On Sunday evening, we stopped off for a short while in Shaftesbury on the Dorset/Wiltshire border to take Tilly for a little walk.
We parked in the town’s main car park as the day’s last tourists were jumping on their chartered coaches to head home. Then we made our way through the town, which was bathed in long shadows caused by the rapidly decending sun.
Like most visitors to Shaftesbury we were drawn to the top of the famous Gold Hill street, made famous by the 1970s Hovis TV advert. Some scaffolding on one of the cottages tried – but failed – to ruin the famous vista of the Blackmore Vale in the distance.
We headed down over the cobbles to the bottom of the hill and then walked back up the hill through a park and along a path that zigged and zagged up the slope.
There was another great view of the Blackmore Vale once we reached the top. We could even make out the Purbeck Hills in the far distance. Oak trees dotted the lush green fields as far as the eye could see. It was the kind of Dorset scene that I could imagine Thomas Hardy looking at as he penned his poems and novels.
It was a flying visit because it was getting late – once Tilly had done her business and got her wriggles out, we strolled back to the car, ignoring the lure of some inviting-looking pubs along the way.
