Dorchester/Casterbridge

Down to Dorchester this morning to the dentist.

 Had a good wander through the town and here is South Street now a pedestrian area.  On the left is the old Antelope Hotel, one of Dorchester's old coaching inns dating back to the 17 C and is Grade II listed and full of shops on the ground floor. Judge Jefferies presided over the Bloody Assizes in the Oak Room there on the first floor in 1658.  Straight ahead on the left the medieval church of St Peter is just about visible.  It has a statue of William Barnes the Dorset poet standing outside it.  On the right is the clock tower of the Corn Exchange where Bathsheba Everdene  sold her grain in " Far from the Madding Crowd" written by Thomas Hardy.  I still have great affection for the town, although it has grown enormously, having spent a good part of my childhood there.