Child Okeford
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Child Okeford (sometimes written Childe Okeford) is a quiet village in north Dorset, England, situated in the Blackmore Vale two miles east of Sturminster Newton. The village has a population of 1,065 (2001), 41.9% of which are retired.
Child Okeford is situated at the foot of Hambledon Hill, an Iron Age hill fort. There are a variety of shops and businesses in Child Okeford, including the Post Office and Cross Stores in the centre of the village. On the way out of Child Okeford, at Gold Hill Farm, there is also a small business community, with a rapidly expanding organic food shop (Gold Hill Organics), a cafe (The Farmyard Picnic), a rushwork workshop and an art Gallery (The Art Stable) which exhibits contemporary and modern British art, including many local painters.
The village was the last home, until his death in 1989, of the puppeteer, and children's entertainer Harry Corbett creator of the glove puppet characters Sooty and Sweep. It is also the present home of Sir John Tavener (composer), and Christopher Juett (noted film- maker).
On the mystical side, local author and dowser Peter Knight has shown how Child Okeford is at the centre of several ley lines, some of which pass up to Hambledon Hill nearby. Old records speak of a megalith that used to lie where the cross is now, marking an ancient crossroads[citation needed].
[edit] Further reading
- Knight, Peter, Ancient Stones of Dorset , 1998.
[edit] External links
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