Belchalwell Street

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.

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.

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.

The Parish Church of St Eustace is a Grade II* listed Anglican church in the village of Ibberton, Dorset. It stands to the south of the village, on a steep hillside. The parish is part of the Benefice of Hazelbury Bryan and the Hillside Parishes.

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.

Ibberton is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It is situated in the Blackmore Vale under the scarp face of the Dorset Downs, five miles (eight kilometres) south of Sturminster Newton and 7 miles (11 kilometres) west of Blandford Forum. The parish covers 1,382 acres (559 hectares) extending over the chalk downs that lie to the south and includes the hamlets of Leigh, and Kitford. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 101, a reduction from 134 in 2001.The name Ibberton derives from the Old English Ēadbeorht (a personal name), ing and tūn, and means 'estate associated with the man Ēadbeorht'. In 1086 in the Domesday Book it was recorded as Abristetone. Later variants of the name include Ebrictinton and Edbrichton.The parish church of St Eustace occupies a site that gives far-reaching views northwards over the Blackmore Vale, and Ibberton Hill to the south provides an even loftier vantage point. Community facilities within the village include a village hall, which is also used by the neighbouring villages of Belchalwell and Woolland, and a cricket ground.

Okeford Fitzpaine is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset, situated in the Blackmore Vale three miles (five kilometres) south of the town of Sturminster Newton. It is sited on a thin strip of greensand under the scarp face of the Dorset Downs. In the 2011 census the civil parish—which includes the village of Belchalwell to the west and most of the hamlet of Fiddleford to the north—had 404 dwellings, 380 households and a population of 913.

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.

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.

Woolland is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated in the Blackmore Vale under Bulbarrow Hill 7 miles (11 km) west of Blandford Forum. In 2013 the estimated population of the civil parish was 50. The village had a population of 76 in 2001. The village is first mentioned in Cartularium Saxonicum from the year 939 Wonlond, the Domesday Book from the year 1086 Winlande and the Pipe Rolls from the year 1170 Wunlanda. The name is interpreted as Old English wynn-land meadow land or pasture land. The sculptor Elisabeth Frink had a studio in the village during the 1970s.

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.

Turnworth is a small village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated on the Dorset Downs five miles (eight kilometres) west of Blandford Forum. It consists of a few cottages and farmhouses scattered around a church and manor house. In 2013 the civil parish had an estimated population of 30.In 1086 in the Domesday Book Turnworth was recorded as Torneworde; it had 19 households, was in Pimperne Hundred and the lord and tenant-in-chief was Alfred of 'Spain'.The church, with the exception of the tower, was rebuilt in the 19th century with assistance from Thomas Hardy, who designed the capitals and possibly also the corbels. Hardy described Turnworth's position as being "stood in a hole, but the hole is full of beauty", and he used Turnworth House as the inspiration for Hintock House in his novel The Woodlanders.Nearby is Ringmoor, an ancient settlement on the top of the scarp face of the downs. The manor house in the area is Turnworth House, which was demolished in 1947.