Just a mile or so from the Gor Blimey that is Weymouth is an enchanted spot that remains forever peaceful.
Sandsfoot Castle and Gardens is the preserve of the locals and has wide and airy views over the waters of Portland Harbour to Portland itself.
The castle ruins, though artily perched on a low cliff next to the water's edge, can't by any stretch of the imagination be called picturesque, though the setting makes up for this.
It is one of two fortifications built by well known fatty Henry VIII in 1547 on either side of Portland Harbour in response to the threat from Catholic Spain. It was constructed with stone taken from the newly dissolved abbeys at a cost of going on £4,000.00 (around 1.5 million today)...it never actually saw action (don't tell the kids) and by the end of the 17c it was already a ruin, its stone robbed in turn to build Weymouth Bridge. By 1930 was closed to the public.
Recently the Heritage Lottery stepped in to help restore it so that once more it is possible to wander amongst the remaining stone work and peer though gun ports checking out the Spaniards as the defenders once did.
The gardens, landscaped Torquay municipal style, are a pleasant place to sit and, guess what?...the last part in the heavenly jigsaw... lattes are on hand in the ubiquitous tearoom.
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| Those pesky Spaniards shall not pass... |
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