WHAT do you get when you combine breathtaking images of Dorset’s spectacular countryside and action packed shots of the Olympic and Paralympics sailing events?

The answer is a unique edition of the Dorset Echo’s annual photographic book that celebrates a year to remember in style.

With a foreword from Weymouth’s Olympic silver medallist windsurfer Nick Dempsey, Dorset: A Photographic Journey in an Olympic Year begins on a high and then continues to wow the reader with a constant stream of glorious shots.

Double Olympic medallist Nick describes Weymouth and Portland’s role in the Games as ‘the best Olympic sailing event ever’ that showed off the county to its best.

Festivities swept the borough as the sun shone and history was made on borough waters with Britain’s first ever Paralympic sailing medals and Ben Ainslie becoming the world’s most successful Olympic sailor.

The 176-page glossy, hard-backed book comes hot on the heels of another special souvenir publication produced by the Echo to commemorate 2012.

When the World Came to Weymouth is selling fast, with hundreds snapped up.

At a cost of £3.95, When the World Came to Weymouth is the souvenir baby sister of Dorset: A Photographic Journey in an Olympic Year, which offers even more images and a heavyweight publication, priced at £14.95 a copy.

Many of the breathtaking photos in Dorset: A Photographic Journey in an Olympic Year were contributed by readers as part of an Echo competition.

The winning entry came from Dorchester’s Ian Alcock, who won the public vote for his early-morning snap of the sunrise at Osmington Mills and was awarded a £100 voucher for Castle Cameras in Bournemouth.

Toby Granville, group editor said: “From the mighty Chesil Beach sweeping along the Jurassic Coast to the miles of golden sands in Bournemouth, a stream of talented photographers have captured this county in all its glory for our latest book, Dorset: A Photographic Journey in an Olympic Year.

“Coupled with a special section highlighting the greatest moments of the Olympics in Weymouth and Portland, this latest addition to our series makes an ideal Christmas present or the perfect coffee table book to act as a constant reminder of how lucky we all are to live here.”

The book is available from the Dorset Echo offices on the Granby Industrial Estate, Weymouth and in Antelope Walk, Dorchester and the Bridport News office in East Street.