The Blandford Express

Dorset Blue Vinny cheese enjoys Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), status so it is not any old cheese. This means this cheese can only be made at Woodbridge Farm, Sturminster Newton. It was the first food in this country to be awarded PGI status in 1998. Vinny comes from the Old English meaning to become mouldy.   For several centuries, Dorset Blue Vinny was made by farmers’ wives using left over skimmed milk after cream was taken away to make butter. This resulted in a dry, crumbly, low-fat blue cheese. Reputedly Blue Vinny was Dorset author Thomas Hardy’s favourite cheese. Unconventional methods were used to blue the cheese. These included placing dirty farmers’ boots nearby, dragging mouldy horse harnesses through the milk and even incredibly using slug slime. By the 1930s, factory cheese-making had increased dramatically replacing much of the farmhouse production. With milk rationing during and after World War II, production of Dorset Blue Vinny almost completely ceased. ...

From the mid-18th century onwards, many Dorset towns and villages set up sparrow clubs. These were not, however gatherings of bird watchers and nature lovers. Their sole purpose was to destroy as many sparrows as possible because it was thought these birds devoured much of the grain being grown. The sparrow was looked upon as an avian rat and a pest. Sparrows were considered such a threat to the harvest that to kill one was almost considered to be a civic duty. They would also burrow into the roofs of farm buildings made of thatch with the consequence the roofs would leak. For many years sparrow  pie was a traditional working class dish and was considered to be a food of the poor. Because the bird is so small at least a dozen would be required for even a family sized pie. In her book The Experienced English Housekeeper  published in 1769, Elizabeth Raffald provided a recipe for sparrow dumplings. In 1931, the College of Pestology even offered  a prize for the best sparrow...

  Henry Hastings had three great passions in his life - food, hunting and seducing other men’s wives. Born it is reckoned in 1561, he was the Squire of Woodlands in North Dorset.  With the exception of oysters,  which  he consumed twice daily, he ate little he had not hunted and caught himself. He used the pulpit of a nearby disused chapel as his larder. ‘It was never wanting of a cold chine of beef, venison pie, gammon of bacon or great apple pie with thick crust.’ Bizarrely, this eccentric red-headed countryman, normally clothed in green, loved to dine sitting in a tree. When not ‘borrowing’ the daughters and wives of his neighbours, he spent his time fishing, hawking and hunting. Hastings was not the most house proud of individuals and the windows of his large parlour were strewn about with bows, arrows and other equipment. Many dogs could be found in the parlour where the chairs were occupied by litters of cats. He kept a little white stick to discourage the cats...

  With five substantial courses and twelve alcoholic toasts, Blandford Corporation’s 1910 Dinner was not a weight-watcher’s affair. The evening opened at Blandford’s Crown Hotel with a choice of either mock turtle or julienne soup accompanied with a glass of sherry. This was followed by fish which could be turbot, shrimp sauce, or fried fillets of sole. With this there was a German hock. After the fish, there were lamb cutlets and peas. Next was a meat course offering boned turkey, pheasant, York ham, roast chicken, game pie, spiced beef, tongue, sirloin of beef and finally galantine of beef. With this course there was both claret and champagne. As an ‘ entremets’ or desert, there was a choice of plum pudding, trifle, white jellies, compote of pears, apple tart or vanilla creams. As a ‘ digestif ’, one could partake of a glass of port. Then, twelve toasts followed responded to by twenty five diners interspersed by eight songs and two violin solos. First toast of the evening was to...

Keith Floyd was a flamboyant celebrity chef and popular television personality who had strong links with Dorset. He filmed one of his early programmes Floyd on Fish in the George Inn in South Street, Bridport. Floyd developed his own unique and eccentric presenting style, which often involved haranguing his cameraman, while he cooked with a glass of wine in his hand. However, he did not consider himself to be a chef as he had not been professionally trained. Keith Floyd was born in Sulhamstead, near Reading in December 1943 and joined the British Army in 1963. He left after three years reckoning that he and the army were mutually incompatible. After the army, he became a dish washer, vegetable peeler and eventually a restauranteur. One of his restaurants was in the Vaucluse Department in Southern France. In 1984, he was offered his first television series Floyd on Fish. One of the scenes featured Floyd cooking on a trawler.  Floyd on Food, Floyd on Great Britain and  Floyd on ...

Today, most rail  travellers cannot buy a cup of tea or even a packet of crisps on a train. Yet in days gone by, in the era of the  Bournemouth Belle, things were quite different. With full onboard dining facilities, this named train from July 1931 was made up of De Luxe  Pullman car, chocolate and cream coloured    rolling stock. Each car was given a name such as Topaz, Ruby or Philomel. Smartly dressed stewards would show passengers to their seats. In the 1930s even an Inspector was employed to taste the quality of the travellers fare. Tasty afternoon teas were a speciality which could be ordered for just three shillings (15p) in the early 1960s. ‘How nice to live at Bournemouth And come up on the Belle. So chic with pale pink lamp shades A golden name as well.’ (G.B. Berry.) The Bournemouth Belle ran daily from London-Waterloo to Bournemouth and then back to the capital. Initially it was non-stop to its destination but then a Southampton stop was incorporated...

  Lent Crocking was an old Dorset custom that used to take place on Pancake Day. It was similar to ‘ trick or treat’ although some would say it was ‘ just blackmail’ . Boys would gather in the evening and parade through the villages each armed with a collection of relics of broken pots, washing pans, jugs, dishes & plates. The broken pots originally signified that as Lent was beginning they were of no use. A lead youth would step forward and knock on a door. As William Barnes wrote: ‘When the door is opened, the hero, who is perhaps a farmer’s boy, with a pair of black eyes sparkling under the tattered brim of his brown milking hat covered with cow’s hair and dirt like the inside of a blacksmith’s nest, hangs down his head and with one corner of his mouth turned up into an irresistible smile pronounces in the dialect of his county.’ ‘I be come a-shrovin’ Vor a little pankaik, A bit o’ bread o’ your baikin’. If you’ll gi’ me a little, I’ll ax no more If you don’t gi’ me nothin’...

Onion Johnnies were once a familiar sight along the highways and byways of Dorset. They were French farm labourers and farmers who travelled on bicycles selling the distinctive pink and flavoursome Breton onion. These were sold door to door. The history of the Onion Johnny dates back to 1828. Breton farmer Henri Ollivier, put off by the prospect of a long road journey to Paris, decided to make the much quicker journey across the English Channel to Plymouth to sell his onions. Word spread of his success and others followed. Every July, farm labourers and farmers took their pink onions and sailed to England. For several generations, the county of Dorset experienced a mini invasion of French men usually wearing berets and Breton pullovers  riding bikes laden with onions. This became the stereotypical image of a Frenchman in England. Tragedy struck in 1905 when 70 Onion Johnnies were drowned when the London & South Western Railway’s steamer SS Hilda   sank off the French coast...

Known as the ‘ Hovis Boy-on-the-bike’ , it is reckoned to be one of the most iconic and heart warming advertisements ever made. Despite its northern styled voice over and brass band soundtrack, this masterpiece was filmed in Dorset – at Gold Hill, Shaftesbury. First aired in 1973, it featured a young lad pushing his bicycle laden with loaves of bread up the steep cobblestoned hill. After making delivery, he mischievously freewheels back down Gold Hill. Director Sir Ridley Scott combined the strains of the New World Symphony by Antonin Dvorak with one of the most romantic and picturesque views in England. While the music was already well-known, it became even more familiar after the advert. After beginning his career making commercials, Sir Ridley Scott became a leading Hollywood director. His films include Gladiators, Alien and Thelma & Louise. He once remarked: ‘You combine the appropriate music with the appropriate picture and you’ve got lift off.’ Carl Barlow was the you...

  Village cricket in Dorset goes back many years. Dorset County Chronicle reports a cricket match between the villages of Pimperne and Chettle which took place in August 1867.  In the 50s and early 1960s, the Pimperne club played at Langbourne on a concrete batting pitch overlaid by matting. Cow pats were a particular hazard as the pitch’s more normal use was for dairy cattle. If there was one match in the 1960s the Pimperne club was determined to win, it was against a village that it would be politic not to name. Their team, which seemed to consist mainly of members of the same family, were masters of gamesmanship. If Pimperne’s tail end batsman was a youngster, they would collectively seek to undermine his confidence. While the Pimperne scorer had to keep an eagle eye on the recordings of his opponent’s counterpart!   Yet Pimperne in their tussles with this opposition had their own secret weapon…lardy cake. This calorie laden, greasy, fatty delight had a key tactica...

  He has his own dedicated memorial plaque and Corner in Blandford but is now almost a forgotten man. His name is Henry Durden and he was the founder of the town’s first museum. Henry Durden was born in 1807 and in 1859 was listed as a grocer and seller of wines and spirits. The Durdens were a respected Blandford family and they played an active part in the town’s life. There is a Durden listed in a 1791 trade directory as a Blandford grocer. Henry’s father, John was Mayor in 1837. Henry held this role on three occasions while his son, another John, was Mayor in 1893. In his shop, he opened a highly regarded museum. On display were 60 urns which were over 2,000 years old and all found within eight miles of Blandford. Most exhibits in the museum were from Dorset including prehistoric items from Hod Hill and various local barrows. There were also flint arrowheads, bracelets and coins including a ten shillings piece of Elizabeth I’s reign. So respected were his acquisitions that i...