The sun is well hidden behind the thick grey clouds this morning as we drive out of The Thimble Inn, having had a quiet night. It’s only 10km into Dorchester where we stop in at Lidl for some milk and inevitably a few other things. We decide that we didn’t want to navigate a big town and so head towards the coast. Along the way we stop at the Hardy Monument located on the summit of Black Down. He was a Vice Admiral and served with Lord Nelson, holding him as he died in the Battle of Trafalgar. Not to be confused with Thomas Hardy the novelist. We managed to dodge all the slugs and take in the cloudy view of the countryside to the ocean.
Reaching Abbotsbury a short while later we travel through this village with its uniform golden stone buildings. There is a parking area near the ocean with a very long beach of golden pebbles. Today it’s popular with the fisherman. We have quick look as the carpark has a camera and fines you if you haven’t paid for a ticket within 10mins… unfortunately the coast road was closed and so we had to back track to the A35. Just near Bridport we turn off and venture down again to the coast at West Bay which is well known for its golden cliffs of the Jurassic Coast. Also the TV drama, Broadchurch, was filmed here… we thought it looked familiar! Unfortunately with the cloudy day it didn’t look as dramatic. The weather was taking a turn for the worst so we didn’t head to the coast instead made our way along the A35 and A30 to a National Trust property just north of Exeter, Killerton (£16.50pp non members). We stepped inside the relaxed family home of Sir Francis Acland, 14th Boronet, set in the 1920’s. It wasn’t as grand as the couple of others we have seen but still worth the visit.
We had a stroll through the gardens to the Bear Hut, Ice House and the Chapel.
The rain was now insistent so we called it a day and found a small parking spot not too far away in Silverton.
130km today
A mulberry tree
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