Moreton train station is just five minutes by road from Garden Cottage. The trains run hourly from London Waterloo stopping at various stations including Southampton, Bournemouth and Poole along the way. From Moreton the train carries on to Dorchester and Weymouth.

> More information on Moreton station
> South West Trains: London Waterloo to Weymouth timetable

From the M3:
From the end of the M3 follow signs for Bournemouth. This will lead you onto the M27 and eventually the A31. Continue to follow the A31 and when you see signs for Dorchester follow them as they take you onto the A35. After two miles on the A35 take the first junction off the dual carriageway, signposted Briantspuddle. After 50 meters turn left at the T-junction followed by a right, then immediately left, signposted Brantspuddle. Follow the road for about a mile into Briantspuddle village crossroads. Turn right and after 300 meters by the monument set in a wide gravel driveway turn left into Bladen Valley. Garden cottage is the first driveway on the right after the monument. Please park on grass to the left side of driveway unless very wet in which case please use the gravel drive.

GPS References:
If you have a TomTom navigate to an address. City is Briantspuddle, road is Bladen Valley. Select 'Anywhere' as a crossing. Alternatively you can navigate to a postcode of DT2 7HP.

Southampton Airport is only an hour from the cottage. Situated at the junction of the M3 and M27 it also has it's own train station - Southampton Airport Parkway which is on the same line as our local station, Moreton. Trains run hourly through to Southampton, Bournemouth & Poole and then on to Moreton, Dorchester & Weymouth.

Exeter airport is just over an hour's drive from the cottage. The low-cost airline Flybe is based here and most of the services in and out of the airport are Flybe planes.

Southampton Airport Website

Exeter Airport Website

Abbotsbury Swannery is the only managed colony of nesting mute swans in the world. It is situated near the village of Abbotsbury in Dorset, England, nine miles west of Weymouth on a two acre site around the Fleet lagoon protected from the weather of Lyme Bay by Chesil Beach. The colony can number over 600 swans with around 150 pairs.

Abbotsbury swannery is today a major tourist attraction and the swans have become accustomed to the presence of visitors and allow close approach even in the nesting season when cygnets are on the nest. Before viewing the swans, visitors can look at the Decoyman's House which sets the scene for the visit with a display explaining how the colony has been managed over the years and how the present situation has evolved. Apart from the swans, the Fleet and Chesil Beach attracts many species of waterfowl and over 300 different varieties have been recorded leading to the area being designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Protected Area (SPA) and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).

Taken from Wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License.

The Bovington Tank Museum is the foremost collection of armoured vehicles in the United Kingdom. With almost 300 vehicles on exhibition from 26 countries it is the most wide-ranging collection of tanks and armoured vehicles in the world, and includes the second working example of a German Tiger I tank in the world and a British WW1 Mark V.

The exhibition is split into five sections: the World War I Hall, the Inter War Hall, the World War II Hall, the Tamiya Hall and the British Steel Hall. The World War I Hall contains the whole British tank development from Little Willie to the Mark VIII "Liberty", and also an example of the British Mark V, one of the few WWI tanks still in working order. Incorporated into the WWI hall is an illustration of the life of the soldier and writer T.E. Lawrence, who lived at nearby Clouds Hill cottage and served in the Tanks Corp at Bovington for a short time. The Inter War hall highlights the rapid progress made in tank design during the period leading up to World War Two.

Taken from Wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Monkey World is a 65-acre (0.26 km²) ape and monkey sanctuary and zoo in Dorset, England. It was set up in 1987 by Jim and Alison Cronin to provide abused Spanish beach chimpanzees—who would be dressed in human clothes and used as a photographer's prop in tourist resorts, and often killed at ages 4 or 5—with rehabilitation and a stable home.

Today it houses over 150 different primates of 15 different species, which makes it the largest collection outside of Africa. The centre works closely with foreign governments and conservation bodies to stop the illegal smuggling of apes out of Africa and Asia, and has rescued many abused chimpanzees, living in laboratories, in circuses, as novelty pets, or as photographers' props.

See the official Monkey World website at www.MonkeyWorld.co.uk

Taken from Wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License.

The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. The 95 mile (155km) long site starts at Orcombe Point near Exmouth in East Devon and ends at Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in East Dorset. The site consists of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous cliffs, spanning the Mesozoic Era, documenting 180 million years of geological history. The Jurassic coast was the first natural World Heritage Site to be designated in the United Kingdom. Its entire length can be walked on the South West Coast Path.

The site contains a number of unique geological features and shows excellent examples of different landforms, including the natural arch at Durdle Door, the cove and limestone folding at Lulworth Cove and an island, the Isle of Portland. Chesil Beach is a fine example of both a tombolo and a storm beach. West Bay forms a major gateway to the Jurassic Coast with the completion in 2004 of the Jurassic Pier. The site has stretches of both concordant and discordant coastlines. The site is the subject of international field studies, because of the quality of the geology.

Taken from Wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License.