Cat-sitting in Dorset

View along the cliffs of West Bay, on Dorset's Jurassic Coast

Hello from sunny England where it has *finally* stopped raining after a record-breaking period of precipitation. Even I, who loves rain (I'm confident none of you have ever heard me complain about it before), recently got to the stage where I just wanted a day that wasn't grey and wet. I'm happy to report that spring has now well and truly arrived in Blighty, and we even had close to 20ºC the other day, which is the upper limit of my warm weather tolerance. That was a blip, and we're now back to more normal spring temperatures in the low to mid teens.

Now, just to catch you up on what's been happening with us, over the past couple of months we have been spending quite a bit of time back down in Surrey 😍  The reason for this is that one of the science teachers at Frensham has had to take extensive leave, and Kevin offered to help out his colleagues who were, understandably (it's a small team), under some pressure with no clear picture of when that would ease. Not an ideal scenario coming up to exam time. So Kevin has come out of retirement, temporarily, working Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday each week. He is being accommodated in one of the staff flats - right at the top of the gothic revival main school building. The flat is in amongst the turrets and right next to the old bell tower (which is not in use, thankfully!). It's a hell of a climb up multiple sets of stairs, but the views are spectacular.

Most weeks we drive down to Frensham on Monday evening, I stay overnight and on Tuesday with a friend or two I have coffee or lunch, or go for a walk, then I drive back to Ledbury and Kevin makes his way home on Thursday evening via three trains (which takes about four hours). Or we do it in reverse. It has been wonderful, being able to catch up with friends and revisiting my favourite walks and places of interest. Last week I also nipped into London for the day to see a Wes Anderson exhibition at the Design Museum, as I was staying at Frensham for a couple of nights. It will come as no surprise to anybody that I miss Frensham, Surrey and the close proximity to London even more than I feared I would. 

Kevin is probably finishing up his temporary teaching gig at Easter, and he is eager to return to the less structured lifestyle that retirement brings, now that better weather is here. I can't blame him, but I am sad this means the end of weekly visits to my beloved Surrey.

Misty dawn from one of the stone oval windows at the top of Frensham Heights' main building
(from the staff flat where Kevin has been living during the week)

Another Surrey sunrise view - from the staff flat at Frensham Heights

The first anniversary of losing Daisy May passed in February, and naturally we all the more keenly realised how much we miss feline companionship, although not having a pet does mean we have much more flexibility for travel.

We recently re-joined Trusted Housesitters, after having let our membership lapse for something like ten years. Those of you who have been with Tunnels of Green since 2014 will recall that Kevin and I did quite a number of TH gigs in our first couple of years back over here, looking after people's cats, dogs and even ducks in various parts of the UK. it's a great way to get free accommodation in exchange for spending time with people's beloved companion animals. 

A couple of weeks ago I drove 160km from Frensham to Cerne Abbas, a tiny village in Dorset, to commence a sit for two cats. Kevin was to join me the following evening, travelling by train from Farnham to Sherborne (a 2-hour train journey), after he finished the week's work at Frensham. 

St Mary's Church in Cerne Abbes, sections of which date back to the early 1300s

Two abbey tenements from the early 16th century (now private houses) in Cerne Abbas.

Lime green making a bold statement on this front door!
Ad Hoc House in Cerne Abbas

We have visited Dorset several times, but I don't recall having ever passed through that particular part of the county, so this was an opportunity to become acquainted with what is often referred to as 'England's prettiest village.' I'm sure there are plenty of other villages that would argue a claim to that particular accolade, but Cerne Abbas is certainly very appealing.

Its main claim to fame is the hillside carving of the Cerne Abbas Giant, a 55-metre high chalk image carved into the hillside above the village. It is believed to have ancient origins, however the earliest recorded reference to the Giant is in 1694.

The Giant has been managed by the National Trust for some decades, and they claim to undertake regular maintenance but whilst I was in Cerne Abbas the locals freely expressed their annoyance (the actual word used by several people was 'disgust') that the Giant is frequently allowed to fade so that it is barely visible. He's certainly looking a little anaemic at the moment.

This photo is taken from the official viewing point for the Cerne Abbas Giant
(Where's Wally?')

A closer view of the Cerne Abbas Giant - he is looking quite pale, at present

Aside from the Giant, there are many things to recommend Cerne Abbas. It is indeed very attractive, with a large number of very old buildings and many charming cottages. The village has three pubs, one of which is a renowned 'gastropub' which also offers accommodation - The New Inn. We decided the menu was a bit on the pricey side and it only offered a single vegetarian option in the starter and main course menus, meaning we'd both have to eat the same thing. So we gave it a miss. On my first night in Cerne Abbas my Trusted Housesitters host and I had dined at one of the more 'characterful' pubs. She warned me that the proprietor regularly forgot orders and recommended we arrive early and check on our meals if we hadn't received them within about half an hour! 

The River Cerne, a chalk stream, winds through the village and in order to gain access to many houses you have to step over a little bridge. I did ask our host whether the recent months of incessant rain had caused problems for the village but apparently Cerne Abbas is one of the rare places in England that seems to have taken active preventative measures against flooding, with a flood reservoir having been installed a couple of years ago.

Old Gaol Cottage in Cerne Abbas dates back to 1859 and originally served
as the village gaol and police station

The River Cerne, Cerne Abbas

Many of the houses in Cerne Abbas have the river flowing past their front or back;
consequently there are a lot of little bridges like this

Ah, chalk streams and their crystal-clear waters!
The River Cerne, running along the front of cottages in Cerne Abbas

Cerne Abbas is a super friendly village but also a bit quirky, and clearly the inhabitants have a sense of humour as well as a commitment to the environment, as you will see from the photos below. 

Kevin was delighted to discover that the Cerne Abbas Brewery was on the edge of the village, and that on Saturday afternoon there was to be a bit of music and the tap room open to sample their wares. We were warned that one needed footwear suitable for a farm. Thankfully it was a lovely sunny afternoon and the ground wasn't too mucky, Kevin got to try a pint of one of the darker ales and we enjoyed a very varied repertoire from a talented young guitarist and vocalist.

There are a LOT of dogs in Cerne Abbas!
This sign was on a random bit of lawn in front of one of the older houses in the village

These containers were lined up in a little community information hut / shelter, 
but one wonders whether a village the size of Cerne Abbas really generates
THAT MANY bras for recycling / disposal? 

Kevin enjoyed sampling the local ale at the Cerne Abbas Brewery one sunny afternoon

There is an old abbey in the village, but it's privately owned and only open on certain days for self-guided wandering around the grounds (one deposits £5 per person into an honesty box). Yes, that's right - you guessed it: on the day we decided to take a look the place wasn't open, and we were leaving the next day. So that's on the list for the next time we pass through Cerne Abbas.

Cerne Abbey was founded in the year 987 by Æthelmær the Stout (oh blimey - poor bugger! Body shaming has clearly been around for centuries...). The main building now occupying the site isn't the original, which suffered the fate of some 800 monasteries during Henry VIII's dissolution programme, ie it was closed and left to become ruins. The only remaining part of the original large abbey is the Abbot's Porch. However, Abbey House (see photo below) is a lovely bit of architecture and we would have been pleased to take a look around the estate. Never mind; we'll save that for another time.

Abbey House, built on the site of the original Cerne Abbey,
up one end of the village in Cerne Abbas, Dorset

Just a 20-minute drive from Cerne Abbas is the really nice town of Sherborne, where I collected Kevin from the station on my second evening. Sherborne has an abbey with one of the finest vaulted ceilings in England - it is gorgeous. The town also has a plethora of beautiful shops for browsing - antiques, homewares, fashion, gourmet providores and so on. 

Sherborne is also home to a very posh school named, sensibly enough, Sherborne School. Founded in 705 AD, it's one of the oldest schools in the UK, and is renowned as an Oxbridge feeder. It occupies a vast swathe of historic buildings across the town. And KER-CHING! it costs, at a minimum, £36,000 per year as a day student. If you are boarding, that goes up to £45,000 per year. It's education for the well-heeled and scholarship recipients only.

Whilst exploring the town we constantly passed small groups of teenage boys in various forms of the Sherborne school uniform, rushing to and fro, all looking very smart. In case you're not aware, at many private schools in the UK students wear the official school uniform up to Year 11, and then in the Sixth Form (Years 12 and 13) they wear a business suit, to distinguish them as the senior members of the academic community and to aid the transition from school student to adult in the real world. Neither of us favours this very traditional style of school, with its rigid social structure and air of privilege, but it remains very popular with those British families who can afford it, not to mention wealthy foreigners who happily stump up the fees and send their beloved offspring to board in England in the hope of gaining entry into Oxford or Cambridge. 

Sherborne Abbey looking magnificent on a sunny spring day

The Quire, leading up to the altar
- Sherborne Abbey in Dorset

The incredibly elaborate vaulted ceiling of Sherborne Abbey in Dorset,
acknowledged as one of England's finest

Stone columns inside Sherborne Abbey. The pink sections were caused by a fire during a riot in the town in 1437.
The heat of the fire brought out the iron in the stone, turning it pink

Historic buildings in Sherborne, Dorset.
We enjoyed a very nice lunch at the place on the left, Café D'Urberville

Stairway inside Café D'Urberville in Sherborne.
It's a combination café, cocktail bar, gallery and homeware / antiques store

Café D'Urberville in Sherborne

Kevin in front of one of the many antiques stores in Sherborne, Dorset

Love to B is a Dorset-based company specialising in natural skincare and home scents.
They take their window dressing seriously!
(this is their Sherbone store)

Building in golden stone - one of the many properties forming part of the campus
of the very exclusive Sherborne School in Sherborne, Dorset

Also only 15-20 minutes drive from Cerne Abbas is the city of Dorchester, which we didn't get to explore in any depth, though we did visit their local Wagamama one evening for a bite of supper before going to the cinema there, to see a film as we'd been eagerly awaiting its release. Both were located in Brewery Square, a zhuzhed-up part of the city which makes use of historic industrial buildings.

Side note: I heartily recommend you race out and see Project Hail Mary, particularly if you enjoy a bit of sci-fi but even if you don't especially. If possible, see it at an IMAX theatre. The book by Andy Weir was superb, laugh-out-loud funny in many places, and Kevin was really happy about all the science content (don't worry - even a science dullard such as myself was able to follow it. I think). I'm happy to report the film adaptation has been very well done. It's funny, sad, touching, dramatic and Ryan Gosling is absolutely wonderful. As Matt Damon did in the film adaptation of this author's previous book The Martian, Gosling carries this movie almost independently, though the small supporting cast are excellent too, not least the magnificent Sandra Hüller, whom I've loved in all her films. That's an actor with breadth.

But I digress...

Right next-door to Dorchester is a place I have long wanted to take a look at - the somewhat controversial town of Poundbury. Most of you have probably never heard of it; but it is regarded as an 'experimental urban extension' - in simple terms it's a fully planned township, and that's a rarity in this country, let me tell you. The great majority of cities, towns and even villages in (particularly) England were developed prior to the motor car, and the result is that nearly every street is now a glorified car park, small front gardens have disappeared to make way for off-street parking, and foot traffic is along narrow pavements choked by engine fumes as cars sit on the hopelessly inadequate, traffic-congested roads.

King Charles actively supported the development of Poundbury whilst he was Price of Wales and Duke of Cornwall, and in fact the whole project was led by the Duchy of Cornwall. The design of the town is based on a blending of traditional architecture and New Urbanist philosophy. Poundbury hasn't been fully completed; it currently as about 4,000 inhabitants, with a further 2,000 expected by the time the project comes to an end in 2028.

In truth, I cannot determine whether I like it or not. There are certainly many new buildings that have been beautifully built to resemble those from different ages (eg Georgian, Victorian), and the streets are really wide, providing ample space for vehicular traffic and parking. However I said to Kevin while we were walking around that I did feel a bit like I was in an episode of The Prisoner; the town felt strangely empty, even on a sunny Friday afternoon. At any moment I expected to see crowds of people with multicoloured umbrellas marching down the strreet, or to be pursued by a large, white inflated balloon (this trailer will explain).

Nonetheless, it was very interesting to visit and we did stumble across a South African themed café where we enjoyed a pot of tea and some very good cake.

Doorway to a faux-Georgian house in Poundbury, Dorset

Queen Mother Square in Poundbury, just outside Dorchester.
Those buildings have only been put up in the past ten years!

Kevin enjoying a pot of tea at Fables and Food, a South African themed café in Poundbury

Despite a couple of drizzly days, we did score with the weather for part of our time in Dorset. On one such day we took the opportunity to nip down to the seaside, to West Bay which is about 35kms by car from Cerne Abbas (approx 40 minutes). West Bay has both a beach and a marina, and was once known as Bridport Harbour. It's part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Area that stretches roughly 160km along the English Channel southern coastline from Dorset to East Devon.

West Bay was the filming location for that excellent TV series Broadchurch, starring David Tennant and Olivia Colman.

We walked one of the local landmarks a few years ago - Golden Cap, which at approximately 200 metres is the highest point on the entire south coast of England. That was a tough climb up a very steep and long hill, and the short walk we did at West Bay was a stroll by comparison! 

Gloriously green, rolling hills heading from Cerne Abbas to Dorset's coast

These two groovy, vintage Renault 8s were resplendent under the sun at West Beach in Dorset.
I particularly loved that they were parked in front of a mid-century apartment complex 

Foaming waves creeping up the beach at West Bay on Dorset's Jurassic Coast

View from the top of West Bay Cliffs, looking south towards Seatown and Lyme Regis

As for our charges, we loved looking after Amber and Oreo, 8-year-old sisters who were adorably 'chunky.' We were told that Oreo could be quite prickly, and we probably shouldn't attempt to have much physical contact with her - particularly if she was sleeping on one of the beds. Yeah, right... Miss Prickly slept with us on our bed every night, and she would even allow me to touch her fluffy tum-tum while she was reclining on a bed during the day. Our host sent me a text the day after we left, saying that obviously Amber and Oreo couldn't tell her they'd felt safe with us looking after them, but that usually when she returns from being away the cats are really clingy. Not so, after five days of us caring for them 😍 They were relaxed and happy, which Debbie said was a first. So there you are - Maree and Kevin retain their titles as Cat Whisperers.

I haven't included any photos of the house where we looked after the cats, nor of Amber and Oreo themselves, for reasons of privacy. Sorry to disappoint some of you - do contact me via DM if you would like to see a photo of the cats and I will share that with you. 

To finish, I'm including a couple of photos from yesterday's walk from nearby Dymock, a village just across the county border, in Gloucestershire (about 15 minutes' drive from Ledbury). Dymock is one of three areas known as the Golden Triangle for daffodils, the other two being Kemply and Oxenhall. Apparently in times gone by thousands of people would travel up from London to the Golden Triangle region to pick the flowers and take them back to sell in London. 

It's daffodil season!
This is Vell Mill Meadow in Dymock, Gloucestershie, one of the UK's best surviving
wild daffodil meadows

Another shot of Vell Mill Meadow in Dymock, Gloucestershire

And yes, I realise some of you are *still* waiting for the post showing our new house. It's been a long wait. There are reasons why I haven't felt able to write that one yet, but it's getting close... watch this space.

In the meantime, we are gearing up for the annual procession of visitors from Australia. Ed and Karen arrive in about a month's time, and then Lesley will be here in June. We can't wait to see our dear friends again.

Until next time,

- Maree  xo