Cranborne Chase: A Secret Landscape

Cranborne Chase is an area of chalk highland and valleys traversing Dorset, Wiltshire and Hampshire. Royalty once came here to hunt deer and other game in an area that became known as the Chase. It remains a landscape that feels like a painting of the past, with open chalk downland, wide expansive skies, dramatic escarpments and panoramic views. Renowned for its archaeological treasures, it remains largely unspoilt with its own sense of remoteness. Chalk river valleys provide a contrast with hidden villages, churches and manor houses surrounded by ancient woodlands, forming an atmospheric landscape where nature and humanity live hand in hand.In this book Roger Lane traces elements of the region’s history, occasionally with personal anecdotes adding to the interest. He and Roger Holman are acclaimed photographers with an intimate knowledge of the area. Here, their photography will inform and delight both visitors and residents alike.

Roger Lane was born in 1945 in Wimborne, Dorset. Whilst completing a forty-year aerospace career, he has been a freelance photographer since 1968 and a published writer since the1980s. Much of his work has been featured in FRANCE Magazine, Outdoor Photography, Dorset Life and Dorset Magazine. Roger took early retirement in 2004 to pursue interests in writing and photography. Further biographical detail can be seen at www.rogerlanephotography.com.

Roger Holman was born in 1932 near Wimborne. On leaving Queen Elizabeth Grammar School he joined the family firm which he continued to run, apart from time spent on National Service in the RAF. Roger unfortunately passed away in November 2021 the family firm is still run by his two sons and daughter. He discovered photography in his teens and has photographed aspects of his home county ever since. He is the author of Images of the Dorset Coast, Images of Dorset Country, Dorset the Glorious County, Dorset’s Most Beautiful Buildings and Dorset in Winter. He has also been widely featured in local magazines and was a member of the Royal Photographic Society.