Bridport

With its broad streets, (inherited from the days when they were used for making ropes), Bridport is an appealing little town surrounded by green hills and with a goodly number of 17th and 18th century buildings. Most notable amongst these are the stately Georgian Town Hall, and the pleasing collection of 17th century houses in the street running south from the Town Hall. An even older survivor is the medieval Chantry. If you visit the town on a Wednesday or Saturday you’ll find its three main streets chock-a-block with dozens of stalls participating in the regular Street Market. The Town Council actively encourages local people who produce goods at home, which are not part of their regular livelihood, to join in. So there’s an extraordinary range of artefacts on offer, anything from silk flowers to socks, fossils to fishing tackle. Another popular attraction is Palmers Brewery in West Bay Road. Established in 1794, part of the brewery is still thatched. Between Easter and the end of September visitors are welcomed daily at 11am (not bank holidays) for a 2-hour tour of the historic brewery, the charge for which includes a commemorative tankard, an inscribed certificate and a beer tasting (or a soft drink).

Bridport Museum is good on local history and family records and also has an interesting collection of dolls. You can also learn about two distinguished visitors to the town. One was Joan of Navarre who landed at Bridport in 1403 on her way to become queen to Henry IV; the other, Charles II who arrived in the town after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. He was fleeing to France, pretending to be the groom in a runaway marriage. As he attended to his horses in the yard of an inn, an ostler approached him saying ‘Surely I know you, friend?’ The quick-thinking future monarch asked where the ostler had been working before. When he replied ‘In Exeter’, Charles responded ‘Aye, that is where we must have met’. Charles then excused himself and made a speedy departure from the town. If the ostler’s memory for faces had been better, he could have claimed the £1,000 bounty for Charles’ capture and subsequent English history would have followed a very different course.

Bridport has become something of a foodie town, being hailed as Dorset’s Best Food Town and awarded Beacon Town status for the quality and diversity of food produced and available here. Many local producers appeared on the TV River Cottage series and the town now hosts an annual food festival for a week in June.