This is definately worth celebrating! It’s been 50 years since almost half of Dorset received official recognition as a very special landscape. Its designation as the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1959 placed it safely in a family of nationally important protected landscapes.

To celebrate this 50th anniversary, hundreds of people joined us to discover and share their enthusiasm for the landscape, their Love for the Land. A new 2010 calendar which captures just some of what people said they love about the land during their 50th anniversary year is out now. Please visit Dorset AONB to request a copy if you are interested!

If you love to explore and learn about history firsthand, this is a land steeped in stories and lore to keep a lover of the land and it’s legends, such as myself, fascinated for days on end! The rocks that make up the AONB’s beautiful landscape tell a fascinating story – of life on earth. The story is most easily read along the coast, which forms part of England’s first natural World Heritage Site – the Jurassic Coast. While geology has been shaping this landscape for millions of years, for the last few thousand, people have been making their mark on it too. The stories of Dorset as a working and living landscape are all around you.

Take a few moments to visit A Time and a Place to explore what you can find in the lovely lands of Dorset, such as…
~ Rural industries
~ Parklands and formal gardens
~ Chalk figures
~ Iron Age hill forts
~ Stone circles and round barrows
~ The Jurassic Coast

Spending time outdoors in the natural environment is great for your health and wellbeing. This is one of my favourite things to do, as I love getting close to nature. With rolling downland, secluded woodlands, wide open heaths and a dramatic coastline, the AONB in the Dorset area, is the perfect place to stretch your legs and get some fresh air. My daughter and I absolutely love to ride! We can cycle in style with the West Dorset Pedal, a collection of beautiful routes with artists’ studios and local eateries where you can stop for food and inspiration! Purbeck also provides good on and off road cycling through woodland, heath and downs.

Or if you prefer, you can walk the edge between land and sea on the South West Coast Path National Trail, with 71 miles of glorious views of the Jurassic Coast from Studland to Lyme Regis. Try combining a walk with a ride on the X53 Jurassic Coast bus to help you explore more.

Stick to the high ground on the Wessex Ridgeway, an ancient track taking in hillforts and historic villages like Cerne Abbas along the way. Perhaps we could take in heathland, downland and dramatic coastal scenery on the Purbeck Way, passing Corfe Castle, Chapmans Pool and along to Swanage.

I love to find the hidden gems in any place I am adventuring into. Dorset has a wealth of small, often lesser-known attractions including vibrant festivals, artists and craft workers. The Hidden Dorset website contains a treasure trove of information on the small, the beautiful and the downright quirky.

Dorset’s dramatic landscapes have been an inspiration to artists, writers and musicians for centuries. Perhaps the most famous is Thomas Hardy – you can almost feel, smell, hear the richness of the landscape in his work. Inspiration isn’t a thing of the past though. The Dorset AONB has a really strong community of artists who use images, words, music and dance to express how they feel about the landscape.

Such beauty is definately worth a special mention here at Mother Earthbeats!

Sometimes my favourite thing to do is to dream of those places on this beautiful planet in which I would love to someday visit. In my explorations I run across some of the most lovely and interesting natural wonders. I simply cannot resist the pull to see more, and I do love to share!

One such place is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty known as the Isles of Scilly. Here we will surely find enough to explore to satisfy even my adventurous nature! From what I have learned, the Isles of Scilly lie fewer than 30 miles off the Cornish coast, but visitors might sometimes imagine that they had travelled to a different country. There is plenty on the Isles of Scilly that you simply will not find anywhere else, whether it’s wildlife, archeology, landscape, tranquility, an almost sub-tropical feel or just the islanders’ friendliness.

According to the NAAONB Website for the Isles of Scilly

The Isles of Scilly comprise of around 200 rocks and islands, five of which are currently inhabited. Part of what makes the Islands so distinctive is their wide diversity of plant and animal life. Summer temperatures are slightly cooler than the mainland’s (although winters are milder, too).

These conditions are kind to the sub-tropical plants that have made the Islands their home. As the atmosphere on Scilly lacks the dust and industrial pollutants seen almost everywhere these days, the light has a striking brightness and clarity.

Like the air, the sea’s also unusually clean, which helps explain the profusion of marine life, from anemones and kelp to seals, porpoises and dolphins. Scilly has a large number of migrating birds and supports a greater density of song thrushes than anywhere on the British mainland, due to its small fields and hedges.

These same fields show the signs of human activity which, since beginning over 4,000 years ago, continued through the Bronze and Iron Ages as humans settled, farmed land and – from 500BC to the second world war – protected the Islands from the threat of invasion.

Tourism dominates the economy with, on average, around 120,000 tourists visiting the islands each year. Flower farming and fishing remain important, although both these sectors have struggled in recent years.

As well as being an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the islands are protected by a range of designations which include a heritage coast and a conservation area, as well as – amongst others – a Special Protection Area (under the EC Birds Directive), a Marine Special Area of Conservation (under the EC Habitats Directive) and 26 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). Quite apart from which there are well over 130 listed buildings and 238 Scheduled Ancient Monuments.

Final Thoughts

Oh yes, there is definately a great amount of curiosity building up inside of my being to visit such a treasure trove of areas to explore! The uninhabited islands are an absolutely fascinating subject with the thought of many wondrous hours of observing nature in her finest detail. Ummm… yeah… the magically beautiful Isles of Scilly are definately a place to add to my growing list of future adventures!

To find more places of beauty and wonder, you may wish to take a look at Planet Earth – The Complete BBC Series [Blu-ray]

Now I have a new goal for my traveling adventures! I have discovered a place to visit which intrigues me greatly, and looks as if it will give me much pleasure in satisfying my love of exploration. The Isle of Wight is a British Island, located south of the county of Hampshire. The island is known for its Outstanding Natural Beauty and for its world-famous sailing based at Cowes. Here is a place one can lose themselves in for a while, visiting the sites and seeking quiet places to enjoy the scenery.

Rich in history and lore, the Isle of Wight has been invaded many times. Due to it’s particular lack of a defensive landscape, it was not easy to hold when invaders attacked. It changed hands several times, throughout the last thousand years or so, being ravaged by the Vikings until the Danes were defeated by the Saxons. Eventually the isle came under the full control of the Crown, and Queen Victoria made Osborne House on the Isle of Wight her summer home for many years and, as a result, it became a major holiday resort for fashionable Victorians including Alfred Lord Tennyson, Julia Margaret Cameron, Charles Dickens (who wrote much of David Copperfield there) and members of European royalty.

Known as one of Europes most important areas for Dinosaur fossils, apparently the eroding cliffs often reveal previously hidden remains. From a wildlife point of view the island sports a flourishing and stable population of the Red Squirrel, which is rare in most parts of England. While there are no deer on the Island of Wight, rare and protected species such as the dormouse and many rare bats can be found, as well as the Glanville Fritillary butterfly whose distribution in the United Kingdom is largely restricted to the edges of the crumbling cliffs.

Well then, here is a place on Mother Earth which totally fascinates me, and begs for the attention of my exploratory and adventurous nature. Biking my way from one end of the island to the other, seeking out the best places to view island and sea, sounds simply lovely. I do believe I will be adding the Isle of Wight to my ever growing list of favourite places to visit!

To find more places of beauty and wonder, you may wish to take a look at Planet Earth – The Complete BBC Series [Blu-ray]

What I find most interesting on this planet is the natural scenery. For some reason I am fascinated with the beauty I find all around me in nature. Perhaps this is why I find it so distressing to see such wanton disrespect for the natural world. When I travel through the forest and river paths I am filled with such wonder and a certain exhilaration. To think of the scope of brilliance and imagination that went into creating this earth is absolutely amazing. The science in nature is abundantly brilliant! I just wish to capture each breathtaking scene to the smallest detail. First with my eyes and my senses, then with my camera to share with others, and to remind myself at a later time of my finest moments traveling along the Earthly paths.

One of my dreams is to visit the homelands of my ancestors… Ireland. I want to visit the green Isle and really see it from the locals point of view. Tourists may visit key attractions, but I am an explorer by heart, and wish to adventure ‘off the beaten path’, so to speak. I believe I would have to actually live there for a few years to see for myself what wonders the lands hold in store for me, and to even come close to satisfying my curiosity. Ireland is a land full of mystery, as well as a rich culture and history. I know for certain that I will attain my dream of visiting the mysterious places of my ancestors in this lifetime, and I am very excited to hold this dream close to my heart.

For now, I will indulge in viewing the stunning countryside through the eyes of a friend, and brilliant photographer, Jordan Clemments. The images in this post are courtesy of Jordan from his website at Irishviews.com.

For some reason people just love to dress up and make believe they are someone or something else. Although the origins of All Hallows Eve have a deep spiritual connection which continues strongly to this day, people just love to dress up in fantastic and imaginative costumes, either home made, or created by masters. This is all in the spirit of having fun, and possibly attempting to blend in with those who have crossed to the other side. Because we all know this is when the veil between the realms of the living and the deceased lifts, to allow our loved ones to visit the the earthly realm.

So, as the hallowed time approaches we fire up our imaginations to create fantastic costumes to suit our tastes. If we cannot come up with great home made ideas, as I love to do, then we must seek the best halloween costume stores with unique, totally cool, and realistic outfits. Personally, I prefer to be a little different, and one of my favourite memories was the year my little S dressed up as a hobo and hit the streets in search of treats and goodies. People must have felt quite sorry for the little urchin, as she collected more candy and such than any other year, and folks commented upon her sad demeanor. I was a wicked witch with a cackling laugh, so we most certainly left an impression of darkness and despair along our trail. It was such a grand adventure, and one we shall always remember fondly. Of course there was the year my dear S was a Gypsy… that was great fun, and a story for another day!

Perhaps others have not the time or resources to create their own fantastic costume, and would like to spice up their own Halloween adventure with a custume created by true Masters of Masquerade. Any time is a great time to dress up and enact our most desired fantasies, especially this time of year, as parties and masquerades rule the festive season. Truly, can we really know if this is the real world or the virtual one?

Psssst… This is a copy of a post I created over at my other blog This Virtual World, and I just wanted to share!

Today I just have to give a glimpse into a personal adventure, in which is shared by my daughter and myself. We just so happened to read the Spiderwick Chronicles together a little over a year ago. At the time, we had just discovered a new trail by the Clackamas river, and we took turns reading out loud after finding an absolutely lovely tree filled and flower strewn spot perfect for such adventurous imaginings. We both absolutely love tales involving the world of Faerie, and this particular tale fit perfectly into our adventurous natures.

The reason I mention this today, is that we celebrated my little Stars birthday with our annual tradition of hitting the movie theatre, with a glimpse into the Spiderwick Chronicles. And we were not disappointed! From the ancient and mysterious old house, to the resident house Brownie named Thimbletack (who, incidentally, turns into a nasty old Boggart when upset, so beware of misusing this little creature), this fun little movie draws one right into the intrigue and mysteries of the invisible world of Faerie. We were especially impressed with the giant Ogre named Mulgrath who, by the way, experiences quite a fitting ending.

Alas, this enchanting story shall always hold a special place in the hearts of both my daughter and myself, and we highly recommend it to those adventurous souls who love the world of Faerie as much as we do. With Goblins, Trolls, Elves, Sylphs, Fairies, and even an unlikely ally in the form of a flying Gryphon, and so much more. I have no wish to give away any secrets, so I will just leave it up to any visitors to enter the mysterious realms of the Spiderwick Chronicles at your own risk.

Enjoy!

Ever since my daughter and I stated our intentions to travel, as she is older now, we have had so many great choices presented to us. We are quite adventurous, and both enjoy a bit of old fashioned atmoshpere to balance out our natures. So when we journey forth, we shall seek that which fascinates us in modern convenience, along with a bit of Old World style. There is just so much to be said about the quaint charm of a true Bed and Breakfast such as I have found in The Lion & The Rose.

The enchanting gardens, and luxurious interior of this lovely and romantic Asheville Inn would truly make a wonderful retreat from the hustle and bustle of modern day life. There are five elegant and delightful rooms to choose from, and the gourmet breakfast is anything but standard, being the pride of resident inkeeper and chef, Jim Palmer. Jim and his wife Linda (and Harvey and Cedric) have created a beautiful atmoshpere sure to bring pleasure to our treasured time away from home.

And where might this delightfully sweet little Inn know as the The Lion & The Rose be found, one might ask? A place where we have friends that would love a visit from us, and that would be Asheville, North Carolina. Asheville is surrounded by the natural beauty of the oldest & most lush mountain range in the world. But natural beauty is just part of its charm. The city itself, often referred to as “the Paris of the South”, is packed with art, crafts, antique shops, music, entertainment, varied & unique architecture, and many excellent independently owned restaurants. The Lion & The Rose Bed & Breakfast is four blocks from downtown Asheville and just three miles from the Biltmore Estate.

Well then, I would be most happy to relate the wonderful details after a visit in person to this most enchanting little beauty known as the “Jewel of Montford”.

We have had some totally awesome spring-like days this week here in Oregon. Just enough of a taste to trigger our unlimited sense of Adventure, which has started us planning our Spring and Summer fun. Although we seek Adventure all year long right here in our own back yard, as our fun loving natures demand, there is nothing like the thrills Nature provides during the hot season in totally new places.  So… what comes to mind when we think about hitting the river for more than just our favourite past time of trekking through the forest and swimming in Earths natural swimming pools? White water rafting of course! Now, this is a thrilling Adventure not to be denied.

Where does one go to book an exciting trip that is safe and fun for all members of the family from 5 on up? Lehigh rafting through Whitewater Challengers brings us whitewater rafting on the Lehigh River in the Poconos of northeastern Pennsylvania… this is rafting just the way you want it, with rafting trips ranging from easy to exhilarating. A visit to Whitewater Challengers means real fun, real rapids, and real adventure! Come rafting for the whitewater… or come for the scenery. Either way, the Lehigh River is the perfect close-to-home whitewater adventure that feels a world away!

Make this year’s whitewater get-away an eco-friendly vacation adventure! Lehigh rafting at Whitewater Challengers offers the following…

~ New dam releases – Spring, Summer and Fall – Lehigh River rafting at its very best!
~ The very best whitewater in the tri-state area!
~ Five whitewater rafting trips that are perfect for all ages … easy to exhilarating!
~ Spectacular river gorge scenery that’ll make you feel like you’re out west!
~ The best values anywhere — free trips, free camping, free gifts, free shopping spree!
~ Special discounts, hot deals and Raft & Stay packages!
~ The closest whitewater rafting to most of the mid-Atlantic region!
~ The best bus shuttles … no long hike-in / hike-out!
~ The most complete rafting and camping facilities at the Lehigh River!
~ The most environmentally friendly eco-vacation ever!

We are definately looking forward to some awesome Adventures as Life takes us, and a thrilling ride through Nature, with all the wonderful views uniquely accessed only through the eyes of those riverbound thrillseekers, is sure to leave us breathless and exhilarated! We will be looking further into Whitewater Challengers and their Lehigh River rafting trips, then we will be sharing our Adventures!

Enjoy!

Anyone who truly knows me can attest to how my eyes light up at the mere mention of traveling through the Mediterranean, exploring to my hearts content. Just imagine my joy at the thought of actually living there for a time, absorbing the culture and growing in spirit in oh so many ways! What adventures I could dream up.

I just spent a glorious hour or so dreaming of owning a sweet Villa along the coast of Spain. Searching through the spanish property for sale or rent in spain, depending upon ones desires, certainly served to bring about an irrestable desire within myself to travel to these exotic places in the Mediterranean. Whatever your Dream… simply to travel to an exotic destination on vacation, or a move for whatever reason, perhaps you too would enjoy searching to your hearts content. And perhaps you too shall simply fall in love with one of these sweet Spanish Villas which are loaded with charm and exquisite character.

I wish to share a site I discovered which has a really cool design and the search is smooth. I fouund more than 7000 properties for sale and rent in Spain, France, Italy and Cyprus. A feature I found to be quite unique is the web site is in 7 languages. English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian and Danish. All 7000 properties are 100% translated.

Not even the UN web site is translated 100% in all their languages. All pages at medhead.com can at any time be translated 100% to any 6 other languages. All properties are added once (by a private individual or an agent) and instantly translated into the other languages – this is 100% unique and not possible on any other web site. THIS IS NOT A MACHINE TRANSLATION! It is done by professional translators and all information is field based (you do not type in anything when you add a property – you only select fields that have all been translated).

I am definately looking forward to many exciting journeys in further exploration of our beautiful, sacred and bountiful Earth. Enjoy!