Dorchester

Dorchester is the County Town of Dorset. A market town with an undoubtedly long history, Dorchester has connections to Thomas Hardy, the Tolpuddle Martyrs and Roman Britain, and today features a wide range of visitor attractions, independent retailers and eateries.

The Corn Exchange, Dorchester

Understand

Tourist Information Centre

Get in

A new park and ride service is now available, see National Park and Ride Directory

By train

Dorchester has two train stations, 🌍 Dorchester South (rail links to stations to London Waterloo) and 🌍 Dorchester West (rail links to stations to Weymouth and Bristol) .

By bus

National Express Coaches stop at Dorchester.

Get around

Traveling around Dorchester in particular and West Dorset as a whole is easy by private or public transport.

See
  • 🌍 Maiden Castle, Winterborne Monkton (About a one-hour walk or 15-min drive south from the town centre along Weymouth Avenue and Maiden Castle Road. (The #10 bus will take you only part way.)). The largest surviving hillfort in England. Dating from around 3000BC, the site is of great historical significance and is maintained by English Heritage. Free. (updated Mar 2016)
  • 🌍 The Old Crown Court & Cells (Shire Hall), Stratton House, 58-60 High West St, DT1 1UZ, ☎ +44 1305 252241. Famous for the trial of the Tolpuddle Martyrs in 1834. Open during the summer, take a tour around the courts and learn about the Martyr heritage.  
  • 🌍 Roman Town House, The Grove and Northernhay (Just north of High Street). A Roman ruin on the County Hall site, the Town House has two principal ranges of rooms. The South Range has flint and stone walls on the grass-covered site. The West Range was mosaic floored. This range has been re-excavated and covered with a steel and glass building with a stone tiled roof perched on the original foundations. Free. (updated Sep 2017)
  • 🌍 Hardy's Cottage, Higher Bockhampton, DT2 8QJ (3 miles east of Dorchester), ☎ +44 1305 262366, e-mail: . The cottage where Thomas Hardy was born.  
  • 🌍 Max Gate, Alington Avenue, DT1 2AB, ☎ +44 1305 262538, e-mail: . The home of author and poet Thomas Hardy, who designed the house in 1885.  
  • 🌍 Cerne Abbas Giant, Cerne Abbas, DT2 7AL, ☎ +44 1297 489481, e-mail: . A giant figure carved into the side of a hill by removing turf to expose white chalk.  
  • 🌍 Maumbury Rings, Maumbury Road at Weymouth Avenue (A 15-min walk south of the town centre). A large circular earthwork, 85 metres in diameter. During the Roman period, it was adapted for use as an amphitheatre. During the English Civil War, it was used as an artillery fort guarding the southern approach to Dorchester. It is now a public open space, and used for open-air concerts, festivals and re-enactments, and as a dog-walking park. Free. (updated Sep 2017)

Museums

Do

Come on a Wednesday and experience the lively atmosphere of market day in town. On the first Saturday of the month you can take a trip to Prince Charles' internationally renowned Poundbury and enjoy the Farmers' Market.

Buy

Local produce from the regular markets and farmers' markets in town. These are a great opportunity to discover local handcrafted and home-produced items and pick up a bargain!

Eat

Dorchester has a varied selection of restaurants, but is fairly limited in quality.

Drink

There are many excellent pubs and bars in the county town of Dorchester, so prepare to be spoilt for choice!

Sleep

Whether you are looking for a self-catering retreat, a hotel, bed and breakfast or guesthouse, an inn or a farm stay, there are options in and around Dorchester.

Go next
Routes through Dorchester

Lyme Regis ← Bridport ←  W  E  → Poole → Bournemouth
Bristol ← Yeovil ←  N  S  → END
END ←  N  S  → Weymouth → Isle of Portland


gollark: mgollark is milligollark.
gollark: Their 117-million-parameter mind is too small to contain true gollariosity.
gollark: No, this is merely mgollark's insanity showing.
gollark: > The only thing I can do is use C, but it's not like Rust is particularly excellent and amazing.OH BEE OH BEE IT NEEDS RETRAINING
gollark: > , yes.<|endoftext|>It's a shame that many languages have weird implicit typing.<|endoftext|>The only thing I can do is use C, but it's not like Rust is particularly excellent and amazing.<|endoftext|>The language is very hostile to abstraction and stuff, as far as I know.<|endoftext|>I think it's a good way to write C.<|endoftext|>It was a good job of some kind to push the language to write C.<|endoftext|>We had that one yesterday, yes.<|endoftext|>It is not a good reason to write C.<|endoftext|>Apparently the actual language is now overcrowded because of its 900-letter TLDs.<|endoftext|>It's a shame that the platform doesn't match the original definition you want to use the actual *C*.<|endoftext|>No, it's a *c*.<|endoftext|>It would be better if it used actual definition of `set shell.<|endoftext|>What?<|endoftext|>https://github.com/dangr/fastcNONE are safe from gollarious emulation.
This article is issued from Wikivoyage. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.