menonfire's favorite photos

Just beyond the entrance is The College of Matrons Almshouse, in PiP's. www.collegeofmatrons.org.uk

Kingston Maurward Animal Park and Gardens near Dorchester, Dorset. It is also an agricultural collage and equestrian teaching centre.

In 1717 George Pitt built an early Georgian country house in the Frome Valley, just 2 miles from the county town of Dorchester. The house was made of red brick, but when George III saw it he expressed his dislike of the style, saying with disapproval, 'Brick, Mr Pitt, only brick'. Pitt promptly had the brick house encased in Portland stone. The house is now part of Kingston Maurward Agricultural College and on this day the students were taking exams.

The Woodland Trail, Kingston Lacy.

Following the ruin of Corfe Castle in the Civil War, the Bankes family rebuilt their home at Kingston Lacy during the 1660's. Nearly two centuries later, William Bankes made the dramatic changes to the house that we see today. There is also a woodland trail of 3 miles (5km) as well as extensive gardens, including the Japanese Garden.

Sunday lunch at The Mitre Inn, Shaftesbury, with a view across the countryside from their tiered terraces at the back. All finished off with an ice-cream in the park with my sister & daughter, and a blackbird giving us a beautiful singing performance. Cheers!

Three pictures taken in my garden yesterday. The red double tulips always end up on the ground, but I think they look quite pretty there! The blackbird is waiting for his breakfast, although he gets plenty of worms from the garden everyday!

St Peter's Church ~ A Medieval Church was established on the site of the present Church in the 12th century. At that time Hinton St. Mary was a Lay Brothers settlement belonging to the Abbey of St. Mary in Shaftesbury. The dissolution of the monasteries around 1535 marked the end of Shaftesbury Abbey. At this time, in addition to the Church, there were three main buildings and the Manor House was subsequently built on the site of a dormitory. The Gatehouse and Manor House.

St Nicholas Church, Moreton, Dorset ~ Due to the current regulations, we were not able to go inside the church, which is the best place to view the beautiful windows. They were hand etched by Laurence Whistler and took 30 years to complete. I was only able to get one good window picture (in PiP) because of the light and sloping ground, but they are all spectacular.