Following a stormy week the weather luckily turned sunny for our planned stroll around Bere Regis. Our band of 15 set off up Black Hill to enjoy commanding views northward across the valley before visiting the Devil's Stone monolith on the summit.

We descended into the Piddle Valley to reach the hamlet of Turner's Puddle where we admired the last of the snowdrops in the churchyard. Criss-crossing the Piddle River we continued to the chocolate box village of Briantspuddle (the 'model' village built by Ernest Debenham in 1914) with its perfect thatched cottages.

Climbing up the ridge we reached the Kite Hill Plantation with its majestic pine trees where after a brief snow flurry we enjoyed our picnic. Returning across the wild healthland of Damer Hill we were lucky to spot 3 stags carefully camouflaged in the bushes before enjoying a pint at the local pub.