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Blackmore Vale Childhood

A delightful and often moving portrait of growing up in rural Dorset between the two wars.

Hilary Townsend was born in the Blackmore Vale, and lives there still, and this account of her childhood evokes a way of life that has vanished without trace. Her memories are sharply observed, breathing life into her descriptions of the deep dairy farming countryside of the Vale and the small market town of Stalbridge, then the centre of her world.

It was a remote place where change was slow, thrift was ingrained and the agricultural depression meant hard times for almost everyone. Yet the author's delight in the simplest of pleasures, and her boundless interest in everything around her, people as well as places, viewed against the seasonal backcloth of Dorset life at its most sturdy and independent, gives this account of growing-up in the 1930s its freshness and appeal.

HILARY TOWNSEND

Paperback, 144 pages + 8 pages of photographs

ISBN 1 904349 50 1

£7.95

Dorchester versus Hitler

SPECIAL OFFER - REDUCED PRICE FROM £12.95 TO £6.95

Between 1939 and 1945 Dorchester was in the front line of the war against Nazi Germany. This is the story of the town and those who lived in it during those years - of the men, women and children who endured the threat of invasion, air raids, rationing, the daily shortages and uncertainties of war.
There is humour, nostalgia, occasional tragedy. It tells of evacuees, air raid wardens, the Home Guard, the fighter pilots from RAF Warmwell, the soldiers who passed through the Barracks, the American GI's who crowded into the town's pubs during the build-up to D-Day.
But its real heroes are Dorchester's townsfolk, those who listened quietly to their radios on that fateful Sunday when war was declared, only to dance the night away in May 1945 when Hitler and all he stood for were finally defeated. Between 1939 and 1945 Dorchester was in the front line of the war against Nazi Germany.

COLIN CHURCHILL

Large format hardback, 63 photographs and plans, ISBN 1 904349 44 7

£6.95

Dorset's Best Churches

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HARDBACK FROM £20 to £9.95

The parish church is one of England's greatest glories, and Dorset contains a superb assortment of some of the most celebrated - from humble country churches on the edge of farmyards to some of England's most famous abbey and priory churches.

Those familiar with Dorset will have their own favourite church, but this selection of 66 of the 'best' of them by the distinguished writer Brendan Lehane will disappoint no one. Some have Saxon origins, a few are Victorian masterpieces, some are in High Streets, many are set amidst some of the most beautiful countryside in the county.

First and foremost Dorset's churches are places of worship but, as Brendan Lehane says in his introduction, their 'walls remember a thousand years of colourful history and personal dramas.' They tell the story of these islands in stone and glass and timber. They have survived plague, fire, the Reformation, Civil War, the threat of invasion, over-zealous 19th century 'restoration', and are today justly enjoyed and visited. Their towers and spires may make them visible reminders of our architectural heritage, but they contain much of our finest vernacular art - from box pews to stained glass, medieval effigies to homely Tudor and Georgian monuments.

Always readable, often surprising, Dorset's Best Churches is illustrated throughout with nearly 200 specially commissioned colour photographs. There is also a Glossary and a list of Significant Dates.

BRENDAN LEHANE

Hardback, 176 pages, ISBN 1 904349 41 2
REDUCED FROM £20 to £9.95

£9.95

Dorset Stone

Dorset's stone is justifiably the most celebrated in Britain.

To Portland Freestone we owe St Paul's Cathedral and the Cenotaph. Purbeck Marble has enriched the cathedrals and churches of Europe, and both stones have been exported all over the world.

Yet Dorset's wealth of stone is best reflected in its own historic buildings - cottages and farmhouses as well as medieval churches and the many manor houses for which the county is famous. Dorset's stones were formed between 200 and 35 million years ago, beginning at the start of the Jurassic period. Each has its own individual character, reflecting the underlying geology of the hundreds of small quarries from which they came. If the Portland and Purbeck limestones are the best known, Dorset's other stones are equally distinctive: rust-coloured Heathstones from the east, the unusual Greensand from the north. The open downland in the heart of the county is distinguished by its flint mixed with other stones or brick. The honey-coloured villages of the Blackmore Vale were built from dozens of small now overgrown quarries. The west is celebrated for Forest Marble - grey and hard - and the softer warmer cream and orange of the Inferior Oolite, as well as the fossil-rich Blue Lias limestones.

This is a book written by a geologist and Dorset's foremost authority on its building stones and quarries. Scholarly, readable, often surprising and full of fascinating detail, it provides the key to the pattern of building across the county. As well as including a list of the building stones used in each parish in the county, and nearly 200 maps, diagrams and photographs, the author has included close-ups of the various stones, some greatly magnified to show the subtle differences between them.

JO THOMAS

Paperback

128 pages, 200 colour maps, diagrams & photographs, full colour cover

ISBN 978-1-904-34963-1

£17.95

The Manor Houses of Dorset

Dorset's manor houses are one of its greatest glories and a high quality illustrated book on them has long been overdue. The authors have spent seven years researching and writing the text, which is illustrated with 200 specially commissioned colour photographs and nearly 100 engravings, portraits, watercolours and drawings.

Once the hub of a self-sufficient rural community, their fortunes have varied. Some are still lived in by the descendants of those who built them, others have become modest farmhouses. A handful have endured partial demolition, whilst restoration by recent owners has given others a new lease of life, ushering in a golden age the equal of any in the past.

Dorset's manor houses also chart the lives of those who have lived in them. Love affairs, contested wills, now forgotten gentry happiest in the saddle, imprisonment for debt, the tragedy of war, extravagance, even murder - the rich ebb and flow of human weaknesses and strengths breathes vigorous life into The Manor Houses of Dorset.

UNA RUSSELL AND AUDREY GRINDROD

Hardback, 288 pages

ISBN 978-1-904-34952-5

£25.00

Seaside Sovereign

SPECIAL OFFER - REDUCED PRICE FROM £8.95 TO £1.95

George III's annual summer holidays with his family in Weymouth in order to go 'sea-bathing' at the end of the 18th century helped preserve his fragile sanity. They also transformed the down-at-heel Dorset port, turning it into the most fashionable resort in England.

This fascinating account - with its long-suffering queen (she bore George III fifteen children), wayward Prince of Wales and attractive unmarried princesses - adds greatly to our sympathy for 'farmer' George. It also brings into focus a period when the constant fear of invasion by the French acted as a counterpoint to the petty intrigues that then surrounded the Royal Family.

ALAN CHEDZOY

Paperback ISBN 1 904349 12 9

£1.95

WILD DORSET, The Year in Photographs

Wild Dorset, The Year in Photographs documents Dorset's landscape and natural history through the course of the year, beginning with a portrait of a tawny owl in January - which is when nesting a site is established - and ending nearly 200 glorious photographs later in December with a view out over the Fleet and Chesil Beach, when a low wintry sun both rises and sets over the sea.

Subtle changes continuously occur in the Dorset countryside throughout the year, in response to breeding, migration, weather conditions, and the natural ebb and flow of the seasons. The result is a portrait of Dorset's flowers, insects, birds and animals by one of Britain's most talented photographers.

Casebound and jacketed, large format (232 x 226 mms) 128 pages, illustrated in colour throughout.

COLIN VARNDELL

Large format hardback ISBN 1 904349 35 8

£19.95