Dorset Drowning!

I know that my world-wide audience will have missed my ramblings over the last few days but I have been otherwise engaged, tramping around Dorset in my wellies!

What is the man talking about, I hear you say? Well, in a nutshell, my wife and I have just endured the wettest holiday we have ever experienced, joining my eldest daughter and her family for a welcome break in the aforesaid county.

They had booked a pitch for four nights on a truly delightful and highly recommended campsite http://www.riverside-lakes.co.uk/ and we had been invited along, but, due to our great antiquity, it had been decided that we should try to get fixed up with more conventional accommodation close by.

Before the rain came!

The Sunday following our arrival, was forecast by the Met.Office to be reasonable so we leapt at the opportunity to get down to the beach at Studland so that Max, our grandson and his grandfather (me) could do some sandcastle building and paddling.

Then the rains came, again, in what is proving to be a thoroughly ghastly Summer. As we snuggled up in our lovely apartment our thoughts were with our loved ones, pitched under a spreading oak tree, on top of a hill in a screaming gale and torrential rain. Our worries were soon allayed by an early text informing us that they had survived the night.

Studland Beach

It was a question of just ignoring the rain and the two further days we spent with them were delightful. At one point it was a definite possibility that they would 'chuck the towel in' and strike camp, but they stuck it out showing true British spirit!

The remainder of the week we spent on our own visiting, amongst other places, Kingston Lacy House, http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/kingston-lacy/ a wonderful property with fantastic grounds. Fortunately the weather was very good during the time we were there.

Kingston Lacy House

On our final day we drove to Corfe Castle and then on to a truly fascinating property, Clouds Hill, the former cottage/retreat of T.E.Lawrence, 'Lawrence of Arabia' http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/clouds-hill/ , just up the road from the 'Tank Museum'. The nearby church at Moreton is well worth a visit as is the grave of the great man himself, just up the road from the church.

Corfe Castle

T.E.Lawrence's cottage

Throughout the whole period, I pondered on the position of the 'jet stream', the system that controls our weather, wondering whether or not it is going to remain too far south, thus threatening our forthcoming drive to Brittany in the Morgan with more bad weather....and for those of you who have never driven a Morgan in really wet weather, I suggest that you have a look at the video on the Morgan Company website, describing the on board experiences of two chaps who drove the new Plus 8 for its unveiling at the Geneva Motor Show!!