Minterne Magna

St Andrew's Church is a Church of England parish church at Minterne Magna, Dorset, England. The church has 15th century origins and is a Grade II* listed building.

The River Cerne is a 10 mi (16 km) river in Dorset, England, and a chalk stream, which rises in the Chalk hills of the Dorset Downs at Minterne Magna, between High Stoy and Dogbury Hill, flows down a valley through Cerne Abbas and Charminster, and flows into the River Frome in Dorchester. The Cerne Valley lies in the Dorset National Landscape.

At 248 metres (814 ft), Dogbury Hill is one of the highest hills in the county of Dorset, England. It is the site of a prehistoric hill fort.

Watts Hill is a hill in the Dorset Downs and one of the highest in the county of Dorset, England. The height of the summit is variously recorded as 261 metres or 262 metres.

Telegraph Hill (267 metres, 876 feet high) is a hill about 1 mile northwest of Minterne Magna and about 10 miles north of Dorchester in the county of Dorset, England. Its prominence qualifies it as one of the so-called HuMPs. There is a transmission mast about 600 metres away on the spur to the northeast at High Stoy. Writing in 1906, Sir Frederick Treves described High Stoy as "the most engaging of all Dorset hills—a hill of 800 feet, made up of green slopes, a cliff, and a mantle of trees." Opposite High Stoy is Dogbury Hill, another bastion of the chalk escarpment. A Franciscan friary lies in the hamlet of Hilfield beneath the hill to the west.

The Cerne Abbas Giant is a hill figure near the village of Cerne Abbas, in Dorset, England. It is currently owned by the National Trust, and listed as a scheduled monument of England. Measuring 55 metres (180 ft) in length, the hill figure depicts a bald, nude male with a prominent erection, holding his left hand out to the side and wielding a large club in his right hand. Like many other hill figures, the Cerne Giant is formed by shallow trenches cut into the turf and backfilled with chalk rubble. The origin and age of the figure are unclear, and archaeological evidence suggests that parts of it have been lost, altered, or added, over time; the earliest written record dates to the late 17th century. Early antiquarians associated it, albeit on little evidence, with a Saxon deity, while other scholars sought to identify it with a Romano-British figure of Hercules (or some syncretisation of the two). The lack of earlier descriptions, along with information given to the 18th-century antiquarian John Hutchins, has led some scholars to conclude it dates from the 17th century. Conversely, recent optically stimulated luminescence testing has suggested an origin between the years 700 CE and 1110 CE, possibly close to the 10th-century date of the founding of nearby Cerne Abbey. Regardless of its age, the Cerne Abbas Giant has become an important part of local culture and folklore, which often associates it with fertility. It is one of England's best-known hill figures and is a visitor attraction in the region. The Cerne Giant is one of two major extant human hill figures in England, the other being the Long Man of Wilmington, near Wilmington, East Sussex, which is also a scheduled monument.

Cosmore is a hamlet in Dorset, situated just off the main A352 Sherborne-Dorchester road. It sits at the foot of Dogbury Hill, one of Dorset's highest points. It is bounded by two minor rivers, to the East by the Caundle Brook, and to the west, the River Lydden. There are 18 separate dwellings within the village, and the population is 45–50. The village is located 9 miles North of the county town, Dorchester, and 11 miles south of the historic Abbey town of Sherborne. Historic buildings include the 18th century Revel's Inn Farm which is reputed to be in one of Thomas Hardy's novels.

Cerne Abbas () is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It lies in the Dorset Council administrative area in the Cerne Valley in the Dorset Downs. The village lies just east of the A352 road 10 km (6.2 mi) north of Dorchester. Dorset County Council estimate that the population of the civil parish in 2013 was 820. In the 2011 census the population of the civil parish, combined with the small neighbouring parish of Up Cerne, was 784. In 2008 it was voted Britain's "Most Desirable Village" by estate agent Savills. It is the location of the Cerne Abbas Giant, a chalk figure of a giant naked man on a hillside.

Cerne Abbey was a Benedictine monastery founded in 987 in the town now called Cerne Abbas, Dorset, by Æthelmær the Stout.

Hermitage is a small village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It is situated in the Blackmore Vale under the scarp of the Dorset Downs, 6 miles (9.7 km) south of the town of Sherborne. Dorset County Council's latest (2013) estimate of the parish population is 70.Augustinian monks once had a hermitage here (also known as the Blackmoor Priory Hermitage), whence the name of the village, but they abandoned the site in the 14th or 15th century. The Lady's Well which they used still remains, on the edge of woodland a short distance from the village.

Black Hill Down (grid reference ST668005) is a 71.84 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Dorset, notified in 1989.

Hilfield is a small scattered village and civil parish in west Dorset, England, situated under the scarp face of the Dorset Downs 7 miles (11 km) south of Sherborne. Dorset County Council's 2013 estimate of the parish population is 50. Hilfield parish church, dedicated to St Nicholas, has late 13th- or early 14th-century origins, though the present building dates from the 15th century and was substantially altered in 1848. It has wooden parquet flooring, notable carved bench ends—possibly moved from Cerne Abbey and thought to be Flemish but of unknown age—and the pulpit and seating have 16th-century panelling. It is one of the smallest English parish churches. Hilfield Friary is a faith-based community centred on Franciscan brothers of the Anglican Society of St Francis. The Hilfield community is made up of Franciscan Brothers and others who join them; the community encourages environmental sustainability within the Franciscan ethos of peace, faith and justice.