Visit

From DorkbotLondon

I visited the area today to have a look around. I found :

• The site is barely visible from the road - it's shielded by a row of large bushes on the southern edge. Only the tallest building can be seen. It's approached by a farm track and there's a gate at the entrance. As you leave the gate and the line of bushes there are two car parking spots (5-6 spaces each) and then the track turns right into the main entrance area. The crops in the surrounding fields are some sort of field beans (not wheat as shown in the google photo).

• There was a group from Nando's doing a training session at the site, but they were having lunch and let me briefly look around. The main lounge is a good size, with comfortable seating and some large tables. The kitchen is adjacent and could probably hold about 4 people working together.

• A corridor leads to the main sleeping accommodation.

• A side entrance (west) connects the main hall to a small paved area and a portakabin classroom. There is access to a wash/shower room from the paved area (I presume this is the camper's shower).

• I didn't explore the sleeping accommodation but did see the larger of the two 2-person rooms (the one with basin + shower), near the side entrance. It had had an extra mattress squeezed in and was still usable (though they were a bit scornful about the shower).

• Outside, there is a tarmac entrance area, some low walls suitable for sitting on, and an area of well-kept grass (a lawn, really) for tents.

• The firepit is in this area and is not huge - it's a reasonable size for sitting around. There is some scope for improving it (safely and reversibly).

• The beach is 20-30 minutes walk away (there is more than one route). There are options for long, shallow climbs and short, sharp climbs. The shallow and steep routes would be easy in moonlight or torchlight, with cowpats the only hazard. A narrow, slippery alternative covering the last couple of hundred metres is probably best done on a fine day. I think the tide was fairly high when I visited, with mostly pebbles at the top of the beach. Some sand was visible and I'm told more appears at low tide. The cliffs appear to be oil shale and some rocks are slippery (not just the green ones!). There were three people swimming there (on a Monday afternoon, in July) and a dribble of walkers on the nearby southwest coast path, some of whom visited the beach.

• There is no grocery shop in Worth Matravers. The nearest is probably Langton Matravers, with more choices available in Corfe or Swanage.

• The pub, The Square and Compass, is excellent. It has a couple of snugs, a lot of stone and wooden tables in the garden, live music and a fossil museum. It serves beer entirely from casks (not even hand pumps) and has won several awards for cider. Some of the ciders offered are home pressed and all the real ales were new to me (I do usually recognise one or two). There isn't much food : it seems to be meat or veg pasties, or pies. But the pasties are home made in the Cornish tradition, having real pieces of meat and veg rather than mechanically recovered slurry. There are a limited number made each day - when they're gone, you'll have to fill up on beer.

• There is a tea shop, lacy tablecloth type.

• Langton Matravers has at least two further pubs, and there is another at Kingston. The centre of Corfe is about half pubs, and I noticed one that advertised free wifi.

Sorry, no pictures. Cameraphone refused to play. Also couldn't survey cell coverage though a short test seemed to show about three 2G networks, no 3G.

[adrian g]