The best MTB trails around Fifehead Magdalen

All aboard for a massive hit of nostalgia! Shillingstone Station is like a beautifully preserved 1950s time capsule tucked away in the Dorset countryside. Once a vital stop on the legendary Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway (the "Slow and Dirty"), it’s now being lovingly restored by a team of dedicated volunteers. You can wander the original platforms, explore vintage signal boxes, and even have tea in a converted railway carriage. It’s the perfect spot to pretend you're an extra in Brief Encounter while the North Dorset Trailway hikers buzz past. No trains to Bath today, but the atmosphere is pure gold!

Durweston Mill is a Grade II listed building, that has been converted into a holiday accommodation with two apartments, Coopers and Riverside, overlooking the River Stour. It also features a separate 5-acre private island with glamping and camping facilities, which are open for bookings and offer activities like fishing, wild swimming, and dog walking.

The cross crowning this small sacred monument is comparatively small and modest in relation to the entire monument. However, the cross's base, rising in Gothic form, deserves special attention. The very delicate structure, stretching skyward, looks to me a bit like someone had removed a small church steeple from the church and transplanted it onto the lawn here.

Only opens from Weds to Sunday

Try the food at the station lovely pasties

In addition to the main rail bridge spanning the river, smaller bridges were built to allow traffic and pedestrians to cross the cuttings and track as it travelled north-west. Three bridges were built for this purpose and all of them remain integral to the navigation of the town today. Arguably the most distinctive of them is the Alexandra Street pedestrian footbridge, above the site of the dismantled station. Constructed from iron and now partially supported by four narrow legs, the bridge stands at what was once the northern end of the station, where the single-line section to Templecombe began. Blandford station remained open until 7 March 1966, when the entire line from Bath to Bournemouth closed to passengers. Goods traffic continued for a further three years, but the station was finally closed and the track lifted in 1969. Following the closure, the Damory railway bridges, on the southern approach to the station, were eventually demolished in 1978.

Shillingstone railway station was a station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR), serving the village of Shillingstone in the English county of Dorset. Shillingstone is the last surviving example of a station built by the Dorset Central Railway (one of the forerunners of the S&DJR). The station closed in 1966, when services were withdrawn from the S&DJR route. Since 2001, enthusiasts have been working to re-open the station as a heritage railway attraction.[1] The main building has now been renovated, and opened to the public as a museum, shop and refreshment room in 2008.[ The station was opened on 31 August 1863 by the Somerset and Dorset Railway, although planned and designed by one of its two predecessors, the Dorset Central Railway. Initial train services were provided by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR). In 1875, the Midland Railway and the LSWR together took over a joint lease of the line, forming the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway.

No potholes!!! an absolute luxury!!!