Drone survey in Bridport

Bridport's streets were laid out wide for rope walks, which gives the town a shape you do not find elsewhere in Dorset: long plots, deep buildings and roofs that run a long way back from the frontage. Brick and rendered frontages face the street and terraced cottages fill the side lanes.

A long roof plane collects a lot of water and delivers it to a small number of outlets, and the back half of it is invisible from anywhere at ground level. That geometry is the reason a good number of Bridport enquiries are about a damp problem at the rear of a property that nobody can explain.

The town sits a mile and a half inland from West Bay in a valley between high greensand hills, and the valley funnels southerly weather up from the sea. Properties on the higher ground catch wind coming over the greensand hills as well, so exposure varies noticeably within a short distance.

Salt reaches the town on strong southerlies even at that distance from the water. It is a lighter dose than a seafront gets, but it is enough to matter on ferrous fixings over a few decades.

There is thatch on the outskirts, natural slate and clay plain tile through the older town, and concrete tile on the modern housing towards West Bay and Bothenhampton. That range means a survey brief here should say which building is being looked at before anybody quotes.

The town also has a fair stock of workshop and light industrial buildings from its rope and net history, which brings large spans and older coverings into the picture.

By the standards of this coast Bridport is easy. There is space, the ground is not extreme, and most properties have a yard or a garden. Colmers Hill and the surrounding high ground give useful reference for wind conditions on the day.

West Bay itself is a different proposition, with harbour activity and cliffs, and a job down there is planned as a coastal one rather than a town one.

West Bay is a mile and a half down the valley and it is a different proposition from the town: harbour activity, cliffs immediately behind and full exposure to southerly weather. Properties along the road between the two sit somewhere on that gradient.

For a DT6 enquiry the first question is therefore which end of the valley the building is at, because it changes both the likely findings and the flying conditions on the day. The town is sheltered enough to be workable in most weather and the harbour is not.

Colmers Hill above the town is a useful indicator. If cloud is moving quickly across it, the day is probably better spent on a sheltered address inland than on the coast.