Purbeck is quite enough

There have been Bonds in Purbeck since 1472 when Somerset farmer William Bond leased land at Lutton. His descendants acquired land at Tyneham before Nathaniel Bond bought Creech Grange in the 1680s to establish impressive seats that within thirty years were joined by East Holme, bought by his son Denis. Tyneham was requisitioned during World Read More…

Tyneham after 75 years of the Army

The world has changed more in the 75 years since anyone last lived in Tyneham than it had done for hundreds of years before. Even so, the village’s declining population following World War 1 had already seen the school close in 1932 and in the months before the evacuation, the introduction of tractors to Tyneham Read More…

The Ninebarrow boys

Firm friends since meeting at school in Poole some twenty years ago, they have grown up together, moved away to study apart and come back to Dorset in order to reach out to the world. Now with an emerging talent Horizon Award nomination at this year’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Ninebarrow – Jon Whitley Read More…

David and Natasha Solomons 2016

  Nestled in the lea of Bell Hill below the Wessex Ridgeway, where hang-gliders compete with the occasional red kite for airspace in the warm evening sky, the inspiration to write is abundantly clear. ‘It’s almost embarrassing. We have our little writing studio and this wonderful view, we are about as perfect a cliché as Read More…

Tyneham: Its one-woman workforce

Her work has been seen by tens of thousands of people, yet few of them realise it … and having left her mark on two of Dorset’s most singular attractions and worked tirelessly to enhance visitors’ enjoyment of both, that’s just the way Lynda Price likes it. She’s an artist, graphic designer, project manager, writer, Read More…

Tyneham: A long look back and forwards

Tyneham village interpretation stone Isolated as much by geography as history, Tyneham offers a unique perspective on the way things used to be. Nobody has lived here since 1943 and today the valley is part of the Lulworth firing ranges, owned by the Ministry of Defence.  Dorset has been a vital military training ground for Read More…

Tyneham: The village where time stood still

Beneath the muck and dust of ages, Tyneham’s centuries-old farm is stirring. For nearly 65 years all that has moved through its stables and stalls are bats, creepy-crawlies and the odd range warden – but a new project is under way that will see these buildings restored and reopened. Not that it will ever be a Read More…

Tyneham: Slight Return

It’s a place like no other, certainly not in this part of the world. The echoes of a way of life long since past rattle around its part-renovated ruins. There is a strange, uneasy peace as if the place itself is all too aware of the contradictions brought to bear upon it. Cradled in the long Read More…