Issue 01 · October 2026 · Free to read

Feel Good Monthly

The people magazine from FeelGoodFella and the Cooler Room in Rampisham, Dorset. Good people, good food, good practice, and what's on. Be Good · Do Good · Feel Good.

01 — From the founderFeel Good Monthly · Issue 01

Life got loud.

FeelGoodFella didn't start with a business plan. It started because life got very loud, and I needed to find some quiet. Yoga is where I found it. One line from Patañjali stayed with me: yoga is the quieting of the fluctuations of the mind.

What I learned on the mat is that feeling good isn't about avoiding hard days. It's about building the inner tools to move through them. And once I'd found that, I wanted to share it with everyone.

But I kept seeing the same thing. Mental health support, yoga classes and good community spaces had become expensive, complicated, or just too far away for a lot of people.

So FGF grew, one piece at a time. First clothing with something to say. Then the Cooler Room in Rampisham. Then yoga, then five coffees with names that mean something, then FeelGood Sessions on a Friday night.

This magazine is the next piece. Every month we'll share the people, places and small kindnesses around us, a recipe, a practice, and what's on. Reading is free, and it always will be.

You're not a customer here. You're part of something that matters. Come as you are.

Nitin · FeelGoodFella

Read the full story in the Journal →

01

The Cooler Room

A calm, inclusive wellbeing café. Specialty coffee, botanical teas and wholesome food.

Visit →
02

FGF Clothing

Original designs made in-house. Organic cotton, printed with renewable energy. The Colour tee £32 · The Present tee £35.

Shop →
03

FeelGood Sessions

Fridays from 5pm. Live music, open mic nights, community talks and creative sessions.

Dates →
04

Yoga & Wellbeing

Classes, workshops and mental health sessions. Your space to breathe.

Try one →
05

The FGF Journal

Long reads on mental health, yoga and the ideas behind FGF.

Read →
02 — Come as you areThe Cooler Room
Cooler Room 4 · Rampisham Business Centre

More than coffee.

A safe, inclusive space in the heart of Dorset, where good people gather and good things grow. Bring a friend, bring a laptop, or just bring yourself.

Opening hours

Weekdays, 8 till 4

Monday – Thursday8am – 4pm
Friday8am – 4pm · 5pm+
Saturday – SundayClosed

All five FGF blends on all day, plus botanical teas and wholesome food.

FeelGood Sessions

Every Friday from 5pm

Live music, open mic nights, community talks and creative sessions. Want to play, speak or run a session? Ask at the counter.

  • Fri 2
  • Fri 9
  • Fri 16
  • Fri 23
  • Fri 30
Workspace · 6 desks a day

Not your kitchen table

PassDrop-inClub
Half day£10£10
Full day£15£12
Monthly£120

WiFi, plug sockets everywhere and a proper desk. Mornings 8–12, afternoons 12–4. Book a desk.

Everyone's welcome at FGF. That's the whole point.

03 — HeardMental health
Saturday 10 October · World Mental Health Day

Real voices. Real change.

This year's theme, set by the World Federation for Mental Health, asks us to listen to people who've lived it, and then act on what they tell us. It's the same idea FGF was built on.

Your mind matters. Not sometimes, not when it's convenient. Always. Mental health deserves the same priority as physical health, education and safety. Yet care is still too often expensive, complicated, or out of reach, especially out here in rural Dorset.

Wellbeing is a direction, not a destination. Nobody gets it right every day. What helps is progress, not perfection, and people around you who notice.

Dorchester has a good local example of listening properly. The Dorset Mental Health Forum on Durngate Street is peer-run. Its work is built on lived experience, and its support groups bring together people who've been through similar things.

At the Cooler Room we don't pretend to be therapists. What we can do is keep the room warm and the kettle on, and know where to point you when you need more than a chat. Save these numbers today, even if you feel fine.

Read: Mental Health for All →

Connection · Dorset · 24/7 0800 652 0190

Free NHS mental health helpline for all ages. You don't need to be known to services, and you can call about someone else. Or call 111 and choose the mental health option.

Samaritans · 24/7 116 123

Free to call, any time, any day of the year, about anything that's troubling you.

Shout · 24/7 text Text SHOUT to 85258

Free, confidential text support if talking out loud feels like too much.

Dorset Mental Health Forum · 29–29a Durngate Street, Dorchester DT1 1JP · 01305 257172 · dorsetmentalhealthforum.org.uk. If someone is in immediate danger, call 999.

04 — Good PeopleDo Good
The helpers

Nobody round here should go hungry.

Three Dorchester projects quietly feed hundreds of people every week. None of them could do it without volunteers and donations. Good intentions, turned into good deeds.

Since October 2009

Dorchester Foodbank

Run from the Dorford Centre by Dorchester Baptist Church, the foodbank gives three days of balanced, non-perishable food to people in financial crisis across DT1 and DT2, through referrals from social workers, health visitors, schools and Citizens Advice.

WhereDorford Centre, Bridport Road, DT1 1RR
OpenMon · Wed · Fri, 10.30am–12.30pm
Phone07554 983978

How to help: leave unopened tins, packets and toiletries in the Dorford Centre foyer. No fresh, chilled or frozen food. The wish list at dorchesterfoodbank.co.uk shows what runs out most.

Open to everyone

CasterFridge

Dorchester's community fridge takes good food that shops and cafés would otherwise bin, and puts it where anyone can pick it up. No test, no form, whatever your finances. Volunteer Centre Dorset runs it, and volunteers shape it.

WhereInside the Co-op, Trinity Street
OpenTue–Sat mornings, from 9.30am
PhoneVolunteer Centre Dorset · 01305 269214

How to help: volunteer for a collection or fridge shift, or, if you run a food business, donate your surplus.

Running since 2018

Food Share

From Dorchester Community Church in Poundbury, Food Share delivers fresh fruit and veg, bakery and eggs every week, for up to 12 weeks, to households in DT1 and part of DT2. It usually sends out 70 to 100 parcels a week.

WhereLiscombe Street, Poundbury, DT1 3DF
CoversDT1 and part of DT2
Phone07918 877498

How to help: the church's Food Share page lists what to donate and how to give online.

Take what you need. Leave what you can. That's the whole idea.

05 — The OrchardFood & heritage
Wednesday 21 October · Apple Day

Apple Day was born here.

In 1990, Common Ground, a charity based in Dorset, launched Apple Day to celebrate orchards and the local varieties we were in danger of losing.

The idea was bigger than fruit. By tying an apple to the place it comes from, Common Ground wanted people to value orchards for what they give a landscape: wildlife, local character, and food you can trace back to a tree down the lane.

More than thirty years on, orchards still open their gates each October. Just up the road from us, Parnham Park in Beaminster celebrates the harvest from its old orchard beside the River Brit on Saturday 17 October, with live music, family activities and heritage varieties to try.

If there's a tree in your garden, it's telling you so this month. Swap windfalls with a neighbour, or bake the county's own cake. Dorset apple cake is soft, lightly spiced and full of tart fruit, with a sugar crust on top. It needs nothing fancy.

Food you can trace back to a tree down the lane.

Recipe · Serves 8–10

Dorset apple cake

20cm round tin180°C / 160°C fan45–55 min
  • 450gcooking apples (Bramley), peeled, cored and diced
  • ½lemon, juiced
  • 225gplain flour
  • 2 tspbaking powder
  • 1 tspground cinnamon
  • 115gcold butter, cubed
  • 115glight brown sugar
  • 2large eggs, beaten
  • 2–3 tbspmilk
  • 2 tbspdemerara sugar, for the top
Method
  1. Heat the oven, then grease and line the tin. Toss the diced apple in the lemon juice so it doesn't brown.
  2. Mix the flour, baking powder and cinnamon in a big bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until it looks like breadcrumbs, then stir in the brown sugar.
  3. Add the eggs and enough milk to make a stiff, dropping batter. Fold in the apples. It will look like more fruit than cake, which is right.
  4. Spread into the tin, level the top roughly, and scatter over the demerara.
  5. Bake until golden and a skewer comes out clean. Leave in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out.
  6. Eat warm with cream, or cold with a coffee. It keeps for three days in a tin, if it lasts that long.

Pour with it: Blend 02 Slow Hours. Its citrus and marzipan sweetness sits right next to warm apple and cinnamon.

06 — In the cupRoasted in Dorset. Made for feeling good.
Five blends · 01–05

A coffee for every hour.

Roasted in Dorset, in small batches. Whole bean or ground to order, and at its best for six weeks from the roast date on the bag.

Blend 01Morning RitualDark roastCaramel sweetness, warm smoky finish.For the first cup, before the world gets going.
Blend 02Slow HoursMedium-dark roastLively citrus, soft marzipan.For a long table and the apple cake.
Blend 03Feel GoodMedium roastDark chocolate, gentle citrus, almond finish.The one to reach for when you need a lift.
Blend 04Good CompanyMedium roastJuicy plum, toffee, generous cocoa.Made for sharing a pot on a Friday night.
Blend 05Still GoodDark roast decafRich cocoa and caramel depth.For the evenings, once the clocks go back.
250g £9 · 500g £18 · Free UK delivery over £30 Shop the blends →
07 — MoveYoga & Wellbeing
Sunday 25 October · the clocks go back

Twenty minutes for the dark evenings.

The extra hour in bed is lovely. The 5pm sunset that follows is harder. This short evening practice helps your body settle into the new rhythm. Go gently, and skip anything that doesn't feel right for you.

0:00–3:00

Easy seat, long breath

Sit cross-legged on a cushion. Breathe in for four and out for six. A longer out-breath tells your body the day is done. This is Sutra 1.2 in practice: let the mind settle.

3:00–6:00

Cat and cow

On hands and knees, arch the back as you breathe in and round it as you breathe out. Move slowly, one vertebra at a time, and let the breath lead.

6:00–10:00

Child's pose

Knees wide, big toes together, forehead on the mat or a block. Arms forward or by your sides. Feel your back rise and fall with the breath.

10:00–14:00

Supported bridge

Lie on your back, knees bent, lift the hips and slide a block or firm cushion under your sacrum. Let the weight drop. It opens the front of the body after a day hunched over a desk.

14:00–20:00

Legs up the wall

Hips close to a wall, legs resting up it, blanket over you, eyes closed. Let the breath find its own pace. Roll to one side before you sit up.

Set the room. Dim the lights, put the phone in another room, and light something slow. We burn Yog Flow Ayurvedic incense, hand-rolled in the Himalayas, 16 scents at £11.95 a box, in the Wellbeing collection. Want to practise together? Ask at the Cooler Room about yoga classes.

08 — The DiaryOctober 2026
Out & about

Worth leaving the house for.

Our own nights in yellow. Everything else checked in late September, so please confirm with the organiser before you set off.

Fridays2 · 9 · 16 · 23 · 30

FeelGood SessionsAt FGF

Live music, open mic, community talks and creative sessions, every Friday from 5pm.

The Cooler Room, Rampisham DT2 0HS
1–31All month

Black History MonthCommunity

This year's UK theme is Honouring Our Communities: the everyday people who sustain and strengthen the places they live.

Nationwide
Until 9Oct

EmergenceArt

Dorset Visual Arts show the work of the county's emerging artists.

Dorset Museum & Art Gallery, Dorchester
3Sat

Quiet OpeningFamilies

A calmer museum visit with drop-in activities, 10am–12pm.

Dorset Museum & Art Gallery
9–11Fri–Sun

Cerne Abbas Music FestivalMusic

Chamber music from a world-class ensemble, played in the village church.

Cerne Abbas
10Sat

World Mental Health DayWellbeing

Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change. Check on a friend today.

Everywhere · see 03
17Sat

Apple Day at Parnham ParkFood

Live music, family activities, local food and drink and heritage apples, 12–6pm. Adults £5, under-12s £1.

Parnham Park, Beaminster DT8 3LZ
17Sat

Athelhampton Autumn MarketMakers

Seasonal market in the grounds of the Tudor house, from 10am.

Athelhampton House, DT2 7LG
17–24Sat–Sat

Dorchester Literary FestivalWords

A week of talks from writers and thinkers. Sunday 18 at 11am: a Wessex Writers walk from the Thomas Hardy statue at Top o' Town. Ends with the Dorchester Book Fair on the 24th.

The Dorford Centre and around town
From 17to 13 Dec

Dressed for DutyHistory

How British Army uniform shaped fashion and everyday life, 1800 to today, from The Keep Military Museum.

Dorset Museum & Art Gallery
31to 7 Nov

Bridport Literary FestivalWords

West Dorset's other great book week, with Adrian Turpin OBE as its new director.

Bridport
09 — Your pagesBe Good
Black History Month · Honouring Our Communities

History is made around us every day.

This year's theme looks past the famous names to the nurses, coaches, shop owners, volunteers and neighbours who keep a place going. Black communities have shaped British life for centuries, and they shape Dorset today.

Know someone whose story deserves telling? Black History Month UK is taking nominations for Honouring Black Britain 2026 at blackhistorymonth.org.uk, and we'd be proud to share their story here too.

Nominate a Good Person

Who makes your Dorset feel good?

This is a people magazine, and the people come from you. Every issue we want to spotlight someone local: the lollipop lady, the allotment elder, the teenager running a litter pick, the regular who knows everyone's name.

Tell us about them. Email info@feelgoodfella.com, message @feelgoodfella, or leave a note at the Cooler Room counter. Include their name, how you know them, and why they matter. We always ask them before we write a word.

10 — Keep it goingSubscribe & support
Reader-funded

Free to read. Kept alive by you.

No paywall and no clutter. Choose how you'd like to be part of it.

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FGF Club · Founding member
£108ONCE · FOR LIFE

One of the 108

  • A specialty coffee for £2, every day we're open
  • 5% off everything, clothing included
  • First in line for events, drops and workspace desks
  • Only 108 founding places, then it becomes an annual membership
106 of 108 places left on 21 October Join the Club
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info@feelgoodfella.com Get in touch
Why 108?
108

Chosen on purpose, not for marketing. Read the Journal piece →

1 · 0 · 8One for the single source of everything. Zero for emptiness and humility. Eight for infinity.
In the skyThe Earth sits roughly 108 Sun-widths from the Sun. The same ratio holds between the Moon and the Earth.
In the handA japamala has 108 beads, plus one guru bead, for counting mantras in meditation.
In the bodyAyurveda counts 108 marma points, and yogic tradition 108 energy channels meeting at the heart.

Next month · November

Lights, fire, and the long table.

Bonfire Night, Diwali on Sunday 8 November, and warming food for when the evenings draw in.

Find us

Sources for this issue

  • feelgoodfella.com and the FGF Journal
  • Dorchester Foodbank; Help and Kindness Dorset
  • Dorset HealthCare NHS; Dorset Mental Health Forum
  • World Federation for Mental Health; Black History Month UK
  • Parnham Park; Dorset Museum; Dorchester Literary Festival