Dorset Flapjacks

Many Thanks go out to Jane and Simon Colston from Updown cottage on Gold Hill in Shaftesbury for this delightful micro blog. Please Enjoy reading it and then visit them at http://www.updowncottage.co.uk/

Dorset……….out of this world?

You only have to say the word ‘Dorset’ for my mind to instantly fill with pictures and my heart to feel the pull……but how to put all that down on paper?

We only ‘found’ Dorset four years ago when a picture appeared in The Sunday Times, of a cottage for sale on Gold Hill. We visited two days later, fell in love and with some extraordinarily creative accountancy, begged and borrowed our way to running it as a holiday cottage.

In Shaftesbury that day, people stopped to chat, the air was clear and the views over Blackmore Vale stretched for miles. Over the next 6 months of renovation we visited most weekends and resented anything that kept us away. Each stay felt like a holiday as we explored the lanes and discovered more and more hidden places that gave every impression of being ‘our’ secrets…..astonishingly beautiful views, villages, cottages, shops, people and possibly above all else, the food! A revelation!

There can be nowhere else on earth where the local produce is presented with such passion and with so much style and pride as in Dorset. It is perfectly possible to breakfast, coffee, lunch, tea and dine in a different superb spot every day of the week. It’s tempting to hope that Dorset remains hidden but equally wonderful to see all such businesses thrive.