Tag Archives: north dorset

2021: The 17 best festivals in North Dorset

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NOBODY does festivals and events like North Dorset does and here we’ve selected what we consider to be the 17 best, chosen to reflect the sheer diversity and class of festivals in the region.  Not all will go ahead this year – but many of those that don’t have already announced dates for 2022, so put them in your diary too. Meanwhile, do please support and enjoy the events that are making so much effort to bring you pleasure. 

Enjoy your abbreviated summer of festivals – we’ll see you soon!

MAY

CANCELLED

TEDDYROCKS FESTIVAL, near BLANDFORD

The festival takes place at Charisworth Farm, near Blandford, and has grown steadily since it started in 2011, raising money for children’s cancer charity Teddy 20. It has attracted some huge names: 2018 headliners were Feeder and Ash and, in 2019, The Darkness and The Zutons. In 2020 and 2021, The Amazons and Fratellis were booked to appear.

The event has raised £367,000 over the years for the charity. The festival is named after Ted Newton, who died aged just 10 from a rare bone cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma. When last staged, tickets cost £70 for the weekend (or from £92 including a tent pitch).  The 2022 dates are April 29- May 1. All tickets purchased for 2020 and 2021 remain valid for next year.

Watch the video of the 2019 festival

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30 glamping and camping hotspots near Shaftesbury, North Dorset

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SHAFTESBURY has a very good collection of hotels, cottages and B&Bs. But as the town sits on a hilltop, there isn’t a great deal of room to innovate with glamping options. Happily, there is a great deal of space in The Blackmore Vale and Cranborne Chase surrounding Shaftesbury – and there has been a considerable amount of innovation in recent years.

From a list of 12 in summer 2017, we now have 24 glamping sites close to Shaftesbury which offer a range of options, from luxury safari tents and yurts to a converted double decker bus, eco pod and shepherd huts with hot pools.  Last autumn, we also had six pop-up campsites open very close to Shaftesbury – read the article: Six new camping pop-up sites near Shaftesbury or check them out on the map (the yellow ones!)

Many sites spectacular views and settings, in oak woodlands, deer parks, kitchen gardens, equestrian centres and working farms. And they all add to the wealth of accommodation choices in North Dorset, alongside a number of AirBnB options. Come and stay in north Dorset for a short break, or a full family holiday: we’re halfway between London and Cornwall, just off the A303, and within easy reach of Dorset’s world famous Jurassic Coast.

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2020: The 20 best festivals in North Dorset

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UPDATE AUGUST 3: ALL events have been cancelled (or postponed until 2021), up to and including The Sturminster Newton Cheese Festival on Sep 12-13.

NOBODY does festivals and events like North Dorset does. And here we’ve selected what we consider to be the 20 best in 2020, chosen to reflect the sheer diversity and class of festivals in the region. The best music festivals? Larmer Tree has been voted the best family festival in the UK, while it’s sister event – The End of the Road Festival – has been awarded for Best Line-Up of the Year, also at Larmer Tree.

More music? TeddyRocks marks its 10th anniversary this year with headliners The Amazons and Fratellis and will again be looking to raise more than £100k for a children’s charity; there is the very family-friendly Dorset Midsummer Music Festival and, of course, we host the UK Boogie Woogie Festival too! Music, food and cider is just the ticket at the annual Cranborne Chase Cider company party, a combination you will also find at the Shaftesbury Food & Drink Festival and the Sturminster Newton Cheese festival.

Fitness? We’ve got it covered, with separate festivals for wellness, running and walking. Outdoors? Come along to our specialist trio of agricultural, steam and oak fairs. Literary? Of course, with a new festival launching in Shaftesbury in November celebrating our connection with the land in #thehighpointofdorset.

Enjoy your summer of festivals – we’ll see you on the circuit!

MAY

May 1-3: TEDDYROCKS FESTIVAL, nr BLANDFORD

The festival takes place at Charisworth Farm, near Blandford, and has grown steadily since it started in 2011, raising money for children’s cancer charity Teddy 20. It has attracted some huge names: 2018 headliners were Feeder and Ash and, in 2019, The Darkness and The Zutons. This year’s headliners are The Amazons and Fratellis.

The Saturday night sold out in 2019 and the weekend raised £107k for the charity, in addition to the £250k raised in previous years. The festival is named after Ted Newton, who died aged just 10 from a rare bone cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma. Tickets cost £70 for the weekend (or from £92 including a tent pitch). Campervans welcome, and glamping available. Shuttle buses available from Blandford.

Watch the video of the 2019 festival

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A 20-mile foodie cycling tour of North Dorset

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SHAFTESBURY

A Google map of the 20-mile cycling tour of North Dorset

IN 1973, a young film director called Ridley Scott directed a TV advert that put the Dorset town of Shaftesbury firmly on the cycling map.

Not in a Bradley Wiggins sort-of-way, granted, but in a British nostalgia way. The film of a young lad pushing his Hovis bread bike up the cobblestones of Gold Hill to the haunting music of Dvorak’s Symphony No 9 seared into the memory.

Visitors still whistle the tune as they take photos from the top of the hill. The advert has been voted Britain’s favourite of all time. And Ridley did well too – he went on to film Aliens and Blade Runner, among others.

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Thomas Hardy in North Dorset

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Sherborne was transformed into a 19th century fair for the 2015 film Far From The Madding Crowd

NORTH Dorset was a huge inspiration to Thomas Hardy. The principal towns, Shaftesbury and Sherborne, both feature heavily in his novels, with Gillingham also playing a supporting role.

In the surrounding countryside, the Blackmore Vale was the backdrop to his most lyrical writing about nature, with the honey stone village of Marnhull home to Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Indeed, Tess, Jude the Obscure and The Woodlanders – his last three novels – were all largely based in North Dorset.

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