
Teddy Bear Museum

the historic centre
For such a relatively small town, Dorchester has an usually great variety of museums. One of the best, Dorset County Museum, offers an excellent overview of the town and county’s history and includes author Thomas Hardy’s study from his Dorchester home, Max Gate. Another museum worth a visit is the ever so cute Teddy Bear House with a vast collection of teddies squeezed onto the top floor of the Terracotta Warriors Exhibition – great for adults and children alike. To please the kids further, there’s a Dinosaur Museum as well, but adults might prefer the formidable Keep Military Museum, housed in a castle-lookalike from 1879.
The Romans arrived here in 43 AD, naming their settlement Durnovaria and Dorchester’s Roman heritage can be spotted throughout the area. Part of the Roman town wall remains, near Borough Gardens, an excavated Roman Town House can be found in the northwest corner of the old town, while to the south there are Roman baths and the impressive amphitheatre of Maumbury Rings.

Roman town house
For further information about Dorchester, museums and the surrounding area click here.
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