The 50th Wareham and Purbeck Vintage Ploughing Match

If you are after something that is not the usual beach day out, the Dorset countryside has a quiet, old-fashioned alternative. The Wareham and Purbeck Vintage Ploughing Match is turning 50, and its anniversary edition is the kind of day that rewards taking the time to look closely rather than rushing through. It is a celebration of vintage tractors and rural traditions, and it is built around the simple act of turning soil.

The match is run by the Wareham and Purbeck Vintage Ploughing Committee, and it is held at the Smedmore Estate in Kimmeridge, on a stretch of the Jurassic Coast. The estate is a Grade II* listed Georgian manor house and is not normally open to the public, so the event is one of the few chances to get inside its gates. It is held there by permission of Mr John Aplin of Chamberlaynes, Bere Regis, and the setting is as much a part of the draw as the tractors themselves.

At its heart, the day is about the machinery. You can expect more than 50 competitors, with vintage and classic tractors from the 1940s to the early 1970s putting on a display of how farming used to be done. The classes are split by the type, age and size of the tractors and ploughs, which gives you a genuine window onto the farming practices of the post-war period. It is less a competition and more a living museum, with the different eras of machinery working side by side.

It is set up for families, too. There is a charity raffle and tractor trailer rides around the field at regular intervals, and catering is available on site, so you can make a proper day of it. Entry and parking are free for visitors, which makes it an easy one to bring everyone along to.

The money raised goes to Julia's House, a children's hospice charity based in Dorset. The hospice was founded in 2003 and named after Julia Perks, a paediatric nurse who died of cancer in 1997. It provides practical and emotional support, including flexible, tailored respite care and home care in families' own homes, in the community or at the hospices, and the majority of the children it cares for are unlikely to live beyond the age of 18. The hospice itself sits at 135 Springdale Road, Broadstone, Corfe Mullen, and is led by Chief Executive Martin Edwards.

If you have a moment to wander, the Smedmore Estate is worth the detour on its own. The house is surrounded by two acres of walled flower gardens, orchards and a Mediterranean garden, with an extensive lawn, a pond bordered by a wildflower meadow and two avenues lined with stone urns that lead out towards Kimmeridge Bay and Weymouth and Portland beyond. The grounds are dotted with sphinxes, urns and obelisks, and the house is kept for weekends, holidays, weddings and celebrations. It is a rare chance to see a corner of the coast that is usually closed off, and the ploughing match is the excuse that opens the gate.