Book Review – August 2023

So it seemed to me that Dorset is ripe for a sort of psychogeography – a literary tradition that in essence is a sensitivity to the meeting point of place and history, finding meaning in the everyday and making connections across time.

The Real series of books was started by Cardiff writer Peter Finch in 2002 with an alternative guide to his home city. Real Cardiff was so successful that it spawned three further editions and led to Real guides being produced for cities and counties throughout Wales and the rest of the UK. Other writers have created these later guides, but Finch remains as the series editor.

Many of us think we know Dorset from past seaside holidays or from travelling to a Dorset port to catch a boat across the English Channel. But do we really know this ancient county with its Ryme Intrinsica, Beer Hackett and other fever dream villages? Is the ancient  green hinterland beyond the coastal resorts really just part of the imaginary Wessex of William Barnes and Thomas Hardy?

But Dorset resident and writer Jon Woolcott knows this county inside out, having travelled much of it by bike and on foot. But, like other books in the Real series, this is no conventional travel guide. Woolcott makes a point of seeking out the quirky and the overlooked; places that rarely make the glossy county guide books, but which nonetheless capture the essence of Dorset. In Real Dorset Woolcott travels the byways of his home county finding the topographical threads to tug at in order to reveal the temporal layers beneath.

Dorset has no motorways and very few dual carriageways, so the traveller is forced to take his or her time. Woolcott divides his musings on the county into compass point sections. The North covers the area bordering Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire. We take long-distance paths such as the Shire Rack, visit neglected settlements like Stalbridge and the ancient hillfort at Hambledon.

The South, East and West sections take us to Dorset’s coastline. Woolcott visits all the obvious and expected places, like Portland, Weymouth and Bournemouth. But he has an uncanny knack for finding overlooked turnings and unearthing odd human stories. Portland lives up to its eccentric reputation, as witnessed by the popular local bumper sticker: ‘Keep Portland Weird!’

The Central section covers the county town, Dorchester, and the ancient settlements of  Blandford and Wimborne. Peaceful as they are today, Woolcott reveals a past of conflict and rebellion in these towns. He also walks the chalk uplands of this area and considers the origins of the chalk giant at Cerne Abbas.

Real Dorset is a worthy addition to Peter Finch’s series of alternative guide books. The pleasure of reading the text is enhanced by Jon Woolcott’s often offbeat black and white photographs.

Jon Woolcott

Jon Woolcott is a writer and publisher, who has lived in Dorset for twelve years, and grew up nearby in southern Wiltshire. He currently works for the acclaimed independent publisher, Little Toller, where he also edits The Clearing, the online journal for new writing about place and nature. He has been Communications Officer for Cranborne Chase AONB and held senior marketing and buying roles for Stanfords, Waterstones and Ottakar’s. His writing, which often focuses on Dorset, has appeared widely, including for The Guardian, Caught by the River, The Bookseller, Sightly Foxed, Echtrai Journal and History Press.

Real Dorset

Jon Woolcott

Seren 

April 2023

UK – £9.99 (paperback)