STANDING in the centre of the fountain in London's Piccadilly Circus is the world-famous statue of Eros, the god of love. And his arrow is deliberately pointed towards a Dorset village.

Why? Because the god, symbolising Christian charity, is a memorial to the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, the philanthropist whose family home is at Wimborne St Giles.

That is just one intriguing detail in Curious Dorset, a new book by Derrick Warren, who spent his working life as a cartographic surveyor with Ordnance Survey before retiring 16 years ago, giving him the chance to explore the West Country.

He has collected strange facts and tales from across the county, collated in an A-Z guide.

Did you know, for example, the Beech Avenue, near Kingston Lacy, was reputedly planted by a forester from the estate with 365 on each side, one for every day of the year, although the years and the elements have taken their toll? Or, says the author, that it is the longest avenue in Europe? Or that the war memorial at Briantspuddle was the work of the remarkable sculptor and calligrapher of the 1920s, Eric Gill.

Or that Kimmeridge not only has a nodding donkey extracting oil but its shale, once exported worldwide was once earmarked to be processed to light the streets of Paris.

Or that the work of the leading glass engraver Laurence Whistler can be seen at the church of St Nicholas at Moreton where Lawrence of Arabia is buried?

Curious Dorset, published by Sutton Publishing (ISBN 0 7509 3733 5) and costing £12.99 covers the whole of the county from Abbotsbury to Wyke Regis.

A wealth of interesting facts and myths can als o be found in Down Your Way, an A-Z guide to all the villages, towns and suburbs in the Echo's own circulation area that includes the New Forest. Costing £9.95, it is available from Echo offices and many other local outlets.