Coombe Keynes is a village that is not far off the very well-beaten track from Wool down to Lulworth Cove. Very few of the many thousands of visitors heading for the Cove every year probably even notice the little sign pointing to Coombe Keynes, meaning they miss a village with some gorgeous thatched cottages. At its centre is a little green with an oak tree, and most of the best cottages cluster around it. The cottage builders used whatever materials they could find, generally a mix of brick and several types of stone, to very good effect. A semi-detached pair of cottages called Cuckoo Nod and Mini Nod that are next to the green could hold their own against any picturesque thatched building in the county. A larger building across the road began life in the 16th century as a single-storey longhouse and with a barn, as reflected in the newish names of the two properties into which it is divided - The Long House and Carter’s Barn. Nearby, West Coombe Farmhouse has a 19th century front wing and a rear wing of the 17th century. The parish church sits above the village partway up a little hill, with an old rectory (thatched, of course) for company. It must have been in a state before the Dorchester architect John Hicks rebuilt most of it in the 1860s, but it’s now a pleasing sight with more mixed stonework - the 13th century tower is mostly flint, contrasting with the predominant dark-brown stone of Hicks’ chancel