Dorchester folk are being urged to explore their hometown with the help of a new walks book.

Town crier Alistair Chisholm has put pen to paper to bring the county town to life in a series of walks.

And the book - Dorchester Town Walks - published by Julian Nangle of Words Press is already proving a hit.

Hundreds have already flown off the shelves ahead of the official launch yesterday and both Mr Chisholm and Mr Nangle are hoping that others will now use the book to explore the town and discover its hidden history.

Mr Nangle said: "It's aimed at local people as much as it is at visitors.

"The book features a huge amount of information. I have lived here for 10 years and doing this book I have discovered things that I never knew about."

The book features four walks all setting off from the Town Pump in Cornhill and includes a town and river walk, a Roman town walk, a gallows walk and a Thomas Hardy walk. Mr Chisholm said: "Dorchester is a little town with a big story and I wanted to show some of that through the book.

"At the end of the day if we want to make more of the extraordinary story then it's the people who live here who need to know about it just as much as the people who are visiting the town for the first time."

Mr Chisholm said he decided to put the book together after getting involved with the Dorchester Heritage Committee's town trails, which looked at some of the history of the town.

"I am very grateful that Julian agreed to get on board and we have been able to publish the book.

"I am very pleased with it. Dorchester is a very special place an I hope people will find out just how special it is with the book."

Copies of Dorchester Town Walks are available from outlets across the town including Words Etcetera Bookshop, Top Drawer, Paninis, Nappers Mite and Thorntons.