Scotland Farm, deep in the heath of the Isle of Purbeck, is owned by The National Trust and currently home to Scotland Farm Heritage Crafts. Etched into the lintel above the entrance is ‘16PW65’, the date of its construction and initials of Peter Whefen, the builder. He was clearly doing much better than his neighbours, escaping from the world to this isolated spot, building his farmhouse out of stone nabbed from the recently slighted Corfe Castle) while, across the water of the harbour, the Plague destroyed the town of Poole. The farmhouse has become a museum. The landscape soon changed with the development of the extraction of clay requiring new transportation methods. Middlebere Tramway, to the north, was a horse-worked line, opened in 1806 as the first in the country, connecting the clay pits at Norden Heath to Middlebere Quay, on the fringe of Poole Harbour (Middlebere Farm today). In 1840 the Pike Brothers, William Joseph and John William, to keep up with the competition, built Pike’s Tramway further to the north, over Ridge to the River Frome, downstream of Wareham (extended to the south in 1860). The line was a continual downhill gradient to the water with the wagons run by gravity to then be hauled back up by horses. In 1854 a second line was built on the Isle of Purbeck, creating a port to neighbour Middlebere at Goathorn, the line becoming known as the Fayle’s Tramway, its route skimming Scotland Farm to the south. Despite Fayle’s Tramway finally trumping Middlebere in 1907, the line fell out of use in the 1930s but parts of the route are sill visible in the woods and used by the Oil refinery. Despite being adapted for steam the Pike’s Tramway closed in 1957. Slowly the Isle returned to a peaceful place, while Scotland Farm just watched to all happen, minding its own business. See website for full details of May’s Walk of the Month… #dorset #explore #discover #adventure #getoutside #history #landscape #countryside #secret #lovedorset #escape #dorsetwalks #walkofthemonth #isleofpurbeck #wytch #pooleharbour #corfecastle #tramway #heathland #scotlandfarm #railway #industry #lostrailway #middlebere #pikestramway #nationaltrust #faylestramway