The River Frome in Dorset flows for some 30 miles from the chalk uplands of central Dorset into Poole Harbour near Wareham. Its source is St John’s Well in the village of Evershot, and from here it flows through some of Dorset’s most scenic and historic landscapes. The river passes a wide variety of settlements, including the county town of Dorchester, the Saxon walled town of Wareham, and picturesque villages such as Cattistock and Moreton. A fascinating array of historic features fill the valley: a railway built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, earthworks of a Roman aqueduct and, most surprising of all, several miles of water meadow systems, which fertilised the land during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Called ‘The Vale of the Great Dairies’ in the works of Thomas Hardy, paths and lanes make it easy to explore the Frome valley and follow the river’s course from Evershot to Wareham.