Beaminster all round, Wi' hedges, reachèn up between A thousand vields o' zummer green. </poem> It is a location for part of the story for the post-apocalyptic novel The Day of the Triffids. Samuel Hearne explorer, naturalist and writer grew up in Beaminster. Beaminster is the adopted hometown of actor Martin Clunes, and was where singer PJ Harvey went to school. Mat Follas had his first restaurant The Wild Garlic in the town square, though in 2013 it was moved to larger premises elsewhere. Beaminster is also home of Lynne Reid Banks, author of "The L-Shaped Room" and "The Indian in
Minerva Reid Royal College of Surgeons. When she arrived at the medical school in Dublin on a dark evening she was met by the house doctor who had no idea what to do with this young woman seeking education at the wholly male institution. She had to be bedded down for the night in the school dining room, as there was no other appropriate accommodation. Reid and her sister, Hannah, worked at Women's College Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The sisters both served on the first Board of Directors for the hospital. Reid was Chief of Surgery and her sister was Chief