Dorchester’s Independent Bookshop

2 Georgian House, Trinity Street, Dorchester (Near High West Street)

07424 619496

teaselandskylark@gmail.com

Current Opening Hours - December 2025

Interior of a bookstore with white shelves filled with books and decorative items, a table with books and plush toys, and a window letting in natural light.

Books that take you places—real, wild, and wonderfully imagined.

Stories rooted deep ... Adventures soaring high

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Stories rooted deep ... Adventures soaring high *

Front view of Teasel & Skylark bookstore with display window showing books, art, and gifts, and black signs with white lettering.
Logo of the Booksellers Association featuring white text on a blue background

Nestled in the heart of Dorchester, Teasel & Skylark is your gateway to Dorset’s wild beauty, timeless charm, and a world of inspiring stories.

As an independent bookshop, we give a lot of thought to curating a collection of books that champions the unyielding spirit of adventure, celebrates the magnificent local landscape, and nurtures your well-being through the transformative power of nature and storytelling.

Whether you seek to lose yourself in gripping, immersive tales or find fresh inspiration for your own personal journeys, we offer books that connect you deeply and meaningfully to Dorset, the Jurassic Coast, and far, far beyond.

Step inside, fuel your imagination, and awaken your mind.

Your next great adventure truly starts here.

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Find your next great read with Teasel & Skylark

What are we currently reading?

David’s Latest Read - Burn by Ben Short

I’ve just finished reading Burn by Ben Short. Personal accounts and memoirs have not been a big part of my reading in the past but this book has definitely prompted me to add this genre of writing to my repertoire of reads.

Ben is a frazzled advertising exec in London, suffering from acute anxiety and rapidly declining mental health, and is quite literally burning himself out. Following the sudden and very symbolic departure of his best friend’s bird of prey, Ben determines that he must do the same, to save himself. Leaving the big smoke far behind him, he eventually finds peace, purpose and a much more authentic meaning of life in the form of a much smaller smoke – charcoal making.

Of course, this was never going to be a simple transition and Ben takes the reader through many an adventure and a scrape, meeting a beautiful cast of characters, all of whom contribute, for good or for bad, towards helping Ben truly find himself and finally free his spirit.

Burn is a delightful memoir of what it means to suffer from poor mental health, whilst never becoming cloying or self-pitying, and although we can’t all find peace by making charcoal in a wood, there is so much to gain and to learn simply from his insight and his determination to find happiness.

David

Richard’s Latest Read - Upon A White Horse by Peter Ross

Book cover titled 'Upon a White Horse: Journeys in Ancient Britain and Ireland' by Peter Ross, featuring an illustration of a landscape with rolling green hills, stone circles, and a horse silhouette in the background.

In Upon A White Horse: Journeys in Ancient Britain and Ireland, Pete Ross leads us beyond the familiar tourist trail and into the landscapes, myths, and human efforts that keep Britain’s ancient monuments alive. From Stonehenge at mid-winter dawn to midsummer at Sycamore Gap, and from Ireland’s bog bodies to Dorset’s chalk giants, this is a journey that offers so much more than an exploration of the ancient sites.

What truly sets this book apart is Ross’s engaging and quietly charming voice. By choosing to focus not only on the monuments themselves but the people who care about them he presents the ancient sites as alive with human presence, revealing their continued relevance in the modern world.

Reflective, accessible, and finely written, this book is ideal for anyone who enjoys travel writing infused with archaeology, folklore, and a dash of memoir. A highly recommended read.

Richard

What are our top selling books this month?

Here are the Top 10 Books for October 2025

Book cover of "Raising Hare" by Chloe Dalton featuring a realistic illustration of a hare in profile, with text highlighting awards and reviews.
Book cover titled 'The North Sea Along the Edge of Britain' by Alistair Moffat, featuring stylized waves, a sailing boat, and birds in the sky.
Book cover of 'The Lone Husky' by Hannah Gold, illustrated by Levi Pinfold. Features a large husky dog standing on a rocky outcrop with a small girl and a polar bear in the background, set against a sunset sky.
Book cover titled "Mystery in White: A Christmas Crime Story" by J. Jefferson Farjeon, part of British Library Crime Classics series with illustrations of a train, a clock, and a snowy village.
Book cover of 'Upon a White Horse' by Peter Ross, featuring a countryside scene with rolling green hills, a river with stone bridges, and a white horse in flight in the sky.

And here are our Top 10 Children’s Books for October 2025

Illustration of a fairy shopping scene in a whimsical town with buildings, fairies, and a friendly clown on stilts, with a pink banner reading 'Fairy Shopping' and the author's name, Sally Gardner.
Book cover titled "A Wildflower Year" by Frances Tophill, featuring watercolor illustrations of wildflowers, grasses, and a pond with birds in the sky, emphasizing a guide to wildflowers, their habitats, and histories.
Book cover of 'So Late in the Day' by Claire Keegan, featuring a painted window and a stack of books, with quotes from George Saunders and the Sunday Independent.
Book cover for 'Night Life' by John Lewis-Stempel, featuring a nighttime landscape with a large tree, full moon, barn, owl, night heron, and a wetland scene in black, white, and gray tones.
Book cover titled 'Secrets of the Stars: 15 Bedtime Stories Inspired by Nature' with a howling wolf, a white owl, a blue bird, a green frog, butterflies, a bat, a beetle, and a fish against a starry night sky and a large full moon.
Book cover titled "This Way Up: When maps go wrong (and why it matters)" by Richard Oshyan, featuring diagrams of polar projection maps of the Earth, with orange background and black and blue text.
Book cover titled 'Middleland: Dispatches from the Borders' by Rory Stewart, featuring a black-and-white illustration of a rural landscape with a large tree, a path, stone walls, a small building, and a flowing stream under a cloudy sky.
Book cover for 'The Book of Dust, Volume Three: The Rose Field' by Philip Pullman with a sunset or sunrise landscape and silhouettes of two people on horseback.
Book cover with large blue letters 'S', 'Ö', and 'N' arranged vertically, author's name Sverker Sörlin in smaller text, and the title 'a history' at the bottom. The background features an icy, snow-covered landscape.
Book cover for 'The Corfe Castle Murders' by Rachel McLean, part of the Dorset Crime Series, featuring an image of Corfe Castle against a cloudy sky, with a black and gold circular badge indicating it is a million copy bestseller.
Book cover for 'Strange Houses' by Uketsu with a pink house floor plan, a bloody cleaver, a hand with a bloody wrist, and Japanese characters, against a blue background.
Book cover for 'Neurodivergent, by Nature' by Joe Harkness, featuring a black tree with birds, green leafy borders, and white background.
Illustration of a person made of musical instruments like a harpsichord, viol, and drums, with an open book and a sign that reads 'The Madman's Orchestra' by Edward Brooke-Hitching.
Illustration of a girl with a blue hat and scarf in a snowy forest looking at a glowing, fiery creature hanging from a tree branch.
Cover of a travel book titled '111 Places in Dorset That You Shouldn't Miss' by Jeni Bell and Karen Heaney, featuring a green background and a small ammonite fossil.

What’s new on our shelves?

Here are some of the new titles we have on our shelves for November 2025

Book cover for "Tell Me Everything" by Elizabeth Strout, featuring an illustration of a cluttered desk with a lamp, books, and a window showing a tree and bird, with a light mint background.
Watercolor illustration with a boy, a fox, a horse, and a storm. Handwritten text says 'Always Remember,' 'The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, the Horse and the Storm,' and 'Charlie Mackesy.'
Book cover titled "Storyland: A New Mythology of Britain" by Amy Jeffs, featuring a dark background with an illustration of a woman with long hair holding a sword, and a swirling, fiery illustration. There's a quote from The Times praising the book.
Book cover for 'The Department of Sensitive Crimes' by Alexander McCall Smith, featuring a silhouette of a woman in a coat and hat with a dog head illustration, and a red background.
Book cover titled 'The Tree Hunters: How the Cult of the Arboretum Transformed Our Landscape' by Thomas Pakenham, featuring a dense forest with tall trees and lush green foliage.

Featured Products

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What are people saying about us?

Here are some comments from Google and social media

It's an absolute gem. Definitely will do most of my Christmas shopping here.

L B - November 2025

Finally an independent bookshop! Small but perfectly formed. In addition to a great selection of books there are national book tokens, beautiful cards and of course, very helpful shopkeepers. You can order books here, a very useful service. Highly recommend, visit asap!

R G - October 2025

A fabulous local independent bookshop! Great atmosphere and calm space to peruse the gorgeous books. Loved the books which ground you in real life… ie The life of trees. Will be making this a regular stop!!

J D - August 2025

An absolutely brilliant bookshop which we loved visiting last Saturday. A wonderful ambience, very well stocked (the nature focus is really great), fantastic advice which wasn’t at all intrusive but gentle and informative. The books, cards, gifts and art works were of a high quality and wonderful. Take the opportunity to visit and support this bookshop - you won’t be disappointed and you will discover an absolute gem.

A G - October 2025

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