Dorset Holiday July 2005 - page 2
We rented a self-catering cottage at Winterbourne
Abbas for our Dorset holiday and from there we went to admire the
Cerne Abbas Giant ancient hillside monument, then going car-free from
the cottage we walked up to Hardy's Monument. As well as cooking
in, we enjoyed an evening meal at the local pub, the Coach and Horses.
This is page two of three.
page 1 | page 2 | page 3
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Our Dorset holiday cottage was a barn conversion which seems to be very
common in the West Country. Ours was near Winterbourne Abbas.
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The cottage had a fairly spacious open plan type lounge/kitchen
adequately equipped for self-catering for the week with fridge freezer,
microwave/grill and...
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...a rather small TV at the end of the sofa which we couldn't easily
see from the small dining table. Here's us enjoying a meal we
knocked up in the holiday cottage, washed down with some of that lovely
Dorset cider we picked up the other day!
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On day 3 we went to visit the Cerne Abbas Giant, an ancient hill figure
cut into the chalk hillside.
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Dorset's Cerne Abbas Giant is famous for a certain prominent feature,
something to do with male fertility and no doubt the subject of many
schoolboy sniggers!
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We took a walk high up on the hillside above Cerne Abbas; Mike
advised that we were 227 meters above sea level, another fact derived
from the handheld Sat Nav (our new toy at the time!) We've
written a review of our Sat Nav
receiver here which covers just about all our experiences with it
on our travels in Dorset.
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On the way down from the Cerne Abbas Giant (or called the 'Rude Man')
Belinda decided a detour through loads of stinging nettles, prickly
vegetation and nasty biting insects would be a good idea! Our
uncovered legs were not a pretty sight afterwards!
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Two walks in one day can't be bad; in the afternoon we walked the few
miles from the Dorset holiday cottage along part of the Jubilee Trail
to visit Hardy's Monument. On the way we stopped to eat our
picnic lunch at this handy log with the monument just visible in the
background (if you look carefully). The Jubilee Trail runs for 90
miles across Dorset and was almost 10 years old at the time we walked
our small part of it.
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Hardy's Monument didn't seem to loom any nearer as we walked. The
monument was constructed in 1844 as a memorial to Sir Thomas Hardy,
Nelson's right hand man on HMS Victory at the Battle of
Trafalgar. Relevant Dorset links in our UK tourist resources.
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It was good to get some shelter in this wood from the hot sun while
walking along the Jubilee Trail.
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Phew! Wot a scorcher! Time to rest awhile at Hardy's
Monument before the return trek. Check out our Dorset holiday video clips.
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From Hardy's Monument we could just about see the holiday cottage
through the heat haze, and some wonderful views across the Dorset
countryside. Now we had to face the sweaty return trek through
the 30° heat. We used the Sat Nav to retrace our trail and it got
us back to the cottage without problem, phew!
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Just up the road from our Dorset holiday cottage was the Coach and
Horses in Winterbourne Abbas which we visited on several evenings; er,
well three actually! We always like to support the local economy
on our holidays - and enjoy some excellent meals too...
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...and on this occasion we tried the scrumptious steak. We found
the Coach and Horses on our first evening in Dorset, then we had the
carvery. Our Dorset holiday continues with visits to Lyme Regis, the Jurassic Coast and Dorchester
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