The latest issue is jam-packed (even for us) with fascinating local people and important North Dorset issues. Is farming suffering from being Countryfile-d? SHOULD Dorset’s second home owners pay more tax? The BV gets the actual facts with an exclusive scoop form Luke Rake at Kingston Maurward college – have they really just decided to pull all apprenticeships? Pauline Batstone shares her Dorset island Discs, and Tim Laycock answers 19 random questions (he has the BEST cat story).
Plus I asked 83 year-old Henry ‘Blowers’ Blofeld if he’d considered retiring. Yes, that went as well as you’d expect…
Inside this issue:
- Should second home owners pay a premium on Council Tax in Dorset? They may soon see the tax double – but is that good for the county’s residents? – P.4
- We hear the truth behind the rumours. Following an outcry based on inaccurate information, BV editor Laura spoke to Luke Rake, principal of Kingston Maurward College – P.6
- There’s been a complaint … With our national newly-sanitised view of ‘Countryfile-d’ farming, complaints about animal welfare are on the increase – P.6 (and don’t miss the real life story of farming columnist James Cossin’s distress when it happened to him. P.76 Rawston Farm)
- Folk musician, singer, actor, storyteller, historian, Thomas Hardy expert … Dorset’s Tim Laycock is a man of many talents. He answers the Random 19 questions this month – P.20
- Legendary cricket commentator and broadcaster, Henry Blofeld OBE, invites you to join him in a new show, My Dear Old Things – coming to the The Exchange, Sturminster Newton next month. Editor Laura had the temerity to ask him if, at 83, he might have considered retiring? It didn’t go well. P.54
- Not sure why but we had to go to four pages for Letters to the Editor this month. Opinions are running high. Plus it’s always lovely when Val Singleton pops into the inbox. – P.86
(Quick reminder – we’re NEVER PRINTED. The only way to read the BV’s jam-packed goodness is right here online)
