Nestled in the far western corner of Dorset is the stunning Marshwood Vale – made up of rolling hills and villages and hamlets scattered among the valleys.
To the outside world it looks like the place where time had stood still.
But beneath the idyllic rural scenes are residents and businesses very much of the 21st century that, until a few years ago, were trying to get by on 20th century technology.
Farmers, barristers, teachers, and small business owners were struggling to get by on pitiful broadband speeds below 1Mbps.
Now, thanks to public investment, most premises in this most remote part of Dorset are connected to full fibre to the premises.
But while many are reaping the benefits of this technology there’s still a few isolated pockets in the Marshwood Vale struggling on the lowest of internet speeds – even when fibre runs past their properties.
In Dorset, these are our very hard to reach premises, for which, all current subsidy schemes fail to help.
This case study is to shine a light on how public investment can make a huge difference to the people in rural areas and why it’s essential that no resident or business is left behind.
How full fibre revolutionised one family’s life
Five years ago, teacher Sophy Burleigh would open her emails and begin the painful wait of downloading one single message.
It may have been 2016 but Sophy and her family were attempting all online activities on a very meagre 0.2 Mbps; even their TV required a giant booster.
The Burleigh’s broadband was so poor that they might as well have been on 1990s dial up.
Fast forward to 2021 and it’s a whole different board game.
The Burleigh family, who reside in the hamlet of Monkton Wyld, were just one of many in the Marshwood Vale to benefit from a £1.02m investment in bringing full fibre to the premises in 2017.
And despite living literally in the middle of nowhere, where they can just make out their neighbour on the other side of the valley, the Burleighs are enjoying internet speeds that would make many in London jealous. 
“When our fibre was first installed it was a revelation,” Sophy recalled.
“Everything is done on email or online these days and we were struggling so much just to do even basic browsing.
“We were investigating satellite broadband when we found out that full fibre was coming to us.
“For people in our village, before the fibre the only option to get decent broadband was to travel to an internet café, which we all had to do by car because there’s no public transport here.”
When the fibre was installed it meant Sophy, who at the time was a part time teacher working across three schools, could do all her prep at home and download the latest teaching resources.
It also meant that she and her husband Dave, who makes timber frame buildings, could run their businesses more efficiently. (In addition to being a primary school teacher, Sophy also runs a Farm School for children from her home and the couple are also farmers).
But the massive difference came when the Covid pandemic struck and everything moved to online.
Sophy said: “I was able to make and upload videos at home, put them online and then send to my pupils for their remote learning. That would have been impossible in the pre-fibre days when I would have even struggled to send the children emails.
“We also keep livestock and we had already moved to registering the animals online but when Covid struck all the markets also moved online.
“I can’t even begin to imagine how we would have got through the lockdowns on our old speeds.”
Sophy has also seen the difference it has made to the lives of other people who live in her hamlet.
“One of our neighbours is a barrister who defended international cases from his home throughout the pandemic,” Sophy said. “He even said the broadband was quicker here than in his office in London!”
“Another family run holiday lets from their property and can now offer their visitors access to fast internet speeds – that must make a huge difference to their business.”
As Sophy catches up on work emails from her garden table, the remoteness of where she lives is clear. Behind her is nothing but views of rolling hills and a faint glimpse of Lyme Bay in the distance.
“Yes, we’re remote and yes we don’t work in techy jobs, but even the most remote and rural of businesses need access to decent broadband these days,” Sophy reflected.
“But are we hard to reach? There are telegraph polls right outside our property and the fibre was run through those. I can still vividly remember them installing it, it took no time at all.
“In this day and age no one should be hard to reach yet I’ve seen first-hand how poor broadband affects people’s lives.
“During the lockdown we had pupils that had to come into our school just because of poor connectivity or because their parents could not afford the bandwidth.
“We’ve seen the difference it’s made to our lives and I hope other people in rural areas can benefit as well.”
The ones that have been left behind
Unfortunately, not everyone in the Marshwood Vale can repeat Sophy’s success story.
One couple living in the heart of the Vale was one of just two premises in their postcode, that were not connected through Dorset Council’s Superfast programme.
They try to get by on a top speed of 2 Mbps while a neighbouring household just 500m away, enjoys full fibre to the premises.
Their situation became dire during lockdown, with both having to shield. More than ever they needed access to good broadband to do things like online shopping or e-consultations with doctors.
Desperate, they tried the USO, however the 4G Home Hub was unsuitable and the full fibre quote was far too expensive to be met by the subsidy offer.
Being a single premise also made the voucher subsidy difficult to access as well.
But with it being their only option left, the couple are trying to pursue a Community Fibre Project with Openreach (the only supplier in the area). They are hoping that the telecoms giant can find other suitable properties in the area to join with them so it can apply for vouchers.
They also contacted Dorset Council’s Digital Place team more than a year ago for advice, but a viable solution has yet to be found – even though they are a stone’s throw away from fibre.
Despite a million-pound investment in the Marshwood Vale there were still people missed out and these are clearly an example of Dorset’s very hard to reach premises.
Connecting the Marshwood Vale – the facts
- From 2016 to 2017 more than 450 premises in the Marshwood Vale received FTTP through two Dorset Council Superfast contracts with Openreach.
- The current take-up in the Marshwood Vale ward is 67.66% (Contract 2) – 71.32% (Contract 1). The take-up in this area is comparatively higher than FTTP built at a similar time in urban and suburban areas.
- There remain premises in this area that do not have access to FTTP or Superfast connectivity despite the proximity of fibre and infrastructure. Connecting these premises is proving very difficult.
- The still-to-be connected are often single premises and therefore not eligible for the voucher scheme. The USO offer does not offer enough subsidy to cover the cost of fibre delivery and mobile signal is too limited to allow a 4G solution.
- This legacy of postcode-based coverage in the Superfast programme has left these very hard to reach premises across Dorset in areas where the overall coverage is good.
I have worked in communications for 25 years, first as a journalist and then in public and private sector public relations. From Southampton originally, I have lived in beautiful Dorset for the last two decades. My passion for Dorset has also turned into a passion for landscape photography. My other great loves are my family and Southampton Football Club.