YOU’RE never far from a mad-for-it film crew in Dorset these days – or so it seems. We’d actually booked into the five star Munden House B&B outside Sherborne because our chihuahua, Captain Smidge, was travelling with us and Alastair Sawday’s invaluable Dog Friendly Breaks in Britain recommended it highly.
West Bay at Bridport, one of the film's locations; below the Summer House at Munden
Cerne Abbas, home to that well-endowed, erectile Giant carved on a chalk hillside
Then along came the release of the new movie version of Thomas Hardy’s classic Far From the Madding Crowd, where Sherborne stands in for Casterbridge (in the book based on the less photogenic Dorchester).
We had to mention it to our hosts Annie and Colin Fletcher and they revealed that the film’s star, Carey Mulligan had stayed in the ‘Summer House’, one of three ‘cottages’ in their rural lodging complex (we stayed in the Garden Cottage). It was chosen because it was a secure billet (two minders kept her company) well outside town.
Madding Crowd, for which Mulligan won critical praise for her role as Bathsheba Everdene, is one of two recent productions using Sherborne as a set, the other The Imitation Game, in which Benedict Cumberbatch played Alan Turing. The troubled adolescent scenes were shot at Sherborne School, Turing’s actual alma mater.
Almshouses in SherborneSherborne is a picture in itself. Its Abbey Church, 16th-century castle and gabled shops and houses provide a sandstone backdrop to several market scenes in the film, while to the north lovely Mapperton House serves as the farmhouse Bathsheba inherits and Bridport’s West Bay, familiar from telly hit Broadchurch, features, too along, with other bits of the rugged Jurassic Coast.
Add to this exposure all the hype about the Soho House set and the like fleeing the capital to colonise Lyme Regis, forcing up house prices, and you’d forgive us for driving straight on to Devon. Far from it – from the moment we rolled into the county we were hooked again. From the Hovis cobbles of Shaftesbury’s Gold Hill to Lyme Regis’s Cobb (with its own Jane Austen and French Lieutenant’s Woman literary echoes) Dorset is a creamy treat.
Golden Hill at ShaftesburyOur arrival, though, had something of a bittersweet Hardy twist. A power cut (and the possibility of an authentic candlelit cottage evening) greeted us at Munden. Even the Good Beer Guide-listed Three Elms Inn along the road was blacked out, so we drove for dinner 10 miles south into vintage Hardy Country around Cerne Abbas, home to that well-endowed, erectile Giant carved on a chalk hillside. We were aroused by the belly pork at the award-wining Royal Oak in the village and calmed by a walk among its rustic lanes.
Cerne Abbas Giant is impressive; so, too the Royal Oak, below
Size isn’t everything. We drove a couple of mile further towards Dorchester and the gloriously titled Piddletrenthide to check out an old favourite, The Smith’s Arms, once claimed to be Britain’s smallest pub. Alas, the flint and thatch streamside minnow has given up the unequal struggle with the huge carvery roadhouses and their kin.
Back at Munden the lights were on and we could enjoy the cosy surroundings, especially the galleried bedroom, hung with exotic rugs the much-traveled Fletchers import. Captain Smidge found a holiday soulmate, too (below), in their laidback collie, Cassie, and the breakfast was sublime.
The next morning was glorious as we dropped in on hilltop Shaftesbury, once a Saxon settlement, and detoured across the rolling southern extension of Cranborne Chase with views for miles across dazzling rape fields and clusters of ancient woodland.
Then we swooped to the coast in search of a crab sandwich. Through Abbotsbury, almost too mellow stone perfect, with its tropical gardens and swannery, choosing a clifftop walk at Burton Bradstock rather than join the long queue at seafood specialists Hive Beach Cafe and finally securing a baguette packed with brown crabmeat in a deli along the blowy Lyme Regis front.
On the Cobb at Lyme RegisSmidgeless, we would have been tempted by the Hix Oyster and Fish House in its chi chi shack high overlooking the famous Cobb harbour. It’s committed to sustainable fish, but I’m also a sucker for a sea buckthorn posset – the kind of pud only a metropolitan arriviste like Mark Hix would serve in Lyme (he also has opened a bijou Townhouse hotel here).
All not very Gabriel Oak then, but the Cobb was as elemental as ever, waves crashing over its buttresses, sending us dashing for the spit. These days it’s a haven for mostly pleasure craft with some fishermen hanging on in and, of course, it is still haunted by the French Lieutenant’s Woman, who in John Fowles’ celebrated novel on such a day as ours “stood motionless, staring, staring out to sea.”
It’s over three decades since it was famously filmed, starring Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep. Surely, with Dorset on such a roll, it’s time for a remake. I have the straw and the smock – surely I merit a part as an extra!
A quick guide to Hardy Country and its movie locations
Visit Dorset have updated their Hardy Trail. http://www.visit-dorset.com/dbimgs/Hardy_Trail_web%20leaflet(1).pdf and also have produced a local guide to Far From The Madding Crowd. http://www.visit-dorset.com/about-the-area/far-from-the-madding-crowd
Hardy Cottage, BockhamptonThomas Hardy was born in the village of Higher Bockhampton in 1840, and you can visit the little cob and thatch cottage where he grew up and wrote Far From The Madding Crowd. It is now known as Hardy's Cottage , has a new cafe and visitor’s centre and is open Wed to Sat, 11am to 5pm; adults £6; children £3.50 (01305 262366 click here £6).
The National Trust are also steward’s of Max Gate (01305 262 538; nationaltrust.org.uk, £6) in Dorchester, where he lived for the rest of his life after the novel’s success in 1874. Look out for special events there.
At the Dorset County Museum (01305 262 735; dorsetcountymuseum.org; £6.35) you can see a reconstruction of Hardy's study and, until June 8, an exhibition of costumes worn by Carey Mulligan as Bathsheba.
Mapperton House was transformed ino a farm for the filmMapperton House, a beautiful golden Ham stone manor house near Beaminster, stands in for Everdene Farm, its formal gardens transformed into a farmyard with hay ricks and a sheep dip. House open July 6 to August 7, 2pm-4.30pm, weekdays only; adults £6. Gardens, including 17th century fishponds, open daily (except Saturdays), 11am to 5pm until October 31; adults £6 (01308 862645.
Sherborne is a handsome place to wander around and a must-visit is Sherborne Abbey – the ‘Saxon cathedral’ founded in AD 705, with its stunning fan vaults. For the less spiritually and aesthetically inclined the town’s pubs are distinctly average. The exception is the Digby Tap freehouse in Cooks Lane, with well-kept cask ale and a real old Dorset feel to it.
For details on John Fowles’ Lyme Regis and the fascinating Undercliff, where he lived, now the UK’s largest nature reserve visit, this link.
Geological marvel the Jurassic Coast stretches 95 miles from Exmouth in Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset, and was the UK's first Unesco World Heritage Site.
Fact file
Neil Sowerby stayed at Munden House, Mundens Lane, Alweston, Sherborne, DT9 5HU, Dorset. 01963 23150, http://www.mundenhouse.co.uk. £85 to £130 a night. Dinner 3 courses £27.
Munden House, our Sherborne base; below, our gallery bedroom 
He learned about it through its inclusion in Alastair Sawday’s Special Places To Stay: Dog-friendly breaks in Britain (£14.99) does what it says on the tin – brilliantly.
Alastair Sawday, of course, is a highly recommended independent guide to characterful accommodation in Britain and abroad, the day-to-day running now in the hands of Alastair’s son Toby. Highly recommended.
