The road from Blandford to Winterborne Stickland has many things to recommend it; rolling countryside, peaceful woodlands, 9.3 megawatts of electricity, open views over to Poole Harbour and The Solent, fresh air, and a feeling of escape from the bustling market town.
Woahhhh! Hold on! What was that about electricity?
Ahhh yes, enough electricity for 2,700 typical households being made quietly in a field at Canada Farm. There wasn't much fuss about that, I saw the signs saying BSR (British Solar Renewables) but didn't take much notice. It wasn't until someone cut the hedges that I realised it was there at all!
That's the thing really, there is a new solar farm of 35,600, 260 watt panels in this picture, somewhere. There are about 10,500 people in Blandford, which means the whole town could be supplied from this one field, and you wouldn't even know it was there.
I heard that there are still people out there who raise objections to this sort of thing! Are these the same people who switch lights on, cook, re-charge their electric cars and watch the telly?
There is another solar farm being built near Blandford, that would make the area a net exporter of electricity, more on that later.
I'm off to absorb the peace and quiet of the Dorset countryside.
