Dorset is a picturesque county famous for it’s rolling hillsides, coastal views and spectacular natural beauty – both in its landscape and its inhabitants.

From Poole’s Ann Sidney, who won Miss World in 1964, to Sarah-Jane Hutt, also from Poole, who won the contest in 1983, right through to the early 21st century when glamour model Lucy Pinder was discovered on Bournemouth beach, the county has been unearthing natural beauties for decades.

However, an exclusive dating website has suggested British people are among the world’s ugliest.

Beautifulpeople .com was set up in 2002 as “an exclusively beautiful community, founded for the purpose of creating personal and professional relationships.”

Using a recent picture and a short personal profile, existing members of the website decide whether or not new applicants are attractive enough to join their exclusive club.

Now here’s the part that’s hard to swallow. Only 12 per cent of British men and just 15 per cent of British women who have applied to BeautifulPeople.com in the last four years have been accepted as members.

Bournemouth University graduate Deborah Fraser, who now works for a national women’s magazine, isn’t sure the online world reflects reality.

“I don’t think the website’s statistics are true of the real world,” she says. “I have to deal with beautiful British people every day organising photoshoots for the magazine and I’ve also travelled the world a fair amount – I’d say we have some of the best-looking people in the world living in the UK.”

Beautifulpeople.com was founded in Denmark and has since spread to other countries – reaching the UK in April 2005 – since then 295,000 people have applied, with only 35,000 being approved – less than 12 per cent.

“I don’t know why British people are doing so badly,” confesses beautifulpeople.com managing director Greg Hodge. “It hurts me – I’m English!

“I think there’s less emphasis on appearance in the UK than overseas. If you go to some countries they’re very into how they look – very health and body conscious.

“The UK attitude is a bit more about kicking back and relaxing – having a few drinks in the pub after work.”

Swedish men have proved the most successful applicants, with a 65 per cent success rate, and Norwegian women are considered the most beautiful with 76 per cent making the grade. In the last two weeks alone nearly 1.8 million people from 190 countries have been rejected by the website.