Health & Wellbeing

58 The West Dorset Magazine, September 23, 2022 Health & Wellbeing Walking West Dorset

with retired Dorset rights of way officer Chris Slade

FROME VALLEY TRAIL: 14th WALK

This is an easy, level, walk of seven miles. Start near The Ship Inn at Wool and use the adjacent bridge to cross the railway line. Turn right for a furlong to join the main road, heading north-east for a short distance, then north along the old road, over the ancient Wool Bridge crossing the Frome. Continue past Woolbridge Manor to join the Bovington road. Turn right for a furlong to join the A352 at a roundabout and head south-west crossing the new (in 1955) bridge and the railway level crossing. Turn left and head east past the station. Where the road turns right, carry straight on along Bindon Lane. After a while it turns right and passes the ancient Bindon Abbey. The road then curves south-east past a terrace of four cottages at Bindon Farm. The end cottage was my home 70 years ago when there was a single roadside tap providing water for all four. Continue along the lane for half a mile then join a footpath leading north-east alongside East Stoke Fen Nature Reserve, a reedy bogmire. Soon you might notice a path on your left leading to the ancient but demolished St Mary’s Church. It’s on Access Land but currently is overgrown with brambles. Continue eastwards along the path, passing the Freshwater Biological Research Centre to join the road that leads you north, crossing the Frome and tributaries over five bridges to a level crossing, thence to East Stoke’s new (200 years ago) Church. Then return southwards along the road to join Bindon Lane which takes you west back to the farm where you turn left along a footpath along a field edge then right, west across two fields back to Wool close to the church, which has lots of Commonwealth war graves. Then head north through the old part of the village with lots of thatched cottages, passing the Black Bear and curving left back to your car.

Woolbridge Manor House, next to the restored woolbridge in Wool

youcantalk.net is a new wellness and mental health resource launched by Bridport-based Kerry Miller, pictured, and Alex Fender, who now lives in Snowdonia. It features lots of free resources to help people relax and take stock.

Hello from my breakfast bar. Now, I’ve written that because I’ve found I really enjoy having a breakfast bar. If you had asked me what I was looking for in a home before I moved house, a breakfast bar would have been low on the agenda, but significantly higher than a hot tub, and the irony is, I now have both. The breakfast bar is a joy, I sit and work at it with everchanging views through the kitchen windows: cows plodding off for milking, lambs skittering, Snowdonia visible then hidden for weeks, and, from about midday, red kites patiently circling above my neighbour’s garden waiting to be fed chicken. The hot tub is a

Keep yourself open to any

The West Dorset Magazine, September 23, 2022 59 Health & Wellbeing Healing energy from surprise sources

Andy Cole is a reiki healer based in Middlemarsh. He specialises in planting for healing. Over the last few weeks, we have spent a lot of time watering our plants, and in one particular pot there was a couple of small selfseeded tree saplings. They were not very big, not very good but we decided that they should have a chance and started to water them. They were in a pot that we were using to hold down some weed suppressant membrane, so in the grand scheme of things not an important pot, just one with compost in to hold down a sheet. The two saplings started to grow and to our amazement a week or so later, a small but insignificant plant started to grow. We thought nothing of it, then it started to really blossom. To our amazement it was an oxalis triangularis or false shamrock plant. These plants are normally indoor plants but this one is doing well outside in full sun (they are supposed to like partial shade, but no one told this plant that). The beautiful purple leaves and light lilac flowers provide a wonderful contrast – it is a joy to see the plant thriving so well. The healing energies of this plant provide a calming effect on your mind and stop the everyday spiral and spinning of your busy life within you. It brings a sense of calm and stability to your mind and thoughts, enabling you to reflect on those thoughts that are upper most in your mind and process them properly, thus allowing you to make decisions based on clear thinking, rather than being rushed into taking hasty solutions. With the wildflower seeds in the meadow still feeding the birds, it won’t be long before they are all gone, at this point the birds will be looking around for another source of food and the berries are starting to look very attractive now. The pyracantha plants are full of colour, the different plants having yellow, red, or orange berries, these plants have come through the drought still in the best of health, and with a large root formation under them, are much more capable of surviving long dry periods. The energies from the pyracantha provide a solid positive platform to move forward from, they encourage independence, constructive and logical thought, this combined with the confidence and creative energy, gives you a wonderful uplift to your mind and spirit. This plant is very good to put on your boundaries, with its spiky thorns it will deter unwanted visitors trying to gain access into your garden in the night. You can underplant pyracantha with a wide variety of plants and bulbs, but if underplanted with geraniums, the energies from these are solid and stable, giving a constant flow, allowing ideas to come into the mind, drift away and return, each time giving new impetus to the thought, continually allowing change and adaption to an idea until you are ready to take it forward and see it through to fruition. Combining the two energies will give you constructive and logical thought to new ideas and the confidence to see it through to completion.

DOING WELL: Pyracanths and false shamrock, below

changes or new opportunites

far noisier joy, but still an unexpected pleasure. I suppose this is what happens in life, you get to a certain age (whatever that is) and you have established what you like or don’t as a result of choices, associations, prejudices, taste, class, value and thus have a mental checklist which automatically kicks in when you see something –from clothes to a breakfast bar: ‘That’s me’ or ‘That isn’t…’ My point is, we should never let the categories close – what if these preferences were hereditary and you’ve never really had the space to think about what you really like? Without my two recent accidental acquisitions, I would have missed utter delight and with this philosophy in play, I have ordered a ‘completely unlike me’ blush pink velvet sofa! A dear friend, stunned to silence by this odd revelation, eventually offered to help sponge off stains. Well, that’s a bonus for me. It means she’ll be here for a visit. Win-win. Doing a life review can help you self-question –take risks – order the blush pink velvet sofa – if you want to know more please get in touch.

From lengthy 45-minute appointments, a green and sustainable philosophy along with head turning eye wear, patients at Sproston & Bowden Opticians in Dorchester can expect a thorough and reassuring bespoke service. When David, Jean and Gill opened Sproston & Bowden 25 years ago, they wanted to offer a tailor-made, individual service, giving patients time and expertise for the best possible eyecare. This service was a big attraction for Lisa Gunning, who started her career some three decades ago as a receptionist and swiftly progressed to become a contact lens optician after graduating from her three-year course at Anglian Ruskin University in Cambridge. Lisa said: “Qualifying as a Contact Lens Optician has given me a much-varied role and great job satisfaction. Having worked with David, Jean and Gill before in other practices before they opened Sproston & Bowden, I knew I wanted to work with them as they shared the same values I wanted to offer. “When David and Jean retired in 2016, I was given the opportunity to join the practice and work alongside Gill until her retirement last year and now I run the practice ensuring that all of our high standards of patient care are upheld.” At Sproston & Bowden optometrists, Guilia and Elena offer a thorough eye examination using stateof-the-art equipment including the Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). Lisa said: “Regular eye examinations are important, not only to check your vision but they can also detect underlying health conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure. “We also offer dry eye clinics, contact lens clinics and emergency eye care appointments.” And with all of us wanting to do our bit for the planet, Sproston & Bowden offer a contact lens recycling scheme and stock a range of ecofriendly frames, made from biobased materials or recycled plastics which have been taken from the sea. Lisa said: “We look to suppliers that are more aware of their carbon footprint and who use more sustainable ways to provide their products. “We like to stock frames that are a little different than those on the high street, as we believe providing more of an individual look is how we differentiate ourselves. We believe in offering our patients the best eye care and the best solution to their visual requirements.”

SEE YOU LATER: The team at Sproston & Bowden and, below, Elena and Lisa Gunning Searching for a bespoke optician? Look no further

n For more information visit sprostonbowden opticians.co.uk or pop along to 23 High West St, Dorchester DT1 1UW