Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence CB, DSO, known professionally as T. E. Lawrence, was a British soldier renowned especially for his liaison role during the Arab Revolt of 1916–18. The breadth of his fame is unique – archaeologist, scholar, soldier, writer. Always an independent spirit, he was a friend of many artists as well as soldiers and politicians. His vivid writings, along with the extraordinary breadth and variety of his activities and associations, have made him the object of fascination throughout the world as “Lawrence of Arabia”.

T.E. Lawrence died in a motorcycle accident and was buried on May 21st 1935 in the cemetery annexe of St Nicholas Church, Moreton, just a few miles from his home at Clouds Hill in Dorset.

Although it might be expected that Lawrence should have beeen buried in Westminster Abbey, this quiet place in Dorset is not inappropiate given that Lawrence spent his last years hiding from the unwelcome fame of his wartime exploits. His funeral was attended by a multitude of soldiers, statesmen, writers and artists.

One of the things that Mr C particularly wanted to see was the Tiger Tank Exhibition in Bovington Tank museum. After breakfast we drove to Bovington along leafy lanes in beautiful sunshine. After looking at some of the exhibits it was time for a morning cup of tea.

Unfortunately the small cafe that was nearest to us was for some reason had stopped serving food or drink. We made our way to the new restaurant area where, unexpectedly, Mr C bumped into someone he knew and much to the other person’s surprise. They got chatting and, before we knew it, it was almost time for lunch. We decided to have lunch before before continuing with our museum visit. The museum had changed a lot since our previous visits and was much improved.

After our museum visit we drove to Morton Village to visit St. Nicholas Church and its beautiful glass windows engraved by the late Sir Laurence Whistler. The theme of the windows is light and they are replacements for windows that were destroyed by a German bomb in WWII.

The church is also of interest because the funeral of T E Lawrence took place there. Before returning to the hotel we visited his grave which is located in the graveyard near to the church.

Back in the hotel we chilled out before visiting the hotel bar for an aperitif. We dined in a Thai restaurant where the food was delicious and the service excellent. Comfortably replete, we stepped out further into town, to the George, Sherborne’s oldest pub for a nightcap. It had a lovely atmosphere with gentle music playing in the background.