The A338 reopened and yes we were (are) banging on about it a bit...

but we're not the only ones:

Bournemouth Echo:

The sun shone! (despite weather forecasts to the contrary)

Bournemouth Echo:

For the first time in what feels like ages, we had a bank holiday weekend where the weather was good, all weekend.

Beaches and parks were packed as the county basked in sunshine. Despite forecasters warning of the potential for rain and thunderstorms, the mercury reached a high of 21C on Saturday afternoon with dry and warm conditions lasting for the duration of the weekend.

But the Met Office is predicting a strong chance of rain tomorrow, with overcast conditions expected for the remainder of the week.

Someone found a 2,300 year old gold laurel wreath under their bed

Bournemouth Echo:

The auctioneer called in to value it was... surprised when he saw what was in the box.

Read: 2,300 years old: the stunning gold wreath found wrapped in newspaper under a bed

A swimmer was airlifted to hospital after being found 'unresponsive' at Durdle Door

Bournemouth Echo:

The swimmer was conscious and breathing by the time coastguards arrived.

UPDATE: Swimmer airlifted to hospital from Durdle Door

This story about getting the train from Bournemouth to Barcelona was our most popular travel piece for ages

Bournemouth Echo:

Read it: Bournemouth to Barcelona by train in a day? It can be done

A lot of people complained about the sea suddenly turning brown

Bournemouth Echo:

But apparently it's harmless phytoplankton, also known as 'May bloom' which may or may not have been sparked by the beach replenishment works

Read it: What's turning our sea brown? And does it have anything to do with the beach works? 

Sandbanks was revealed as the most expensive seaside town in Britain

Bournemouth Echo:

Which is of course nothing new, although the fact the average house price is apparently more than £100k more than the next town on the list is quite interesting - as is the fact house prices have gone up an average of £440 a month for the last ten years. And no, we don't know when Sandbanks became a town either.

Read it: You'll never guess where in Dorset has been named the most expensive seaside town* (*you will)

The fire service rescued a sheep from a river... then tackled a landfill blaze

Bournemouth Echo:

It's the fourth blaze in five years at the Veolia Blue Haze landfill site. 

Read it: Residents told to close doors and windows overnight as 80 firefighters tackle landfill blaze

There was a Gogglebox star at B-Town Throwdown

Bournemouth Echo:

In Pictures: B-Town Throwdown is back!

Bournemouth 7s Festival saw a lot of this...

Bournemouth Echo:

In Pictures: Are you in our Bournemouth 7s Festival 2016 gallery? 

And we met Barrie Stacey, the 89-year-old who's writing erotic fiction

Bournemouth Echo:

because he was fed up with 'the usual repetitive and somewhat vanilla sex scenes that are becoming more prevalent in erotic fiction.' You can buy A Ticket to Passion (and read a preview sample) here.

Read it: Move over 50 shades of grey, this 89-year-old has written his own erotic novel