Over the centuries, Dorset landscapes have inspired poets, authors and artists.

Reading, sharing and even creating your own stories is a great way to connect to nature, the seasons and a sense of place.

Here, Martin Maudsley, a professional Dorset storyteller who you may have heard, usually standing on hill tops, within woodlands or beside orchards, re-tells a small selection of our favourite Dorset stories.

In these stories, Martin picks a feature of the landscape, for example a barrow – a burial mound often seen on high points – and crafts a vivid story, often interweaved with traditional folklore, to create an alternative view on something you may not have thought twice about! To help bring the stories to life we have twinned it to some characterful hand drawn animated images by Tom Hughes.

If you are anything like us then, after listening to these stories, you’ll find you notice these features everywhere when you’re out, and you’ll be thinking of the magical and cunning characters behind the previously mundane of things!