Day 90: Westwards to Dorset

Long day of travelling today. Up fairly early and on the road as we had a lot of miles to cover, and a couple of things to see as well. Bid a fond farewell to our room and host, then hit the road.

First stop was the Battle of Britain museum at an old WW2 airfield nearby which we'd driven past a couple of times. I hadn't heard of it before, so figured I would drop in. Shandos wasn't interested, so ended up waiting around in the car and working on her laptop! I quite enjoyed it, a few replica planes from both sides along with a lot of displays and relics from the time period. Though it definitely felt like one of those things that was run by old folk for old folk, and that not many people my age would be interested in it.

Took a bit longer than I meant to as I got chatting slightly with the volunteer who took a couple of pictures for me, so it wasn't until nearly midday that we got back on the road. Our next stop wasn't that far away, another invasion themed place too! This time it was at the town of Battle, the site of the Battle of Hastings where William the Conqueror successfully invaded England and claimed the crown. I'm not sure why it's called the battle of Hastings, because Hastings is about 10 miles away, and there was already a town on the site.

I had been expecting to find an open field we could look around, but it was actually all fenced off behind a high wall and you had to pay a princely sum to get in, so we decided against it as we didn't really have the time. Briefly thought about conducting my own "conquest" but thought better of it.

Next stop was the tiny hamlet of Alfriston, known as one of the prettiest towns in England. And it quite lived up to the name, with cute little row houses, a tiny main street, several medieval pubs, a very old church, and the friar's house which is one of the oldest private dwellings in England, dating from the 12th century and still standing. At this point it was 3pm and we still weren't at the halfway mark, so we of course stopped in the town and shared a cream tea (black tea served with scones with jam & cream). Sat in the back garden terrace of a cafe and enjoyed the sunshine.

Back in the car by 4pm and from here it was just driving. We followed various highways and byways along the southern coastline, skirting around Portsmouth, Southampton, Bournemouth and Poole, before finally arriving in Dorset at Purbeck. Our Airbnb was another granny flat style arrangement at the back of a mining cottage, this time hosted by a couple named (not joking) Adam and Steve. They were lovely and very taken with Schnitzel.

The place is classic Dorset - high up on the moors, misty and a bit rainy. We're in a microscopic village of 40 houses clustered together, all made of the same dull grey stone. On the way up the hill we drove past the ruins of ancient Corfe Castle and the associated town, all looking great but very unphotogenic due to the rain that had set in.

We unpacked and then set off to the local pub for dinner in heavy rain. Very nice country pub with apparently great views, though of course hidden by rain! I had a great dish of bangers & mash, while Shandos had crab pasta. Back to our rooms for another early night, listening to the rain hammer on the roof!Read more