These suggested itineraries can be mixed and matched according to your available time and interests.
Additional day ONE
(distances shown from Sherborne)
Minterne Gardens (11 miles)
Minterne House has been the home of the Digby and Churchill families since 1620 (house not open to public). The Minterne Valley was landscaped in the manner of Capability Brown in the 18th Century. The gardens are laid out in a horseshoe below Minterne
House, with a chain of small lakes, waterfalls and streams. They contain an unique collection of Himalayan Rhododendrons and Azaleas, with Spring bulbs, Cherries, Maples and many fine and rare trees; the garden is noted for its Autumn colouring.
Cerne Abbas and its Giant (12 miles)
Cerne Abbas is a quintessentially English village of 700 people, famous for its Giant, a 180ft high chalk figure carved out into the steeply sloping hillside. He is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and although thought to be much older, records only exist from 1694.
Cross the River Piddle valley for lunch at The Brace of Pheasants pub.
Back to Sherborne and visit Sandford Orcas Manor (3 miles)
Small Tudor manor house built on the foundations of a medieval house. Changed little since 1550s and owned by only three families since 1380s.
Fleet Air Arm Museum (8 miles)
The award-winning ‘Aircraft Carrier Experience’ is where museum meets theatre. Visitors are ‘transported’ by helicopter to the replica flight deck of the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. The Royal Navy is seen in action and the thrills and sounds of a working flight
deck can be experienced. The largest collection of naval aircraft in Europe plus the first British-built Concorde which can be boarded.
Additional day TWO
Montacute House (11 miles)
A magnificent Elizabethan Ham-stone house, incorporating a National Portrait Gallery exhibition, with beautiful garden and park. A National Trust property, this Renaissance manor house is filled with historic treasures and the Long Gallery at the top of the house boasts Elizabethan artwork from the National Portrait Gallery. Also the film location for Sense and Sensibility (1995).
Lytes Carey Manor (11 miles)
Intimate manor house with Arts & Crafts-style garden. This enchanting manor house in the depths of rural Somerset has a Tudor great hall and 14th-century chapel. It was home to medieval herbalist Henry Lyte and the gardens still grow the plants Lyte cultivated.
Haynes International Motor Museum (8 miles)
The largest international motor museum in Britain, it displays more than 350 cars and motor-bikes dating from 1886 to the present day. There are lots of activities including the Autogame Experience where visitors can play arcade games from the 50s and 60s, retro
80s classics such as ‘Manx TT’ to the latest cutting edge technology such as Cycraft, the ultimate race car simulator.
Stourhead House and Gardens (17 miles)
World-famous 18th-century landscape garden with a Palladian mansion, parkland, woods and chalk downs. The garden setting includes enchanting temples, monuments and rare planting around a tranquil lake. The Palladian mansion is filled with Georgian treasures, Chippendale furniture and fine paintings. There are woodland and chalk downland walks with spectacular views from the top of King Alfred’s Tower, one of the finest follies in Britain.
Additional day THREE
This itinerary is a literary one, based on the works of Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), Dorset’s
most famous son and a well-known author of the naturalist movement. His most famous novels include ‘Tess of the D’Urbevilles’(1891), ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’(1886), ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’(1874) and ‘Jude the Obscure’(1896).
The itinerary can be compiled from any of the following sights (there are many more) although those marked with an asterisk are recommended:
*Thomas Hardy’s Cottage, Higher Bockhampton, near Dorchester (Casterbridge)
National Trust property. Birthplace and home of Thomas Hardy until the age of 34. Far from the Madding Crowd written here. Traditional cottage-style garden.
Thomas Hardy monument, Dorchester (Casterbridge)
Tess Cottage, Marnhull (Marlott)
Private property but arrangements can be made to view. Visible from the road.
Bere Regis Church (King’s Bere)
Burial place of the D’Urbevilles family. Where Tess and her family spent the night in Tess of the D’Urbevilles.
*Sherborne (Sherton Abbas in The Woodlanders)
*Sherborne Castle, home of Lady Baxby in A Group of Noble Dames)
Wolfeton House, nr Dorchester, scene of the Lady Penelope in A Group of Noble Dames
Early Tudor and Elizabethan manor, member of Historic Houses’ Association.
*Thomas Hardy’s grave, Stinsford, near Dorchester
Puddletown (Wetherby in Far from the Madding Crowd)
*Thomas Hardy’s home, Max Gate, Dorchester
National Trust property. Only hall, dining and drawing rooms, and garden open. Outside public visiting times, media visits by appointment with the tenants.