The Blue Pool and Wareham – The Real Locations Behind The Blue Pool Murders
The Blue Pool is a real beauty spot between Wareham and Corfe Castle in Purbeck, Dorset, and together with the nearby market town of Wareham it's the setting for The Blue Pool Murders, book 7 in my Dorset Crime series. Here's why I chose it, and why Wareham holds a special place in my heart.
When I decided to set this book at the Blue Pool, I knew I'd found the perfect place for Lesley's team to find a body. A little-known and underrated beauty spot, the Blue Pool has a landscape and natural environment that is unique in the area.
What is the Blue Pool?
I've been to the Blue Pool many, many times. The sense of calm and otherworldliness that it exudes makes it the perfect location for a book.
It's the site of an abandoned clay quarry, with the astonishing blue-green of the pool itself (more of a lake, really) deriving from the refraction of light from the tiny particles of clay suspended in the water.
As well as being unique visually, the woodland surrounding the pool is also rather special aurally. Most of the Purbeck landscape is covered in heathland – purple and yellow gorse flowers, contrasting with the dark green foliage and the blue of the sea and sky beyond.
But the woodland surrounding the Blue Pool is coniferous. And the ground is covered in fallen pine needles. And I mean covered. In places, the ground is so thick with needles that when you walk, you bounce.
It all gives the place a rather surreal atmosphere. The tall trees block out sound from the outside world, the surface layer of needles muffles the echo of footsteps, and the fact that the whole place is located in a huge dip which originally formed the quarry only adds to the effect.
Can you visit the Blue Pool?
Yes, and I recommend it. It's beautiful. If you're not into walking, it has a gorgeous Edwardian tea room.
Why Wareham?
Not only did I get to write about the Blue Pool in this book, I also wrote about one of my favourite Dorset towns – Wareham.
Wareham holds a special place in my heart. When I was nine years old, my parents bought a caravan at the Redcliffe Caravan Park, at the top of a hill a mile or so upriver from Wareham. I spent many happy weekends and summers there. Cycling the back lanes, walking the towpath into town to go grocery shopping, eating fish and chips from the Chipperies while sitting on the edge of the quay, legs dangling over the River Frome below...
And when I gave Lesley a cottage in one of Wareham's narrow streets (between the Duke of Wellington pub and St Mary's Church – see if you can work out the address), I felt I'd done the town a disservice.
Because Lesley isn't keen on Wareham.
Dorset Police allocated Lesley a low-ceilinged cottage, rented for the six months of her secondment to the county. It was supposed to be no more than a base, a place to rest her head between shifts at Dorset Police HQ not far away in Winfrith.
Let's face it: Lesley is a city girl. She's a born and bred Brummie who lived in Edgbaston, a leafy suburb closer to the city centre than leafy suburbs really have a right to be. So when she's forced to live in a pokey cottage along a narrow lane in a sleepy market town she's never heard of, it's fair to say she's not best pleased.
And as we all know, Lesley is very good at being grumpy.
So in The Blue Pool Murders, I wanted to paint Wareham and the surrounding area in a better light. And that isn't hard.
Real Wareham institutions in The Blue Pool Murders
There's a key scene where Tina and Mike visit the Chipperies on South Street in search of CCTV evidence and witness reports, and another in which Dennis and Katie interview staff at the next-door Nellie Crumb tearoom.
The Chipperies and Nellie Crumb are Wareham institutions. I remember queueing up for a cone of chips at the Chipperies in the seventies, and my friend Maria (who designs the covers for my hardback books) had a weekend job at Nellie Crumb during the eighties.
Even as Wareham slowly enters the 21st century, with its pubs modernised and new cafes springing up like the Salt Pig (so trendy that the likes of Billie Piper are spotted there), the Chipperies and Nellie Crumb persist.
So I couldn't resist writing about them. I only hope I was sufficiently kind to these Dorset institutions, of which I'm very fond. The Chipperies had a refurb in 2023, so hopefully it will be 'frying tonight' for many years to come.
Visiting the Wareham locations in The Blue Pool Murders
Wareham is a lovely town to walk around, and within a short time you can take in Lesley's cottage, the pub on East Street and the businesses where Mike and Tina interview witnesses. You can also sit on the quay and enjoy an ice cream, if the weather's good.
Real locations in The Blue Pool Murders
The Blue Pool
Lesley's cottage, Church Street, Wareham
The Duke of Wellington, East Street
The Chipperies, South Street
Nellie Crumb tearoom, South Street
Read more
New to the series? Start with The Corfe Castle Murders, or get the prequel novella The Ballard Down Murder free.
