On this week's Open Country Helen Mark explores Dorset.

The exodus of city folk seeking the country idyll appears to continue unabated. This week Open Country heads to the latest “in” county, Dorset.

Helen Mark meets poet and playwright Sue Worth. She was brought up in the village of Stratton with her sister and brother and it’s her childhood, rich in characters and gossip that feed her stories and reflections. As they stroll through the village Sue tells Helen of her grandfather, a stern controlling man who disliked incomers and change. Sue’s mother who came from the town, had her romantic ideas of country life brought up short by the everyday realities of country life. Sue’s memories of the village are not clouded by sentiment and she chose to leave the village and shape a new life in Dorchester. She says it’s important to chose – chose where you live, chose your friends, chose the life you need to nourish you because as Sue points out, in her village that choice was not available.

Dorset

Oliver Trevett and Ron Dyer live in the village of Tolpuddle. They are retired now but spent their working lives as farm labourers. They tell Helen of a life that was harsh but enjoyable, surrounded by your mates and sharing the same circumstances helped forge the village community. The often feudal relationship between landowner and worker is explored. Ron explains how he was made redundant and evicted from his cottage, in fact it was his friendship with Oliver a union official that helped him secure his home in Tolpuddle. The cottages were built by the Trade Unions to help homeless farm workers live out a secure and comfortable retirement. They were built as a memorial to the “Tolpuddle Matyrs”, the labourers sent to Australia in 1834 as a punishment for seeking a living wage.

Tolpuddle

Finally, just outside the village of North Poorton Helen meets Jo Treeves, Helen Wallbridge and Michael Fookes. These three people encapsulate the Dorset dilemma. Jo fell in love with the house and moved in from London ten years ago and Michael was born in the cottage but moved out when he was five. Jo says she loves Dorset and wants to put down roots, she wants to share the stability and tradition that village life offers. Jo wants the life people like Michael and Helen have created. Michael and Helen are father and daughter, they are still involved in farming and love country life. They enjoy and have welcomed the “incomers” - new people are absorbed into village life as long as they take part and give something back.

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