AN OFFICIAL guide says tourists are put off visiting Dorchester because of the poor facilities in the county town.

Blue badge guide Ann Martin, who is employed by West Country Tourism, shows hundreds of people round the town's historic sites every year.

But she says visitors' first view of the county town - the Top o' Town coach park - creates a poor impression. She is now calling on West Dorset District Council to improve its facilities before building new attractions.

Mrs Martin, of Front Street, Portesham, spoke out after the district council's proposals to turn Shire Hall - which houses Dorchester's old crown court, the scene of the trial of the Tolpuddle martyrs - into a new tourist attraction.

The district council has already failed in a bid for lottery money to convert the building and is currently investigating uses for it as part of a shake-up of office space.

Mrs Martin said: "If West Dorset District Council has money it wants to spend to make Dorchester more attractive to the visitor, I suggest they start with the parking, especially the coach parking.

"I am embarrassed when I have to meet a coach at the Top o' Town car park. When the coach driver has struggled among the cars to the rear of the park to find the very sparse coach parking he then has to make a very complicated manoeuvre in order to squeeze the coach into one of the small spaces.

"I always go on to the coach and welcome the visitors to Roman Durnovaria and Hardy's Casterbridge - the first request I hear when I greet visitors is 'where are the toilets?' With a sinking feeling I direct them to the grotty toilet block and wait for their comments - what a welcome to Dorchester."

And after they have toured Dorchester, Mrs Martin said the visitors fair little better because a shelter designed to protect them against the element only has enough space for about ten people.

"Many of the people I show around Dorchester are American and they are expecting to arrive at some quaint town but the first view of the town is far from that.

"I take people on tours all over the area and see a lot of facilities but Dorchester's are among the worst and leave such a bad impression.

"I believe that before we start spending public money on visitor attractions, let's give the visitor a decent welcome. The Romans did a lot better with large public baths and Hardy, whose visitor book reads like a who's who, would be horrified," she said.

A spokesman for West Dorset District Council said that Dorset County Council was currently in the process of drawing up plans to improve facilities at the coach park.

And on the subject of the toilets he said: "We clean them three times a day but they are open for 24 hours a day and are heavily used. However, they are old toilets and are not ideal for the 21st Century - but we are doing the best with what we have got."