About the towns

Blandford

Blandford Forum is the most complete Georgian market town in England, a legacy of the fire in 1730 that destroyed most of its buildings.

The town was rebuilt by John and William Bastard and, today, Blandford's fine parish church and Town Hall testify to their impressive skill. This interesting town, home to a wide variety of shops as well as the renowned Cavalcade of Costume and the Royal Signals museums, holds a busy Georgian Fayre in May every year.

Shaftesbury Rising more than 200m above the Blackmore Vale at its northern end, Shaftesbury is the highest town in Dorset and one of the oldest in England. Following King Alfred's foundation of an Abbey on its airy hilltop in AD 888 and the internment of Edward the Martyr's body there in AD 980, Shaftesbury became a place of pilgrimage and royal patronage for nearly seven centuries until the Abbey's dissolution by Henry VIII in 1539. Set today in a quiet, secluded garden, the ruined foundations of the Abbey church lie alongside a modern shrine to St. Edward and the Abbey museum.

Nearby is Gold Hill (pictured), its steep, cobbled street and quaint thatched cottages which face the ancient Abbey Wall world famous as the epitome of a timeless rural England. From neighbouring Park Walk and Castle Hill, the Blackmore Vale can be admired in all its glory.

Sturminster Newton

Sturminster Newton sits at the centre of Thomas Hardy's 'Vale of Little Dairies'. Regarded locally as 'the capital of the Blackmore Vale' this long-established market town has an acclaimed creamery which produces prize winning traditional and continental cheeses.

From the town's quiet side streets, signposted walks lead out to tranquil riverside meadows beside the Stour.The Hardy Way and Hardy Trail visit 'Stourcastle' on their tour of the Dorset-born writer's Wessex. Thomas Hardy lived with his first wife, Emma, at Riverside Villas in Sturminster Newton between 1876 and 1878 and there penned his famous novel 'The Return of the Native'. A few miles north is the village of Marnhull, which featured as 'Marlott' in 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'. Here, the Pure Drop Inn served a 'very pretty brew in tap'.

Today it is better known as the Crown Hotel. Sturminster Newton's Town Bridge is a notable example of a fine medieval bridge. Fiddleford Manor, near Sturminster Newton is a beautifully restored Elizabethan manor house containing splendidly carved and cusped wooden roof beams.

The part 17th Century Sturminster Newton Mill is a notable surviving watermill, one of 40 originally used to work the Stour and its tributaries, which has been restored to full working order and on occasion, corn is still ground here.

Gillingham

Gillingham is the most northerly, a friendly, fast growing town boasting the site of a former Norman royal palace and hunting forest. The Stour and its fertile environs provide a haven for numerous flourishing species of wildlife. Around Gillingham, the river's headwaters and tributaries have become a prime habitat for water voles. Encouragingly the shy otter is also returning. The Stour is joined here by the Rivers Lodden and Shreen, providing many rural, riverside walks. The artist John Constable visited in the early 1820's. His painting of the Old Town Bridge now hangs in the Tate Gallery.

Stalbridge

Stalbridge is the most westerly North Dorset town in the Blackmore Vale. Close to the Somerset border, this small market town dating from Saxon times has an unhurried, olde worlde atmosphere that adds to its charm. Look out for its 'ancient and modern' market cross, reputedly the best in the country.