If you’re interested in taking a visit down to the Jurassic Coast this summer, take a look at some interesting facts that might take your fancy.
1) Bournemouth serves up more than 2,000 ice creams a day.
2) Poole Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in the world, the largest is Sydney.
3) Sandbanks has, by area, the fourth highest land value in the world.
4) The Celtic name ‘Dorseteschire’ means the place of fisticuffs!
5) Gold Hill, Shaftesbury has been immortalised by advertisements for Hovis bread with a delivery boy seen pushing a bike up the steeply cobbled street lined by thatched cottages.
6) A chilli pepper grown in Dorset claims to be the World’s hottest. The Dorset Naga is so fiery that gloves have to be worn to handle it.
7) Monkey World is a famous sanctuary near Wool; Dorset started to rescue monkeys from all over the world. They come from pet shops, owners or being ill-treated in their native countries.
8) The Cenotaph, St Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace are all made of Portland Stone quarried on the Isle of Portland.
9) England’s oldest post box in Bishops Caundle is still used and dates from 1853.
10) Brownsea Island is a nature reserve but is also famously known as the place Scouting was started in 1907 by Lord Baden-Powell