A Frome, A Piddle & A Baker's Arms

Saturday 22 June

For our last full day of the week we decided to split the time into 3 sections of morning, afternoon and evening.  During the morning we drove into Wareham town centre. The weather today was cool and cloudy but still no sign of rain so we decided to have a stroll around Wareham's "walls". There are no actual walls left but the path follows the line of where the town walls once stood. Wareham is a relatively small town so the circular walk only took around an hour. The most picturesque part of the walk is where the Rivers Frome and Piddle(!) meet.

We later had a hot drink in the Salt Pig cafe, then I had a look in the museum whilst Connie browsed the shops. We left around lunchtime after visiting a local supermarket to buy some provisions to take into Monkey World for an afternoon picnic. Another marvelous afternoon was had in this Ape Rescue Centre.  The work of Monkey World is now well documented but it is worth reiterating that it is NOT a zoo. Every primate there has it's own remarkable story and the legacy of the late, much missed Jim Cronin who created the centre is now more successful than ever in the work they do rescuing abused and neglected primates from around the world.

We left Monkey World around 5pm and headed back to Heath Cottages. We still hadn't fixed up a place to eat for our last evening so after making a few phone calls we managed to get booked into a marvelous. thatched roof pub/restaurant called The Bakers Arms which we had passed many times on our travels during the week.  We caught the bus there and our dining experience in this establishment was first class.  There are/were some negative reviews on Trip Advisor for The Bakers Arms but our experience was delightful.  The food was excellent, the staff were friendly and efficient on a busy Saturday evening and the atmosphere was lively but not rowdy.   It was the perfect end to a near perfect week. We caught a late bus back to Heath Cottages and, due to the long drive back home the following morning, we had a relatively early night