Nothing Says England like Thatched Cottages and Country Homes!

We left Bere Regis Friday morning and, after talking to the proprietor of our B&B, we learned about a large country home not to far away called Kingston Lacy which is owned by the National Trust. As we had hoped to see Highclere Castle (of Downton Abbey fame) but it isn't open right now so this looked like it might be a good alternative. So, we decided to visit it. On the way, however, we stopped at Milton Abbas which I first saw in 1979. This small village has a street lined with lovely thatched cottages.

From Wikipedia, here is its story:

In 1780, Joseph Damer, Lord Milton, the first Earl of Dorchester and owner of Milton Abbey, decided that the adjacent market town, Middleton, was disturbing his vision of rural peace. He commissioned architect, Sir William Chambers, and landscape gardener, Capability Brown, (both of whom had already worked on the Abbey building and grounds) to design a new village, Milton Abbas, in a wooded valley (Luccombe Bottom) to the southeast of the Abbey. Most of the existing villagers were relocated here, and the previous village was demolished and the site landscaped. The 36 almost identical thatched cottages were intended to house two families each. They were built from cob and were painted yellow, with each house fronted by a lawn; originally a horse chestnut tree was planted between each dwelling. Almshouses and a church were also provided for the new villager. The church, consecrated in 1786, is in Georgian Gothic style, with late 19th-century additions.

Some house-names give lues to some of the original inhabitants of the village: baker, blacksmith, brewery, etc. Today the houses are white-washed and the main street also features a public house (the Hambro Arms), a Post Office/shop, a now redundant school building, and a Wesleyan chapel.

That earl must have been very rich to decide to just move an entire village! Here are some photos of this pretty village.

From there, it was on to visit Kingston Lacy, about 40 minutes away. The house was bequeathed to the National Trust in the 1980s and it was the most valuable property that had been given to that organization. Its history dates from the 1500s. Our visit was only to the house. We did not have time to explore the massive gardens on the property. The following information is from Wikipedia:

Kingston Lacy is a country house and estate near Wimborne Minster, Dorset. It was, for many years, the family seat of the Bankes family who lived nearby at Corfe Castle until its destruction in the English Civil War after its incumbent owners, Sir John Bankes and Dame Mary, had remained loyal to Charles I. The house was built between 1663 and 1665 by Ralph Bankes, son of Sir John Bankes. It is a rectangular building with two main storeys, attics and basement. The gardens and parkland were laid down at the same time, including some of the specimen trees that remain today. Various additions and alterations were made to the house over the years and the estate remained in the ownership of the Bankes family from the 17th to the late 20th century. The house was bequeathed to the National Trust upon the death in 1982 of Henry John Ralph Bankes, along with Corfe Castle.

Yes, there was an organ in the dining room!

After our visit there, we headed for the Dorset coast where UNESCO designated area called The Jurassic Coast begins. We wanted to see Durdle Door, a limestone arch which has been made by the sea. It was difficult to get a proper photo of it and the hike down, which we didn't do (for me because it also meant a long hike up!) still wouldn't have given us the angle of photo we wanted. However, this is what we managed to take:

With that, our brief visit to Dorset was finished and we started heading west to Devon. We drove on to the small village of Otterton, just outside Budleigh Salterton, where we stayed the night at the King's Arms. This is a village I used to drive through with my mother and her cousin all the time years ago to get to Sidmouth from Budleigh where they lived. It was a nice memory to come back here as I had actually never stopped in the village except to maybe take a quick photo. So, here is a photo of the lovely pub where we spent the night, one of an interesting phone box, and of some of the many thatched cottages in the village.