As the idea of beauty lies in the beholder, all this book can do is to act as a signpost and leave you, the traveller, to form your own impressions and nostalgias for a particular place. Every county has its own type of charm and the works of Thomas Hardy certainly enhance but are not the origin of this special magic they merely add a fillip to a day's outing, be it a corner of old Poole, an outlying hamlet, a trip to Portland to gaze upon and wonder at Chesil Beach or a wander and a wonderment amongst the rolling hills. Within the boundaries every taste is catered for: painters, historians and archaeologists, ornithologists, children wanting sea, sandy beaches and amusements or folk in search of rural retreat. It matters not the starting point or the season; when the golden corn is glowing in the summer sun or when the hedgerows are sparkling with hoar frost and the blackbirds showing up starkly in a temporary fairyland. As life is made up of strong contrasts so it is with Dorset, from the harsh and jagged coast of St. Aldhelm's Head to the delicacy of the Chalk Hill Butterfly.

The ideal thing, of course, is to explore on foot but in this age of the car most of the spots I pinpoint are accessible or nearly so, by this means. The nooks and crannies you will find for yourself so once again I wish you ‘Happy Days Out'.