Landscape photographer and artist Kerrie Ann Gardner has captured plenty of stunning images so far this year. Yarn Magazine’s Stephen Banks popped into her Tytherleigh cottage for a chat
Visions of West Dorset with Kerrie Ann Gardner
Tagged Marshwood Vale
Play brings back echoes of Dorset’s slaving past
Bridport Arts Centre recently hosted a performance of Muscovado by BurntOut Theatre, a scorching new play about slavery in 19th-century Barbados. Described as “a heady mix of sexual intrigue, piercing choral music and extreme racial tension”, the production offered an unflinching portrayal of life on a sugar plantation in 1808.
Several West Dorset families made fortunes in the slave trade. Bridport historian Jane Ferentzi-Sheppard reflects on the area’s connections to the West Indies.
Vale residents would prefer fracking to wind power
Energy generation is an issue that affects us all. The question of how we heat our homes, cook our food and power our transport becomes more acute as fuel costs rise and climate considerations grow more pressing.
Sara Hudston reports on a parish survey in the Marshwood Vale that found support for fracking.
Did Chaucer Visit the Marshwood Vale?
On a clear day, looking down from any of the ring of Iron Age hillforts — Pilsdon, Lamberts Castle, Coney’s Castle, Lewesdon — which encircle the Marshwood Vale, the eye may come to rest on a smaller fortification almost exactly at its centre. These stones — 10-foot thick walls resting on a raised motte — are all that remain of Marshwood Castle.
Updated: Fly-tippers leave waste at Lamberts Castle, National Trust removes it
UPDATED: Good news – the mess has now been cleared up. Good work by National Trust volunteer Bill Holden and National Trust Rangers Nick Tarrier and Rowan Thompson. Thanks to Brendan Buesnel at Buesnel Photography for the copyrighted picture (reused with his permission).