The A3030, a usually forgotten little road, running west to east connecting the A352 (Dorchester to Sherborne road) to the A357 (Stalbridge to Blandford road). From the high hills that split the falling rain between the Bristol and the English Channels, it enters the Blackmore Vale on the edge of Sir Walter Raleigh’s Sherborne Castle estate. The road joins the valley of the Caundle Brook as it flows into the River Lydden and on into the Stour. Along its route sit a number of small successful businesss. The Elms has developed from an old pub into a bistro with extensive views over the Vale. The neighbouring Forge and Fabrication have produced giant creations from wasted metal which honour fallen soldiers and mystical beasts, the studio always welcoming visitors. Also in Alweston is the carpenter F Cuff and Sons, producing bespoke furniture for over 100 years, with the nine hole Folke Golf Course, filled with wlidlife behind. Oxford’s Bakery dates back generations while the deer park at Stoke Gaylard claims to be the oldest in the county. The White Hart is a typical English pub with its cob walls leaning out into the road and the Dorset Blue Vinny Cheese has won awards. The largest village on the route is Bishops Caundle, complete with a holy well hidden on the river banks to the south. Today the focus is around the primary school and the well run community village shop. On the wettest of days the rise on which the village sits can become encircled in water, creating its own little island, each road out blocked. An aptly named Peaceful Lane disappears off the main route as the B3143 appears from the once wild woodland of the Vale of the White Hart and home to the famous White Stag. All along a distance of 7 miles (11k).
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