Okeford Fitzpaine

Fiddleford is a hamlet in the county of Dorset in southern England. Fiddleford is situated between Sturminster Newton and Okeford Fitzpaine in the North Dorset administrative district. It was founded by an English nobleman named Fitela (Fitela's Ford), and the aforementioned ford is over the River Stour. The origin of the place-name is from Old English Fitela and ford meaning (homestead or farm) of a man called Fitela; the place-name appears as Fitelford in 1244.Fiddleford has approximately 25 houses, a manor house by the river (Fiddleford Manor), a public house (the Fiddleford Inn), and a large mushroom farm. Southwest of Fiddleford is Piddles Wood. Every second month residents of Fiddleford produce the 'Fiddleford Flyer', a local magazine.

The Ringmoor settlement is an Iron Age/Romano-British farming settlement in Dorset, England. It is between the villages of Okeford Fitzpaine and Turnworth, and lies on east-facing slopes of Bell Hill, on the Dorset Downs. The site is owned by the National Trust, and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Belchalwell Street is a village in Dorset, England, at the foot of Bell Hill, generally included in the village of Belchalwell.

St Aldhelm's Church is a Grade II* listed Anglican church in the village of Belchalwell, Dorset. It is in the ecclesiastical parish of Belchalwell, which is part of the Benefice of Hazelbury Bryan and the Hillside Parishes.The church is situated on higher ground above Belchalwell village. The oldest parts of the church are of the 12th century; much of the building is of the 15th century.

Piddles Wood is a small area of woodland south of the River Stour, Dorset, and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The site was notified as an SSSI in 1985. The nearest settlement is the town of Sturminster Newton. The local planning authority is North Dorset District Council and Dorset County Council, but part of the site is managed by the Dorset Naturalists' Trust.Piddles Wood was first documented in the 13th century as Puttekwurth and Putteleswurthe. A "wurth" is an enclosure, and "Pyttel" was an Old English surname, so the name could mean "Pyttel's enclosure". However, another etymology is possible as "puttoc" is an Old English word for a kite, with "pyttel" or "piddle" also being used. It is also known as "Hanging Ground".The area of the site is 62.2 hectares (154 acres). Woodlands in North Dorset are scarce, and Piddles Wood is one of only a handful of such sites. Due to the heavy neutral and lighter acid soil types—caused by the underlying Kimmeridge Clay and Plateau Gravels—the site has a varying woodland flora, containing broadleaved, mixed and yew lowland. However, it is dominated by oak and coppiced hazel—for which reason the site was listed as an SSSI—and its flora and fauna is typical of oak woodland in Dorset. Piddles Wood has an abundance of ground flora, including woodruff (Galium odoratum), sanicle (Sanicula europaea), early purple orchid (Orchis mascula), wood spurge (Euphorbia amygdaloides) and orpine (Sedum telephium). The site is also very rich for insect fauna, and among the butterflies found on the site are the white admiral (Limenitis camilla), wood white (Leptidea sinapis) and silver-washed fritillary (Argynnis paphia); it was previously home to the pearl-bordered fritillary (Boloria euphrosyne), although this is now believed to be extinct in Dorset. Adjacent to the edge of the site is an extensive poultry farm, containing approximately 100,000 birds.

Girdlers Coppice is a nature reserve of the Dorset Wildlife Trust, near Sturminster Newton, in Dorset, England. It is an ancient woodland, adjacent to the larger Piddles Wood to the south (across the A357) and bordered by the River Stour to the north. It is included with Piddles Wood as an area designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Access is across fields from the car park for Fiddleford Manor.

Fiddleford Manor (also known as Fiddleford Mill) is a medieval manor house located near Sturminster Newton, Dorset. It is thought to have been originally built around 1370 for William Latimer, the sheriff of Somerset and Dorset, after the manor passed to him in 1355. The house is now owned by English Heritage and open for the public to visit throughout the year; however, there is an adjoining building to the north that continues to serve as a private residence and is not open to the public.The present day site—set in a T-shape—comprises a two-storey solar and half of the hall to the east of that, both with open timber roofs; the foundations of the west range and an extension of the hall are now visible only as earthworks. The house is unusual among its class of building in retaining many of its original features; this despite having undergone many alterations during its 600-year history. It has been described as having "perhaps the most spectacular manor house interior in Dorset." In the sixteenth century the solar wing was extended to the north and the hall remodeled by architect Thomas White and his wife Anne; the house remained in the White family until at least the time of Charles I. After the Restoration, it was bought by Sir Thomas Freke and retained by his descendants, the Pitt-Rivers family; they reduced the length of the hall by 2 metres (6.6 ft), it having previously extended almost to the River Stour, and added a new fireplace and ceiling. By 1956, however, the 18th-century building had been demolished and the original, 14th-century part was derelict; by 1962, only the northern wing remained habitable, and the original section passed into state ownership. The house underwent restoration during the 1970s by the Department for the Environment—now the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

Belchalwell is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Okeford Fitzpaine in the Blackmore Vale, in the Dorset district, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. It lies 2+1⁄2 miles (4 kilometres) south of Sturminster Newton and 6 miles (10 kilometres) northwest of Blandford Forum. Belchalwell Street is sited on Upper Greensand, with Lower Belchalwell on the boundary of Gault and Kimmeridge Clay, both beneath the north slopes of Bell Hill, part of the Dorset Downs. In 1881 the parish had a population of 169. On 25 March 1885 the parish was abolished and merged with Okeford Fitzpaine and Fifehead Neville.Belchalwell is Saxon in origin, with a medieval church, St Aldhelm's Church, much renovated. The name of the village describes a cold well on a hillside. The village has approximately 30 properties with fewer than a hundred residents, and is much reduced in size from former times, largely due to reductions in agricultural employment, which has always been the primary industry. One former resident was the TV personality Jack Hargreaves.

Banbury Hillfort, or Banbury Hill Camp, is an Iron Age hillfort, about 1.25 miles (2.0 km) south of Sturminster Newton and 1 mile (1.6 km) north-west of the village of Okeford Fitzpaine in Dorset, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Shillingstone Quarry SSSI, Dorset (grid reference ST823098) is an 8.13 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Dorset, England, notified in 1995.

At 258 metres, Bell Hill is one of the highest hills in the county of Dorset, England and a high point on the Wessex Ridgeway.

Shillingstone is a village and civil parish in the Blackmore Vale area of north Dorset, England, situated on the River Stour between Sturminster Newton and Blandford Forum. In the 2011 Census the civil parish had 479 households and a population of 1,170.South of Shillingstone is a large area of woodland on Okeford and Shillingstone Hill which forms part of Blandford Forest.