Out & About
Here is just a small selection of some of the delightful places and attractions you can get to within 30-40 minutes drive time from Greygles.
St. Andrew’s, the 14th century church next to the old manor house at Bingham’s Melcombe – a 15 minute stroll across the fields from Greygles.
Milton Abbey – Impressive abbey (www.miltonabbey.co.uk) and public school 5 minutes drive away
Cerne Abbas (www.cerneabbas.org.uk) – The famous rude giant
Sherborne (www.westdorset.com) – The prettiest of nearby towns. Two castles, an ancient abbey, and lots of antique shops and up-market boutiques.
Dorchester (www.westdorset.com) – County town of Dorset. Many places of interest: County Museum, Military Museum, Tutankhamen, Dinosaurs, Judge Jeffries’ Bloody Assizes.
Maiden Castle (www.theheritagetrail.co.uk) – Britain’s largest hill-top Iron Age fort is still today a massive defensive construction you would be scared to attack.
Jurassic Coast (www.jurassiccoast.com) – The stretch from Purbeck to Chesil Beach is close to Greygles and part of the 200 mile Dorset and Devon coast recently declared a World Heritage Site for both its beauty and its fossils. The latter provided the basis of modern geology.
Athelhampton House and Gardens, Puddletown (www.athelhampton.co.uk) – One of the finest 15th century buildings in Britain, with lovely gardens. Only 10 minutes from Greygles.
Minterne Gardens (www.visitourgardens.co.uk/gardens/mintern.htm) – Another of the many wonderful examples in the region of the gardener’s art.
Weymouth (www.weymouth.gov.uk) – Centre for the yachting competitions in the 2012 Olympics - was Britain’s first major seaside resort under the patronage of George III at the end of the 18th century. It is now a bustling port and holiday destination with an attractive seafront sweep of Georgian buildings. It is also the access point for the Isle of Portland – castles, lighthouse, stone quarries and sculptures.
The Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum in Tolpuddle (www.tolpuddlemartyrs.org.uk) – commemorating six individuals in the 1830s, persecuted for trying to start an agricultural labourers’ union – seen as the pioneers of British trade unionism.
Clouds Hill* near Bovington – The last home of T.E Lawrence (‘Lawrence of Arabia’); maintained as a museum by the National Trust
The homes of Thomas Hardy: The cottage* in Higher Bockhampton where he was born and spent his childhood; Max Gate* in Dorchester (www.thomas-hardy.connectfree.co.uk) where he wrote many of his most famous novels. Both are open to the public and run by the National Trust.
The Tank Museum, Bovington (www.tankmuseum.co.uk) – Watch the army practising with tanks, learn about the history of tank warfare, and see plenty of these behemoths of the battlefield.
Abbotsbury – A beautiful small old town (www.abbotsbury-tourism.co.uk) near the coast with a Swannery, ruined abbey, Smugglers’ Barn, and tropical gardens
*Details can be found in www.nationaltrust.org.uk/historicproperties