My favourite place

Johnnie Boden on West Dorset

Johnnie Boden extols the joys of West Dorset

The owner of our favourite easy-breezy Brit label, 59, explains why his heart belongs to this stunning part of south-west England

We’ve been coming to Dorset for years – and I’ve been a ghastly, reviled second-home owner since 1998. We mainly chose it because it was one of the closest places to London that was beautiful and also had a nice coastline.

With three children, my wife Sophie and I loved the idea of spending the summer on ponies or on the beach. And we quickly became very attached to a beach called Burton Bradstock – it’s big and there’s a lovely little ice-cream shop. We bring a picnic and have a barbecue and spend the whole day there – which is most Saturdays in the summer – come rain or shine.

When the children were small we’d come to Dorset every weekend. Initially we rented a two-bedroom cottage, and then we bought a threebedroom cottage and then a small farm, which is where we are now – just outside a village near Bridport.

Usually, I would come here most weekends and for two weeks over Christmas and three weeks in the summer. But during lockdown we’ve been here all the time. I’m sure it’s a terrible cliché, but it really has made everybody think about how much more one can do remotely, and I’ll probably spend more time here from now on. I’m not urban enough to be totally happy in the city all the time, but also I’m not rural enough to be here all the time – there’s not enough for me to do, and I like my work too much.

I have three daughters. Anna [24] is a science teacher and is teaching remotely, which is quite entertaining – we’ve got a whiteboard in the kitchen. My middle daughter, Katie [22], is at Edinburgh University and is doing her finals in rather strange circumstances, and Stella, my youngest [19], is at Bristol University – but at the moment she’s working at Lidl, stacking shelves.

It’s been lovely having them around. The farm is quite fun – we have some sheep (I employ

someone to look after them), but the thing I’m really involved with is our wildflower project – it’s a big obsession of mine. Rewilding is too strong a word, but we have been encouraging wildlife. I planted three miles of hedges, because all the hedges were ripped out in the 1970s, and have turned a fifth of the land back into a wildflower meadow.

The real attraction of West Dorset is the combination of the stunning coastline and the beautiful rolling landscape. When we have people to stay with us, we always take them for walks – there’s an amazing one from Lyme Regis going west, up on the cliffs looking down to the sea.

I’m a great fan of the Ordnance Survey Pathfinder Walking Guides, which are the best – they’ve got a good map, very clear instructions, the walks are all circular and you always find somewhere nice to have lunch, (be it takeaway at the moment).

At Burton Bradstock there is the Hive Beach café [hivebeachcafe.co.uk], a very nice fish restaurant that is open all year round. Bridport has lots of lovely small restaurants, and there’s a great place called Brassica [brassicarestaurant.co.uk] in Beaminster.

In the past 20 years, this area hasn’t changed as much as other places – mainly because it’s a bugger to get to. Some things have changed to a certain extent, of course, but because it’s relatively inaccessible it hasn’t been mucked about with as much as other parts of the country have. So I would say it’s still pretty unspoilt.

We’re not wildy social when we’re here, it’s just very nice to come and recharge one’s batteries, and other such clichés. The children love it and they’ve got quite a few local friends, and huge gangs of people come and stay and it can be absolute pandemonium – but it’s just such a lovely place to be.

Above The cliffs at Burton Bradstock. Below The walled garden at the Ollerod hotel in Beaminster

Boden with his daughter Stella in 2004

Boden out walking with his family and friends

Boden’s dog Sprout enjoying the view

Brassica restaurant in Beaminster