Blandford Forum

Forum is an old name for Market; nothing Roman about it at all. That's got that out of the way.


Blandford is the name of a town in Dorset: a place of parts which is at one moment a typical old fashioned market town; an army town; a place of unusual beauty mixed in with the two -
if you turn the right corner.


                   I said it was old fashioned!

A bit like the army camp when racing took place there a long time ago.

 Here is the beginning of the beautiful bits - a view of the River Stour





with the old railway bridge in the background




















 certainly not devoid of wildlife right in town!




















If you look to your right another beautiful view -
a brewery, Hall & Woodhouse by name:







and here,     
one of the most terrible sights you will ever see in your life -








the brewery on fire!










But, back to the good bits -
 a heron doing a spot of fishing

Swans and Cygnets being fed,

the ducks lined up on the weir awaiting their turn 











and, of course, the greedy gulls turned up in numbers











but the real beauty is the river itself

how many shades of green can you count?

















and so it goes on, almost in the middle of town.













But if you need refreshing after your stroll along the banks of he Stour

there are other beautiful sights just up the road where you can relax with a sample of the local brewery which, fortunately, was never burnt right down!