11 things that you may not know are made in Dorset

1. Lava Lamps

The iconic lamp that lit the 60’s was created in 1963 by Edward Craven Walker in Poole. He originally called it the ‘Astro Lamp’ and delivered the lights around the country, in an old postal van called ‘Smokey’, with his wife Christine.

2. Milk Vodka

Black Cow pure milk vodka is made completely from milk taken from grass-fed cows living in the Dorset countryside. The dairy drink is the invention of farmer Jason Barber who also crates cheese from the by-products of the process.

3. Posh paint

Despite Farrow and Ball being sold worldwide all of the paint from this renowned company, is made in a factory in Wimborne, the town where it was first created by John Farrow and Richard Ball.

4. Theme Parks

From their headquarters in Poole, Merlin Entertainment run 100 attractions in 22 countries, including Alton Towers, Madame Tussauds and Sea Life.

5. Wasabi

The Wasabi Company grows fresh wasabi in Dorchester using traditional Japanese methods. The fresh, spicy, greens are part of the watercress family and are a huge part of sushi.

6. Wine

The Lyme Bay Winery is a grass roots company that make local ciders, wines and spirits. Aiming to get back to countryside living with seasonal products, the company makes everything from a strawberry liqueur to a birch wine, a gooseberry sparkling wine to honey mead and of course old-fashioned scrumpy cider.

7. Soap

Since Lush Cosmetics was started in a little shop in Poole in 1979, the company has spread around the world, thanks to their unique soaps, make-up and bath bombs.

8. Special effects

Creating giants, dragons and carpets that fly is no easy task, the TwinsFX is a special effects company from Dorset that does just that. Having worked on projects such as Doctor Who Live the team have made some weird and wonderful things.

9. Blueberries

David Trehane first brought blueberries to his home in Dorset in 1953, by 1963 he was producing commercial volumes of the sweet round berries. The Dorset Blueberry Company now produces between 120-150 tonnes of blueberries each season supplying big names such as Marks and Spencer and Ocado.

10. Ryvita

The world-renowned crispbread is made at a factory in Poole. In 2008, Poole residents noticed a pungent smell of garlic lingering around Parkstone for several days. It turned out to be a new garlic and rosemary flavour crispbread that was being produced at the factory. 

11. Prosthetic limbs

Dorset Orthopeadic is one of the world's leading providers of prosthetic, orthotic and silicone limbs. They have even supplied silicone limbs to Heather Mills and American actress, Olympic athlete and model Aimee Mullins, who described company founder Bob Watts as the “best in the world”.