A trip to Wareham

During our holiday from work we had another little trip, this time we did not go very far, we visited Wareham, in Dorset, on the mainland.  We wanted to go there because we had stopped there for lunch, on the way to somewhere else, last year, and felt there was more to see there.

Ernest Baboon has never led a trip before, so this was his first time.

We arrived in Wareham too early to book into our hotel, so we went for a walk.  Ernest consulted an information post to see where we were going.

We walked along the river and Ernest was fascinated by the big reeds, you couldn't see the water because the reeds were so tall.

Ernest was fascinated by this steamer.

After a long walk and some lunch we booked into our hotel.

The Priory Hotel, Wareham is a very old building, that used to be a monastery.  However, it was very comfortable.

I don't think the monks lived like this!!

Ernest checked out the views from the two windows in the room.  He hardly needed to go out to see the countryside.

Baboons love fruit so Ernest was really happy to find a bowl of fruit in the room.

He was less certain about what this fruit, in the lounge was.  We did not identify them.

The other thing of interest, to Ernest was this expensive bottle of wine.  However, he did not drink it. There was lots more wine in the fridge, but he decided to leave it there.

The hotel has the most beautiful grounds, there were lots of areas to explore.  Ernest was surprised to find this pod in the grounds.  It was very comfortable and he thought it might be a good place for a nap!!

In the evening we went for fish and chips in a very good local pub, the Old Granary, highly recommended!! It was delicious.  They also did some very nice puddings, but that got eaten before it could be photographed!!

In the morning, after breakfast we decided to walk around the old town walls, before leaving.  We seem to have gone in the wrong direction, as we came across Point 5 first.

This was the site of the old Elizabethan bowling green.  We know that Elizabethans loved playing bowls (more like crown green bowls than 10 pin bowling).  After all we could have missed the Spanish Armada because Francis Drake was bowling in Plymouth.  However, this was also the site of the market place.

Next we came to this old church in the walls.  Ernest was particularly interested as it is St Martin's and we Baboon HQ baboons have the name of Martin.

OK we were going the right way, even if it was backwards, because this is Point 4.  This showed more history, including Henry VIII's involvement with Wareham, the death of Lawrence of Arabia near by and St Martin's church.

At this stage we got great views over the area.  Wareham used to be a port, but it has silted up and now it is pretty much an inland town, but you can see where the sea used to come up to the town.

Point 3 on the walls came next, as indeed it should, given that we were walking backwards along the route.  This told about archaeological findings in Wareham that showed that the Vikings had quite a lot of involvement with the town when it was a port.

This is where things went a bit wrong, as we came to Point 1 next.  This told of the original inhabitants of Wareham and about how the civil war affected Wareham, as well as a fire in the area.

We went back and found Point 2.  This told more about the Vikings and also about the horrible Judge Jeffries from the Dorchester Assizes, who order many people hanged in that area and worse.  He is quite famous in England as a vicious judge.

This was a really interesting short trip in a very interesting town, staying in a great hotel and eating fish and chips in a great pub.  However, we had to go home, so we drove back to Southampton to get our ferry home.  On the way we stopped, very briefly, at an interesting place that had some walks and natural history exhibitions.  Ernest like the varieties of heather they were growing.

He noticed that there were lots of climbing opportunities, so if only he could remember where it was and what it was called, it could be a baboon visit for the future.  We got home safely on the Red Funnel ferry from Southampton.

Thank you for reading.  We would recommend a short trip to Wareham for anyone who is in the area.  Dorset apple cake, fish and chips and an interesting town should be enough for anyone.