Off the beaten track - Sandsfoot Castle

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.

A short wander downhill brings you to a humble little beach,

 again the preserve of a few locals and the odd dog walker or kayaker.

Those pesky Spaniards shall not pass...

Dorset Villages Pt1 - Moreton

T.E.Lawrence. Great man not such a great  motorcyclist

Good old Lawrence of Arabia? He's right up there with Corfe Castle as an esteemed tourist attraction...And he doesn't take a penny for it...fine chap..!

His mortal remains lie in the pretty village of Moreton near Dorchester. Looking down on his humble resting place, bear in mind that you would very probably have looked down on him as well. 

Unlike the popular filmic image; Lawrence was actually a rather squat little tiddler, measuring just 5'2," though still a giant of a Renaissance man; archaeologist, writer philosopher, warrior etc. It was sad then that it was his motor bike skills that would let him down in the end. 

After paying your respects the nearby church of St Nicholas is worth a visit its stained glass windows, destroyed by a bomb in World War Two, were replaced with clear, engraved panes; lending it an unusually light and airy quality. The engraving was carried out over a period of thirty years by Sir Laurence Whistler, brother of the painter Rex Whistler. Sir Laurence was originally a poet but turned to glass engraving and produced work for both Salisbury Cathedral as well as the Oxford colleges. 

The village also has a private walled garden open to the public and an award-winning tearoom set in the old schoolhouse.

For your ghoulish delectation, the cake trolley was the bier that carried Lawrence to his final resting place. 

Don't they say it's a rocky road to Heaven?