Category: Rural Matters

The Rural Matters section is a special section sponsored and reserved for the local CPRE.

The CPRE or Campaign to Protect Rural England is a charity set up to help protect the rural countryside.

In this section you will find articles mainly by Rupert Hardy, Chairman, North Dorset CPRE. There are ocaisonally guest writers but always from the CPRE.

We like that the subject matter is wide and varied, from dark skies, to planning, hedgerow maintenance to Fingerposts.

Always something new and always interesting to read. The CPRE’s main aim is to help make the countryside a better place for us all to live.

Rural Matters

Pylon hell?

Electrification will have a major impact on Britain’s landscape, with pylon implications for Dorset, says Rupert Hardy of North Dorset CPRE Last year, residents in...

Editorial team - 13 November 2023

Dorset Wildlife & Animals

Hedgerows – overlooked climate heroes

Celebrating a campaign win, Rupert Hardy, Chair of North Dorset CPRE, says the government are finally planting 45,000 miles of hedges by 2050 In recent...

Editorial team - 20 October 2023

Rural Matters

Stalbridge Drowning Under New Housing

The small historic Dorset town with fewer than 3,000 residents faces 550 new homes – CPRE have deep concerns around insufficient infrastructure The small historic...

Editorial team - 12 September 2023

Local History

Reynolds Stone: Dorset’s legendary engraver

The renowned artist and writer was known for his distinctive engravings – always inspired by nature, he left a lasting legacy of timeless beauty Our...

Editorial team - 8 August 2023

Local History

The day I found a skeleton…

On the first day of his first archaeological dig, CPRE’s Rupert Hardy made a major discovery and uncovered a sad mystery ‘As I carefully scraped...

Editorial team - 14 July 2023

Rural Matters

River pollution and nutrient neutrality

This month, North Dorset CPRE’s Derek Gardiner looks at our rivers, which have become the latest rural planning application hurdle “Getting a complete overview of...

Editorial team - 13 June 2023

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Bucked in the Yarn

Editorial team - 11 September 20240

Three small Somerset villages had a huge impact on global exploration and trade – Rachael Rowe talks to Professor Terry Stevens “Nothing much ever happened...

Dorset Wildlife & Animals

Baby Barn Owl’s

Editorial team - 15 September 20240

Local wildlife photographer Ian Nelson sent this wonderful set of barn owl images to us, despite knowing they couldn’t be entered into the reader’s...