A TRAIL inspired by The Lost Words has opened in Thorncombe Wood, a Local Nature Reserve three miles east of Dorchester, and will be available until April.

Thanks to funding from Stepping into Nature community pot, you can pick up a leaflet from the Thorncombe visitor centre and follow the seasonal trail on the theme of The Lost Words, an inspirational book by writer, poet and environmentalist Robert MacFarlane and artist Jackie Morris.

The trail will help visitors discover words and nature in Thorncombe Wood and provides participants of all generations with activities to connect them to Dorset’s landscape, wildlife and culture.

The trail is close to the cottage in which Thomas Hardy, Dorset’s world-famous poet and novelist, was born. So it is an ideal location to connect words with nature and nature with words.

Through the leaflet and way-markers, the trail celebrates some of the words illustrated in The Lost Words book alongside other words which were taken out of the Oxford Junior Dictionary in 2007.

It also highlights a few old Dorset dialect words to stimulate memories for the older generations and inspire interest in younger generations. For more information visit www.lostwordsdorset.org.uk