Books

My Dorset Country - A Personal View BOOKS 1,2 & 3

A series of Books published in support of the Dorset Wildlife Trust
My Dorset Country Book 1 Cover
My Dorset Country Book 1 Cover
Following more than fifty years of photographing his home county of Dorset, Wimborne photographer and writer Roger Lane, reveals in a new series of self-published books some of his favourite images. He recalls many of the opportunities the county’s landscape and people have provided and brings us the stories behind some of his photographs.

The first series of three books concerns the Dorset countryside and rural landscape. In the first book of the series, Roger reveals the area surrounding his home town of Wimborne Minster, how he came to photograph the grounds of Canford School and Wimborne's much revered artist and sculptor, Sven Berlin. The historic landscape of Cranborne Chase is also displayed throughout the seasons together with the mysterious and haunted Knowlton church. The second book of the series reveals the journey of the River Stour and how much this river has featured in his life. He also visits North Dorset and the rural countryside of Thomas Hardy's Blackmore Vale. Bulbarrow Hill and the story of Milton Abbas are also included together with some of the gardens he has photographed all within villages along the path of the Stour. In the third book of the ‘My Country’ series Roger reveals the journey of the Rivers Frome and Cerne. He also visits North West Dorset and features the remarkable estates and gardens of Forde Abbey, Sherborne and Minterne Magna. The rural landscape around Beaminster is also included together with some of the gardens and villages he has photographed along the path of the Frome


The idea for the books came about during the first Covid 19 lockdowns of 2020 when it was not possible to travel far to photograph the Dorset landscape. Additionally, Roger has become increasingly concerned at the continuing loss of green belt land and new developments which are endangering much of Dorset’s landscape and wildlife habitats.

Roger’s images take us back to the 1960s through to the present day and include some of his photographs not previously seen, others are from previous publications including Cranborne Chase-a secret landscape, Landscapes of Dorset, Villages of Dorset and Gardens of Dorset.

In a revealing introduction to each book Roger explains his personal view of the loss of much of our rural landscape but also provides a significant level of assurance in the fact that we are exceptionally fortunate to have the county’s largest nature conservation charity, the Dorset Wildlife Trust. It has 28,000 members, volunteers, and supporters all championing our wildlife and natural places. Since 1961 this charity has been preserving Dorset’s environment with currently some 42 nature reserves under their management.

Creating public awareness of wildlife and landscape protection in addition to offering advice to landowners in their fight to prevent inappropriate development has been one of the Trust's main missions. In this respect, Roger explains, they work tirelessly to influence the decision-makers right up to the central government level in their fight to protect Dorset's unparalleled natural heritage for future generations.

PLEASE NOTE
It is with regret that I have decided to remove my self-published books through BLURB.
Unfortunately BLURB have significantly increased material and printing costs and this no longer renders the publications viable.
PDF versions are available at a cost of £6 each and once payment is received via Paypal these will be sent to the purchaser via WeTransfer.
If you wish to order please email me and I will advise Paypal details