Welcome to our new set up! Our huts are now set out to be let out for parties of four. Perfect for friends and family getaways. Use Silas the Silo for outdoor dining. Dog and children friendly!

Contact us for enquiries, yet to be updated on our website.

We are thrilled to be able to open once again, and welcome you back to The Old Forge from the 4th July. We have put into place safety measures, to protect you and ourselves and make you rest assured so you can enjoy your stay, stress free. Our glamping is currently closed due to some rearranging of the positioning of the Shepherds huts.  The huts will now only be let to one party so they will be exclusive to you in their own private paddock in order to keep you all safe.  Please bear with us and we look forward to seeing you all back soon!

Another 3 weeks of self isolation we are told. There is sorrel growing in the herb garden.  The veins of the lance shaped leaf are dark crimson.  I pick some to make soup then saddle up Lily. We head up the steep incline to Compton Down and Melbury Beacon, an ancient landscape of celtic fields and cross dykes. There are cowslips out on the down now along with sweet violets, red campion and little bright blue speedwell who wish us “speed thee well” on our journey. 2 clouded yellow butterflies dance around us and a chiffchaff calls to us from the blackthorn. We reach the summit of Melbury Hill, 863ft up, an Armada beacon sited here in 1588. High above us piccolo shrill, the skylark in ascendance, sings his heart out.

Notes from The Old Forge Self Catering Cottages & Glamping closed 23 March 2020.
We are closed now.  Our business which we have built up over 30 years.  The place is eerily quiet, not only no guests but no grandchildren.  Our donkey is wondering why they are not scrambling onto his back and our dogs look out of the window waiting for them.  I saddle up Lily my Arabian mare.  She was born here and is beautiful.  I set off up over Fontmell Down and then head up into the woods.  The wild garlic is in abundance and I stop to gather a bundle to make wild garlic pesto.  There is no income now so I forage.  We have hens so I make quiches, cakes and frittatas.  The yolks are golden yellow.  I still have flour in the cupboard so I bake bread.  Spelt and rye, granary, sunflower.  The loaves sit by the aga.Lily is startled by a pheasant.  She leaps into the air and I grab hold of her mane.  Above us the buzzards are soaring.  They do their loud mewing peeioo to each other.  We ride through the valley now and the ewes and their lambs watch us with inquisitive eyes.  There are primroses on the banks.
Lucy.