotionally move you. Norway’s Panta Rei looks at how vulnerability and strength come to play in the relationships we have, and the struggles we are forced to overcome.

Ongoing reclamation of neglected woodland garden. Mature trees, bamboo, rhododendrons, azaleas, magnolias, camellias, other choice shrubs with stream on all sides crossed by bridges, and in spring a growing collection of loderi hybrids. New plantings of viburnums. Stout shoes recommended for woodland garden.

Every child who brings a melon for the primates receives a free Monkey World badge over the bank holiday weekend.

www.margaretgreenanimalrescue.org.uk/GroundDog_Day_2018.html

4 acres formal and informal gardens surround C18 rectory, splendid views. Yew pyramid alles and hedges, circular herbaceous borders with late summer colour. Exuberantly planted terrace, purple and white beds. Box parterres, mature trees, pond, fernery, ha-ha, pleached hornbeam circle. 10 acres woodland walks.

Creating an intrepid new world where folk and urban traditions of her Zambian homeland blend with London’s vibrant eclectic music scene, Namvula crosses boundaries with a refreshing honesty and evocative lyricism, transporting listeners into different worlds whilst staying firmly rooted in African soil.

3 acres of plant-packed sloping gardens, conceived, planted and looked after by owner. ’A feast of a garden at all times of the year’. Wild flower meadows and water. Herbaceous, underplanted shrubs and roses of all types and hues. Shady woodland garden and fine mature specimen trees.

Bridport Folk Dance Club’s traditional Annual Dance with "The Chris Toyne Big Band" and caller Aileen Wills. All welcome, no experience or partner required and all dances will be talked and walked through and called throughout.

Presented here is a unique opportunity to hear a comprehensive selection of chart hits America’s biggest pop band ever recorded including: God Only Knows - Good Vibrations - I Get Around - Surfin’ USA - Fun Fun Fun - California Girls - Sloop John B and many more that you will surely know and by the end of the evening

Weymouth SEA LIFE Adventure Park is teaming up with Wareham & District Development Trust to bring marine life to the town for the first time this spring.

5 acre garden developed by present owners over last 20 yrs. Formal areas with topiary near house, naturalistic planting elsewhere. Many bulbs including fritillaries, erythroniums, tulips and wood anemones. Extensive bog garden with pond and stream planted with candelabra primroses and other moisture lovers.

This is your chance to see what is behind the long wavy wall along the A35 to Bere Regis....lovely woodland walks to see the beautiful azaleas, perhaps rhododendrons and bluebells too!

Charborough is a traditional rural estate located in South Dorset, close to the towns of Wareham, Blandford Forum and Wimborne Minster. First recorded in the Doomsday Book, Charborough has a rich and colourful history and is now host to an increasingly wide range of activity.

Every Thursday we hold a Traditional Street Market in The Market Place

Every Saturday we hold a Traditional Street Market in The Market Place

Large, plantsmans garden with magnificent view to sea. Many rare and mature plants and shrubs in terraced, herbaceous, rock and water gardens. Woodland garden and walks in bluebell woods. Good autumn colouring. Wild flower meadow with 164 varieties incl orchids.

In celebration of what would have been Sir Terry Pratchett’s 70th birthday we are delighted to be presenting Jingo, a stage adaptation by Stephen Briggs of Sir Terry’s hilarious novel of the same name.

www.margaretgreenanimalrescue.org.uk/Margaret_Green_Week_2018.html

All the way from Australia for one night only!! The Stomping Ivories are a ’dueling pianos’ act from Australia covering a range of music from Mozart to Metallica. Bring your song requests along; there is nothing these three Sydney boys won’t attempt to play!

Travel back in time and meet a Royalist musketeer of the Civil War at Corfe Castle. Practice your soldier survival skills, including flint & steel fire making, cartridge making and sword school.

Travel back in time and meet a Royalist musketeer of the Civil War. Practice your soldier survival skills, including flint & steel fire making, cartridge making and sword school. Booking Not Needed. Children are welcome accompanied by a responsible adult. Dogs on leads welcome.

Witness the sound and fury of Saxon and Viking warriors in pitched battle as they recreate the siege of Wareham. Explore the Saxon village and learn about everyday life during this harsh period. Check website for timings.

Witness the sound and fury of Saxon and Viking warriors in pitched battle as they recreate the siege of Wareham. Explore the Saxon village and learn about everyday life during this harsh period. King Alfred’s Court and Young Warrior Training both return for 2018.

A Fun day for the whole family held in the gardens of St Margaret’s Hospice. there is everything from craft stalls to dog shows, a vintage tea rooms, bar and BBQ as wells as games and activities for the whole family.

1 acre garden brought back to life over last 5½ yrs. There is now much more light after some trees were taken down and new areas have been cultivated. The planting is intended to be natural and the emphasis is very much on colour.

Landscaped into the hillside 500ft above the Char Valley with spectacular views across Charmouth and Lyme Bay, the ¾ acre garden, maintained by the owners, is laid out as a series of gravel paths and terraces connected by steps.