9:00am Sunday 14th March 2010
By Harry Hogger
ONLINE tourists could soon be able to take a virtual tour of Dorchester’s Borough Gardens.
Dorchester Town Council has agreed to look into featuring the ‘jewel in the crown’ of the county town on the increasingly popular Virtual Dorchester website.
Virtual Dorchester has proved a success in the town, with dozens of businesses signing up to be included on the virtual tour and the website receiving thousands of hits since going live in January.
Town Councillor Molly Rennie suggested that the council investigate putting a tour of the gardens on the website at a meeting of the management committee.
She said: “The Borough Gardens are our jewel in the crown and if anything is going to get people into Dorchester it’s seeing the gardens.
“I think it would be a really good idea to have a virtual tour of the Borough Gardens on the website.”
Committee members agreed investigate the possibility, with chairman Andy Canning suggesting they arrange for a tour of the gardens to be filmed when they are in full bloom.
Mayor of Dorchester Susie Hosford also suggested putting a tour of the Corn Exchange on the site.
The Virtual Dorchester project was launched by the Dorchester Business Improvement District (BID), which enlisted the services of photography and marketing company Estate Vue to create the site.
Project director of the Dorchester BID Phil Gordon said more than 30 businesses had now signed up to the site. He said the BID was considering extending its subsidising scheme that allows businesses to sign up at a reduced rate.
Mr Gordon said: “More and more people are joining every month – I’m delighted with the take up on it.”
He added that Virtual Dorchester could be a valuable tool for tourist attractions in the town as well as businesses and the more that are featured on the site, the more people will be enticed to visit the town.
He said: “There is scope for tourist attractions and we would be delighted if the town council wanted to join in and put the Borough Gardens on there – it makes perfect sense.”
Virtual Dorchester can be accessed from a link at www.dorchesterdorset.com
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