Sandbanks Ferry started running today.
The vessel has been away in Southampton for a refit since early November.
The service will continue daily during Christmas although on 25 December it will only run about every 30 minutes.
New Forest District Council is investing £300,000 central government funding in a ground survey at Barton-on-Sea.
This is a response to the many landslides including shallow mudslides around Hoskin’s Gap which is just west of the clifftop shops opposite the Indian war memorial.
Next year 18 boreholes will be sunk over a six week period with the results forming the basis for a future management programme.
Poole Council has put a plan for seafront changes out to consultation.
Suggestions include more and larger beach huts and some building especially at Flaghead Chine.
I am pleased to see Poole CRRE chair expressing some concern about over development.
The Daily Echo has the first report.
The Sandbanks Ferry ceased operating on Monday 5 November for its annual overhaul.
This time the vessel is also going to be repainted.
The ferry is now in Southampton and may not return until the second week in December.
A 300 year old cottage familiar to those using the Mudeford Ferry has been saved from demolition.
Little Haven would have been known to 18th-century smugglers and is part of the attractive group of houses around the Haven Inn on the quay.
The building, which is not listed, is in need of repair. Christchurch Council has ruled that demolition would damage the conservation area.
A Tesco store is due to replace the Sandacres pub at Sandbanks. This is at the point where the route leaves Poole Harbour to pass through a garden to follow Poole Bay.
The residents are not too happy according to The Daily Mail.
CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide and the Good Pub Guide are out this month.
Both recommend the award-winning Nelson Tavern in Mudeford and the Good Pub Guide adds The Ship in Distress in Stanpit. The two pubs are on the Southbourne-Mudeford winter route.
Avon Beach, which lies between Mudeford and Highcliffe, is up for sale.
It has been owned by the Derham family since 1934. But they were associated years earlier when George and Annie Derham served teas to passing walkers from their boat.
Now the lease from Christchurch Council is owned by the third generation.
One of the delights at Avon Beach is the very good bookshop and newsagents on the beach alongside the tearoom.
The 40th anniversary special issue of Strider, the Long Distance Walkers Association journal, mentions that 2012 is also the 10th anniversary of the E9 British section.
The ceremony in 2002 was held at Sandbanks, on the Bournemouth Coast Path, with the ‘opening’ being performed by former Countryside Commission chair John Johnson and European Ramblers president Jan Havelka.
This Plymouth to Dover stretch eventually links to Portugal.
“Not many people have the time to walk E-routes in their entirety,” admits the LDWA in the souvenir issue.
The Majestic Mansion exhibition at Highcliffe Castle runs until Sunday 2 September.
The excellent display by the castle’s historian Ian Stevenson is marking the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee . The exhibition is well worth seeing as it contains new research.
First it is interesting to see the large number of Royal Family members who dropped in. For example the Queen of Sweden called with her son and fiancee just before their wedding at St Stephen’s Church in Bournemouth. Since the church was still being built, and was not licensed for marriages, the Royal couple were required to first attend a civil ceremony in Christchurch.
Queen Victoria never saw Highcliffe but there were huge plans made when her lady in waiting hinted that Her Majesty might sail over from the Isle of Wight.
The display reveals that Queen Adelaide’s doctor lived at Hordle House.
It was interesting to see a picture of Edward VII on one of his visits arriving at Hinton Admiral Station and to learn that on another occasion that the King and chauffeur wore goggles for the short trip in the open Daimler between castle and station.
The last Royal visitor was the Duke of Gloucester who as an architect and English Heritage commissioner took a great interest in the building. That visit did not get much press coverage since it took place as news was reaching the UK of the twin towers  attack in New York.