Shopping in Dorchester
As befits a town of its size Dorchester has a large and varied shopping potential. It has a few hotels and plenty of bars, cafes and restaurants and a large open air market on Wednesdays.
Dorchester attractions
There are also plenty of attractions in the town to keep you entertained:
- Keep Military Museum
- Terracotta Warriors Museum
- Tutankhamun Exhibition
- Dorset County Museum
- Dinosaur Museum
- Old Crown Court and Cells
Within a few miles of Dorchester are the Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum, the Tudor manor house and gardens of Athelhampton, the listed English Heritage garden of Kingston Maurward and Bockhampton the location of Hardy's Cottage, where Thomas Hardy was born and spent the fist 34 years of his life. It was Hardy who made Dorchester famous in his novel The Mayor of Casterbridge.
Less than 2 miles to the west is the new village of Poundbury which was developed by the Duchy of Cornwall in line with the Prince of Wales's 'Vision of Britain'. Since the completion of phase 1 in 2002, it has become famous internationally as a pioneering example of urban development.
A little further away (8 miles) is Cerne Abbas, which is famous for the 180 ft high Giant, a chalk figure cut into the hillside and well-known for its supposed fertility powers.
Doresters rail network
Dorchester has 2 railway stations:
- Dorchester South with direct rail connections with London, and
- Dorchester West for trains to Gloucester via Bristol and Bath.
Both stations have services to the coastal resort of Weymouth just 15 minutes away.
